This survey from goo Research, reported on by japan.internet.com, into bicycles found just over 50% wanting an electric bike, but of course there’s always a gap between “wanting” and “purchasing”.
Demographics
Between the 20th and 22nd September 2011 1,101 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.8% of the sample were male, 16.5% in their teens, 18.1% in their twenties, 21.3% in their thirties, 16.2% in their forties, 15.8% in their fifties, and 12.2% aged sixty or older.
For some reason the introduction to the article mentioned that you can get Doraemon and Snoopy limited edition folding bicycles, which are rather popular with certain segments of the population. So there you go.
Bicycles are in the news recently, specifically piste bikes as they are known in Japan, bikes with fixed gears and no brakes except for back-pedalling, so are illegal due to the lack of brakes. I’ve not seen them around my neck of the woods, but seem to be popular in Tokyo, causing quite a number of accidents. Read the rest of this entry »
Between the 30th of August and the 2nd of September 2011 1,010 computer-using and mobile phone-owning members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 54.3% of the sample were male, 16.8% were in their teens, 20.5% in their twenties, 19.6% in their thirties, 21.4% in their forties, and 21.7% in their fifties. Furthermore, 50.7% used standard mobile phones and 49.3% smartphones, 54.8% had laptops as their primary computer at home, 44.9% with desktops, and 0.4% with tablets.
I print out stuff about once a month or so, usually emails; before you condemn me for wasting paper, in my defense they are emails from my mother and I translate them with the in-laws. Perhaps if I had a smartphone, or even a tablet, I could save a sheet of paper or two a year… Read the rest of this entry »
A recently-reported, but not recently-conducted survey conducted by DIMSDRIVE Research looked at computer security.
Demographics
Between the 16th of September and the 7th of November 2010 7,937 members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor group with a home computer completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 51.1% of the sample were male, 0.7% in their teens, 11.2% in their twenties, 31.9% in their thirties, 33.1% in their forties, 15.4% in their fifties, and 7.7% aged sixty or older.
My main security software is Microsoft Security Essentials, which does the business. On my desktop PC running Vista, the daily updates then scans really bog the machine down for 30 minutes, despite setting it to only use 30% or less of the system resources. I used to run Avast!, again free, but it prompts once a year for a free license update, but last year I just couldn’t get the message to go away. It’s quite sad that most people get stuck with commercial packages that they don’t really rate very highly just because it comes bundled on the computer. Read the rest of this entry »
Over the 22nd and 23rd of July 2011 1,114 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 65.4% of the sample were female, 12.3% in their teens, 16.5% in their twenties, 28.6% in their thirties, 24.8% in their forties, 10.1% in their fifties, and 7.7% aged sixty or older. Note that the score in the results refers to the relative number of votes for each option, not a percentage of the total sample.
Here’s a couple of old folk giving it laldy on Dance Dance Revolution:
japan.internet.com reported on the second regular survey into saving electricity by goo Research. The first survey may be found here. Note that the dates of the survey indicate that it was conducted after TEPCO removed their restrictions on electricity usage in Tokyo and the surrounding areas, and after Tokyo had survived the summer without any blackouts or even brownouts.
Demographics
Between the 12th and 14th of September 2011 1,087 members of the goo Research completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.9% of the sample were male, 15.9% in their teens, 18.5% in their twenties, 21.5% in their thirties, 16.2% in their forties, 15.7% in their fifties, and 12.1% aged sixty or older.
There seems a popular misconception amongst some foreigners in Japan that the only effects of the electricity-saving activities was cutting down domestic wastage and making people go home on time, thus proving that the electricity provided by nuclear power stations is not really necessary. However, this ignores the under-reported (or just plain ignored as inconvenient) problems that small businesses had, many forced to drastically cut back production to avoid fines of 1,000,000 yen per hour each time they failed to use 15% less than the previous year during peak times – unfortunately, I cannot find a story online about it. In July the current Prime Minister (he was Finance Minister then) highlighted that power costs (due to increase 10% for Tokyo this coming year) may drive firms abroad; indeed this has already started.
In addition, tonight I saw a short item on a news program about electricity pricing and other issues. First, electricity prices are set by law to cover assets, salaries, fuel and promotional activities, then 3% profit on the top. Thus, the generating boards are under no pressure to cut staffing costs (the average director, usually ex-finance ministry, gets just under 40 million yen a year) and can actively buy assets to increase their profits, while passing on all the costs to the user. Next, there is a small degree of competition from independent companies, but they are only allowed to target large users, and access to the electricity grid for them costs about 7 times that in the US. They showed that even with these restrictions, by converting a large-scale housing complex to the independent supplier, who offers smart meters to each householder, the price to the consumer was about 5% less per unit, and by using data from the smart meter and matching usage to tariffs, they could save a further five percent, despite all the handicaps described above. Read the rest of this entry »
Over the 22nd and 23rd of August 2011 500 members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor group who (a) lived in one of Tohoku, Kanto, Koshinetsu, Aichi Prefecture and Shizuoka Prefecture, and (b) had purchased or rented a home water dispenser. 58.2% of the sample were female, 1.6% in their teens, 12.6% in their twenties, 30.2% in their thirties, 25.2% in their forties, 21.2% in their fifties, and 9.2% aged sixty or older.
The survey size here is quite small, but because there was the pre-selection of those with water servers (perhaps there was a follow-up with those from the first survey?) the margin of error should not be too large. Read the rest of this entry »
It seems that just about every other Japanese film coming out these days is based on a cartoon or comic, so it seems a good time to have a look with goo Ranking at how people rate the best live-action movie adaptations of manga and anime.
Demographics
Over the 22nd and 23rd of July 2011 1,114 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 65.4% of the sample were female, 12.3% in their teens, 16.5% in their twenties, 28.6% in their thirties, 24.8% in their forties, 10.1% in their fifties, and 7.7% aged sixty or older. Note that the score in the results refers to the relative number of votes for each option, not a percentage of the total sample.
I’ve not seen any of the movies, and I’m not really sure how the list was created – Nodame Cantibile, for instance, seemed quite a popular real-life realisation of the comic, but it doesn’t feature in the list. On the other hand, I am not in the least suprised to see that My Darling is a Foriegner features nowhere on the list.
This coming weekend I have a preview ticket for Tsure ga Utsu ni Narimashite, which I would translate as When My Hubby Became Depressed, a film of the TV series of the manga comic. Let’s have the trailer for that:
goo Research recently reported in detail on comprehensive medical examinations, or as they are known in Japanese 人間ドック, Ningen (Human) Dock, a play on “dry dock”.
Demographics
Between the 29th of August and the 1st of September 2011 1,083 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.2% of the sample were male, 24.1% in their thirties, 25.5% in their forties, 25.4% in their fifties, and 25.0% aged sixty or older.
Furthermore, there was a new term to me, “Ladies’ Dock”, which as you might guess is a Ningen Dock tailored towards women. The time my wife and I went for a Ningen Dock, she had the ladies’ course, but it wasn’t sold as female oriented. If I remember correctly, there was a base test for everyone, then you could buy add-on packages on top, like lady bits, allergy tests, chest CT scan, etc. Read the rest of this entry »
Yet another regular survey was reborn, this time it was goo Research’s look at mobile phone video use, expanded now to explicitly include smartphones.
Demographics
Between the 5th and 9th of September 2011 1,000 members of the goo Research mobile monitors completed a private mobile phone or smartphone-based survey. 58.1% of the sample were female, 3.4% in their teens, 22.3% in their twenties, 38.0% in their thirties, 26.9% in their forties, and 9.4% aged fifty or older.
I’m not sure what silly cat clips fall under, although I would guess that it would be more likely to be self- or friend-shot video rather than other, judging by the relative percentages! Read the rest of this entry »
This recent survey by goo Research and reported on by japan.internet.com into tablets produced some very surprising results, showing Windows and Android to be closer to iOS (iPad OS) than I would have expected.
Demographics
Between the 30th of August and the 2nd of September 2011 1,087 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.0% of the sample were male, 16.7% in their teens, 18.3% in their twenties, 21.2% in their thirties, 16.2% in their forties, 15.5% in their fifties, and 12.1% aged sixty or older.
The figures from Europe and the US suggest that it is only the iPad that sells, with at least 80% of the market, so are things really that different in Japan? Furthermore, where are the 8 Windows XP tablets coming from? The figures here seem just a bit too unusual to be reliable. Read the rest of this entry »
goo Research recently took a look at the lightly related topics of 
A recently-reported, but not recently-conducted survey conducted by DIMSDRIVE Research looked at 
japan.internet.com reported on the second regular survey into 
Having looked a few months ago at 
goo Research recently reported in detail on 
Yet another regular survey was reborn, this time it was goo Research’s look at 
This recent survey by goo Research and reported on by japan.internet.com into 
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