世論 What Japan Thinks

Here’s a short but sweet survey from goo Ranking, looking at when on holiday, at what moments do people wish they’d studied more English.

Demographics

Between the 21st and 23rd of June 2010 1,137 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 65.1% of the sample were female, 8.0% in their teens, 20.4% in their twenties, 31.2% in their thirties, 23.9% in their forties, 9.2% in their fifties, and 7.2% 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.

Being a native English speaker, I of course have the benefit that any communications problems are caused by the other person not learning enough English, so just shouting a bit louder can solve all language problems.

Seriously though, in Japan I occasionally have the second problem, often as I adopt the English, not the Japanese pronunciation for certain words that should be understood by both of us. The most recent example I can think of was when I was asking if they had any Xylitol-based chewing gum, and given that I’m not even quite sure of how to say it in even in English, I had to get my Japanese wife to rescue me from the blank stares!
Read the rest of this entry »

The latest survey from iShare took a look at the matter of punches, in particular hitting children and adults, the results of which were a shock to my namby-pamby western liberal attitudes.

Research results

Between the 2nd and 7th of September 2010, 475 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 54.7% of the sample were male, 30.7% in their twenties, 31.4% in their thirties, and 37.9% in their forties.

Although corporal punishment is banned in Japanese schools, from what I hear teachers still occasionally dish out punishment, and in sports clubs there seems to be a lot of hazing, from over-enthusiastic cheerleading to deaths in sumo stables.

Some of the stories about memories of being hit were as follows: “My gentle father getting mad and beating me for the first time”, “I was playing with matches and nearly set something on fire, so after getting hit I remember reflecting long and hard”, “I never got hit by my parents, so it was a shock the first time my friends hit me”, “I did something that wasn’t sensible and got hit by a teacher”, and “I skived off doing a kanji drill homework and got detention until past 7 pm. I got curious about what the elementary school was like at night, so exploring around the school. I was found by my homeroom teacher who slapped my cheek and gave me a noogie. He was a good teacher.”
Read the rest of this entry »

I believe this is the first time I’ve translated a survey on this topic of fax machines, conducted by goo Research and reported on by japan.internet.com.

Demographics

Over the 2nd and 3rd of September 2010 1,089 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.8% of the sample were male, 16.3% in their teens, 18.0% in their twenties, 21.3% in their thirties, 16.3% in their forties, 16.0% in their fifites, and 12.2% aged sixty or older.

My fax machine is a combined fax, telephone (including wireless handset), colour scanner, photo printer, SD card reader and wireless printer which probably has another few functions hidden in the depths of its full-colour touch screen-controlled menu system! We get and send less than one fax a week, however…
Read the rest of this entry »

A recent survey from Media Interactive (iResearch) and reported on by japan.internet.com took a look at the matter of servers, with this particular article focusing on the virtualisation aspect. I’ll apologise in advance for the technical nature of this, but it’s something I’m interested in, and it’s one aspect of Cloud Computing, another buzzword that does the rounds a lot without many people particularly knowing what it actually means.

Demographics

On the 27th of August 2010 300 members of the Media Interactive monitor group who worked in organisations and has the power of approval for server purchases completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The respondents were between 20 and 79 years old, but no further demographic information was given.

Cloud Computing is one of these terms with different meaning for different people. My definition is using resources from a pool of resources, with the usage expanding and contracting on demand, and charging being based on the usage. On which device, or how many devices, or who else is sharing the device is unimportant, just that the resources are available somewhere.
Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a survey from goo Reseach with an interesting focus, terminals in western Japan, in particular those in Osaka, Hiroshima and Fukuoka.

Demographics

Between the 6th and 13th of August 2010 1,625 members of the goo Research monitor panel who lived either within 20 kilometres of the centre of Osaka, in Hiroshima City, or Fukuoka City completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 1,087 were from Osaka, 273 from Hiroshima, and 265 from Fukuoka, and in total 53.4% were female, 0.7% in their teens, 12.9% in their twenties, 34.2% in their thirties, 31.0% in their forties, and 21.2% aged fifty or older.

Depsite going to the Osaka area to shop once a month or so, the number of Asian tourists does not really register on me, perhaps because it’s more the Westerners that catch my eye!
Read the rest of this entry »

If there’s one thing Japanese drivers hate, it’s fags and other rubbish being tossed out of car windows, according to this survey from iShare into driving manners.

You’ll notice that there are a couple of questions regarding insurance. This is because the survey was conducted in conjunction with American Home and their car insurance arm, American Home Direct.

Demographics

On the 6th of September 2010 1,067 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-base questionnaire. All of the respondents had free use of a car that they drove at least once a week. 85.0% of the sample were male, 3.0% in their twenties, 38.5% in their thirties, 44.0% in their forties, and 14.5% in their fifties.

The demographics are quite different from the usual CLUB BBQ ones – the male:female split is usually closer to 50:50, and the twenties age group around 30%, indicating that younger and female ownership of cars is pretty low.

My worst manners in others is poor indicating, although my own driving manners are perfect. People who dangle their hand holding a ciggie out the window irrationally annoy me too. Being driven by someone who doesn’t anticipate is my way of spotting a useless driver.
Read the rest of this entry »

I can’t go anywhere in Europe or America without bumping into a Fairtrade product, usually coffee or tea, but as this recent survey from goo Research into Fairtrade found that even awareness of the system was pretty thin on the ground.

Demographics

Between the 27th and 30th of August 2010 2,350 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was exactly 50:50 male and female, and similarly the age groups were evenly split with 20.0% in each of the age bands from twenties to the over-sixties.

I did reference Fairtrade once before, and I can remember somewhere seeing a Fairtrade logo on perhaps a chocolate product; certainly not a speciality brand nor a eco-brand, just a pretty normal mass-market product.
Read the rest of this entry »

I’m back after a two day layoff (for a rather interesting reason that I might blog about later!) with this rather difficult-to-translate for me survey by goo Ranking into what mysteries about Japanese men do women not understand.

Demographics

Over the 21st and 22nd of July 2010 1,159 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 63.4% of the sample were female, 12.4% in their teens, 21.1% in their twenties, 28.3% in their thirties, 23.6% in their forties, 8.2% in their fifties, and 6.4% 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.

Number 2 is something I’ve never, ever heard of! Anyone have any more info about why being able to boil food is seen as an aspect of level-headedness?

Although most of the rest of the reported answers are pretty universal, I think, even as a man I don’t know many of the answers! My wife often mentions number one, but I keep trying to persuade her it’s just her perception.
Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s another delayed survey from DIMSDRIVE Research, this time looking at food home delivery, which finds out that pizza is still Japan’s favourite delivery food.

Demographics

Between the 17th of February and the 4th of March 2010 9,602 members of the DIMSDRIVE Research monitors completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 51.5% of the sample were male, 0.8% in their teens, 11.2% in their twenties, 31.0% in their thirties, 31.9% in their forties, 16.9% in their fifties, and 8.2% aged sixty or older. Furthermore, 62.8% were married, 14.1% lived alone, 24.3% with one other person, 25.4% with two others, 23.2% with three others, and 13.0% with four or more.

I haven’t ordered home delivery for ages and ages, probably almost two years, because none of the pizza shops take credit cards, and once you add in all the side dishes, etc, it’s just as easy and slightly cheaper to go and eat out.
Read the rest of this entry »

From my point of view, honeymoons are all part of getting married, so I cannot understand why this survey from iShare into honeymoons found that just a third of unmarried Japanese thought a honeymoon was essential.

Demographics

Between the 20th and 25th of August 2010 450 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 54.4% of the sample were male, 29.8% in their twenties, 33.8% in their thirties, and 36.4% in their forties.

On the other hand, given the lack of holidays, or at least the combination of both a reluctance to take and to grant holidays in Japan, I can understand some of the lack of enthusiasm for honeymoons. Although most of the married people I know did take honeymoons, a number of them took them a few weeks to a few months after the ceremony.

Read the rest of this entry »