世論 What Japan Thinks

This short ranking survey from goo Ranking looked at Western table manners that Japanese just don’t understand very well.

Demographics

Between the 19th and 22nd of November 2010 1,171 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.2% of the sample were female, 11.3% in their teens, 19.1% in their twenties, 29.0% in their thirties, 23.4% in their forties, 9.6% in their fifties, and 7.6% 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.

Much to my surprise, “all of them” is not the top answer! Most of the Japanese I know have rather poor table manners overall (and even here and there their Japanese table manners leave something to be desired), but this survey seems to be dealing with finer points of etiquette. Personally, not being female I don’t know number 4, and I’m not 100% certain on finger bowls, but I think I’ve only once been at a meal where they have been present.
Read the rest of this entry »

This is a very interesting survey from iShare, looking at the subject of children becoming independent from their parents and vice versa.

Demographics

Between the 3rd and 6th of December 2010 1,088 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service with a child aged 15 years old or younger completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 80.1% of the sample were male, 43.6% in their thirties, 52.3% in their forties, and 4.1% in their fifties.

I don’t think I particularly hated going out with the parents when I was a child, nor do I remember any definite time in my schooldays where I felt I had broken away from them; however, I suspect my mother might have a completely different answer looking at it from her side!

Note that in Q3SQ, almost all Japanese schoolchildren (as far as I know!) take lunchboxes to school and are expected to have their mid-day meal in the classroom, whereas when I was a kid most people who were within walking distance of the school went home for lunch.
Read the rest of this entry »

With the electronic book market beginning to heat up in Japan, this recent survey from goo Research, reported on by japan.internet.com, into electronic books and electronic book sellers found that the recent announcements from Sharp and Sony were fresh in many people’s minds.

Demographics

Between the 15th and 19th of December 2010 1,079 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.5% of the sample were male, 16.5% in their teens, 18.0% in their twenties, 21.6% in their thirties, 16.3% in their forties, 15.6% in their fifties, and 12.0% aged sixty or older.

I’ve never heard of the Kobo, although it seems to be Canadian rather than the seemingly Japanese name it has.

Furthermore, I of course knew about Amazon selling e-books, but I’d never heard of the rest.

Everything I hear about the Kindle sounds good, and if I did slightly more travelling (or slightly less blogging!) I’d buy one. If the Japanese ones have managed to get a lot of publishers on board, and if the price of individual volumes is cheaper than the paper versions, I’d be inclined to get one for the wife, just so we could tidy up a lot of the clutter of books!
Read the rest of this entry »

Last year (I’m just getting round to translating it now!) iShare conducted an interesting survey looking into family budget management, split into two parts, those who wish to marry and those already married. Today is the unmarried half of the survey.

Demographics

Over the 6th and 7th of December 2010 1,140 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was split into two groups; first, there were 568 unmarried but hoping to be married people; 66.9% of them were male, 18.5% in their twenties, and 81.5% in their thirties. Next, 572 were married, with 55.9% of them male, 6.1% in their twenties, and 93.9% in their thirties.

It’s interesting to note that the amount of married men who would like to keep their salary and saving secret is about double the amount of unmarried men who said they would want to keep it secret!
Read the rest of this entry »

Last year (I’m just getting round to translating it now!) iShare conducted an interesting survey looking into family budget management, split into two parts, those who wish to marry and those already married. Today is the unmarried half of the survey.

Demographics

Over the 6th and 7th of December 2010 1,140 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was split into two groups; first, there were 568 unmarried but hoping to be married people; 66.9% of them were male, 18.5% in their twenties, and 81.5% in their thirties. Next, 572 were married, with 55.9% of them male, 6.1% in their twenties, and 93.9% in their thirties.

My Google AdSense earnings used to be a secret account, but then I had to dig into them to fund a couple of things, so now it contributes ever so slightly to the general family finances.
Read the rest of this entry »

With today being Coming of Age Day in Japan, we of course get a number of surveys on these new adults. This one from O-Net, a marriage agency, caught my eye.

Demographics

Between the 26th and 29th of November 2010 800 members of the Rakuten Research monitor panel who would be coming of age in 2011 – that is, born between the 2nd of April 1990 and the 1st of April 1991 – and were not married completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was exactly 50:50 male and female. Furthermore, 75.0% of the males and 67.8% of the females were in university, 13.9% in colleges or other further education, 5.6% had full-time regular jobs, 5.7% in other jobs, 2.5% unemployed, 0.9% in the process of starting a job, and one other. 57.3% lived at home with parents, 39.1% were living alone, 2.% with other family, 1.3% with friends and 0.4% in other accomodation.

There’s a good number of surprising statistics, such as over two in five having thought of suicide, three in five males being herbivore, and just 2.4% supportive of the political direction of Japan.

The survey itself was a bit longer than the questions below, but I’ve run out of time tonight to translate…
Read the rest of this entry »

Or indeed man, what symptoms are there? That was the question from goo Ranking, which was answered by both men and women.

Demographics

Between the 19th and 22nd of November 2010 1,171 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.2% of the sample were female, 11.3% in their teens, 19.1% in their twenties, 29.0% in their thirties, 23.4% in their forties, 9.6% in their fifties, and 7.6% 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.

One obvious (perhaps “obvious” is not really the best word to use) symptom for men has probably been removed from their results on the grounds of taste, but if you recall the next line from the Dr Hook hit in the title, you will catch my drift. Anyway, on with the results!
Read the rest of this entry »

I cannot really think of a longer headline that is not excessively blatant linkbait, so I’ll leave that as the simple title for a survey from iShare into another demographic that they may well have just made up especially for this survey, which had the full title of modern women’s healing.

Demographics

Over the 13th and 14th of December 2010 1,149 female members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 11.7% of the sample were in their twenties, 54.8% in their thirties, and 33.4% in their forties.

Edison once said that genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration; in Japan it is the ninety-nine percent perspiration that is often more valued, regardless of the presence or absence of any associated genius or inspiration. A gambaru girl is the sort of woman who is always busy around the house or the office, so this survey looks at what they do or would like to do to unwind.
Read the rest of this entry »

With only seven months to go from the date of this survey before the plug is pulled (perhaps) on analogue broadcasts, goo Research took their 17th regular look at terrestrial digital television. The survey results were published by japan.internet.com.

Demographics

Between the 13th and 16th of December 2010 1,097 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.6% of the sample were male, 16.3% in their teens, 18.3% in their twenties, 21.6% in their thirties, 16.3% in their forties, 15.5% in their fifties, and 11.9% aged sixty or older.

I’m all ready now, having got my Panasonic VIERA TC-P42G25 42-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV (Amazon affiliate link) installed two days before Christmas. The data channel is well done, and as we enter our postcode when setting up the local weather for the town appears by default. I’ll not be bothering with the AcTVila feature, however, and given this report on hacking tellies (it’s either a Panasonic or a Samsung they analysed) I’ll be keeping it offline for the foreseeable future.

Note that although analogue broadcast is supposed to finish on the 24th of July this year, I’ve heard the cable companies may be asked to continue to carry it, and today’s news said that television stations may also decide to keep broadcasting in analogue.
Read the rest of this entry »

I’m back from my holidays (which did not include any skiing) to report on a survey from iShare on the dangers of skiing.

Demographics

Over the 30th of November and the 1st of December 2010 1,476 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 62.7% of the sample were male, 20.0% in their twenties, 24.5% in their thirties, 31.1% in their forties, and 24.4% in their fifties. Note that the ski season would have barely started in Japan at the time of the survey, and only a few remote locations would have been open.

I was a bit disappointed that there wasn’t a question about skiing overseas; although the skiing in Japan is very good, I would have liked to know how many people had gone on foreign skiing holidays.

Last time I went skiing was an overnight work trip back in Scotland, and I got horrendous sunburn as no-one told me that the UV reflects off the snow and hits your face from all angles!
Read the rest of this entry »