In this latest look, this time by Masrh Inc and reported on by japan.internet.com, into manga and internet cafes, using the internet just managed to outdo reading manga.
Demographics
Between the 9th and 13th of June 2010 300 members of the Marsh online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was exactly 50:50 male and female, 2.3% in their teens, 17.7% in their twenties, 20.0% in their thirties, 20.0% in their forties, 20.0% in their fifties, and 20.0% aged sixty or older.
Since last reporting on this I have actually been into an internet cafe! However, rather than the rather dodgy-looking ones in the centre of town, I actually used the Kansai Airport one. It was rather a pleasant experience, given the jet lag, and they have a nice range of speciality teas for you to choose from. It’s worth a visit if you’ve got time to burn, although since Kansai Airport has free wi-fi just about everywhere you don’t need to go there just for the connection, assuming you’ve got a suitable portable device. Read the rest of this entry »
One of the hobbies of Japanese kids in the summer is collecting stag beetles and their friends, so I was interested to see this recent survey from iShare looking at insects.
Demographics
Between the 2nd and 7th of June 2010 482 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.5% of the sample were male, 29.9% in their twenties, 33.8% in their thirties, and 36.3% in their forties.
When I was a kid, a ladybird was about the only insect I could cope with, so coming to Japan and finding stuff like massive cockroaches or even the passive cicida fair gives me the willies. It’s cool to see a stick insect or praying mantis in my garden, but the only touching I’ll do is with a rolled-up newspaper. Fortunately my wife can cope, so when any good insects enter the house, she’s on hand to lift them out. Conversely, she’s petrified of wasps, but perhaps my sadistic streak comes through as I enjoy squirting them with fly spray.
Note, insects were defined for the purpose of this survey as three-segmented creatures with feelers in their head part and three pairs of legs in their chest part. Poisonous or stinging creatures like wasps were excluded. Read the rest of this entry »
I’ve read a few recent news stories stating rather high user levels for Twitter in Japan that I did find quite difficult to believe, but here is a report from japan.internet.com on a survey by Point On Research into Twitter usage that backs up the data, although note that this survey is of mobile phone users with unlimited data plans.
Demographics
On the 22nd of June 2010 800 heavy users of mobile phones completed a mobile phone-based questionnaire. The sample was 50:50 male and female, 25.0% in their teens, 25.0% in their twenties, 25.0% in their thirties, and 25.0% in their forties.
As I hope you have noticed on my sidebar I’m on Twitter. I’ve tried using it from my mobile phone, but it costs me a little over 100 yen just to load a single page! I do one auto-post per day through my blog, then an occasional manual tweet. I think that as I’m an irregular tweeter replies too are rather irregular.
Finally, at least one candidate in the upcoming election is using Twitter (or should that be Barker?):
With LED lights providing a better performance and eliminating the slight warming-up problem in some fluorescent lights, this survey from iShare looked at issues surrounding these LED light bulbs.
Demographics
Between the 28th of April and the 7th or May 2010 535 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 55.7% of the sample were male, 30.8% in their twenties, 32.1% in their thirties, and 37.0% in their forties.
Many of the bulbs in my flat are already flourescent, in particular the heavy usage ones are already upgraded, so given the current electricity and bulb costs, replacement takes over four years to pay off. Even the most-used incandescent bulb still has a one-year pay-off cycle – hmm, now I think about it, I should replace that one! Read the rest of this entry »
Here’s a fun look at when Japanese feel embarrassed by their lack of English ability, with the top ten moments for both men and women. This survey was, as usual, from goo Ranking.
Demographics
Between the 23rd and 26th of April 2010 1,187 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-base questionnaire. 61.4% of the sample were female, 10.1% in their teens, 17.4% in their twenties, 30.9% in their thirties, 24.9% in their forties, 10.1% in their fifties, and 6.5% 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.
Even though Japanese study English for at least six years in school and it is, as far as I am aware, a compulsory subject in most universities, the level of English is pretty poor, quite frankly. There was some news recently that Uniqlo will make English the office language from next year. I was watching television tonight and they were talking about Samsung, who now sell more electrical goods than the top nine Japanese manufacturers put together, and they will be making English the official company language too. The program compared English levels; Japanese electronic firms set a TOEIC score of between 530 and 700 for management-level jobs, yet Samsung require 700 just to get in the door, then 920 to progress to management, which is pretty close to native fluency. Read the rest of this entry »
goo Ranking recently took a look at a question that seems simple at first glace, why did you decide to marry, for both men deciding and women deciding.
Demographics
Between the 23rd and 26th of April 2010 1,187 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-base questionnaire. 61.4% of the sample were female, 10.1% in their teens, 17.4% in their twenties, 30.9% in their thirties, 24.9% in their forties, 10.1% in their fifties, and 6.5% 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. Only the men in the sample answered this question.
As a cultural note, “Because he’d/she’d decided to change jobs” implies more a posting within the company to a differnt town rather than actually changing employers, and more often than not these postings are effectively mandatory and at short notice.
I’ve never heard the term music SNS before, although now that I read what it is I understand what they are referring to. The survey on this subject was from iBridge Research Plus and reported on by japan.internet.com.
Demographics
On the 14th of June 2010 300 members of the iBridge research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 51.7% of the sample were male, 10.3% in their twenties, 34.3% in their thirties, 34.7% in their forties, 15.0% in their fifties, and 5.7% in their sixties.
I like music, but I’ve just fallen out of the habit of listening to it, so music SNSs are even less appealing than straightforward SNSs! The last time I listened to music off my own bat was this rather entertaining number:
Research results
First of all, seven people disliked music to some degree, so they were eliminated and the remaining 293 asked the following.
Q1A: Do you like listening, singing, or performing music? (Sample size=293)
Listening only
57.0%
Singing only
3.8%
Performing only
1.7%
Both listening and singing
26.6%
Both listening and performing
2.7%
Both singing and performing
0.7%
Listening, singing and performing
7.5%
Another way of looking at the data is this:
Q1B: Do you like listening, singing, or performing music? (Sample size=300)
Votes
Percentage
Listening
275
91.7%
Singing
113
37.7%
Performing
37
12.3%
None of them
7
2.3%
Q2A: Do you participate in a music SNS? (Sample size=293)
Macromill Research recently conducted a detailed survey into the opinions of recent iPad purchasers, and found a mostly positive set of reactions.
Demographics
On the 14th and 15th of June 2010 300 iPad users from the Macromill monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 88.7% of the sample were male, 4.7% in their teens, 25.7% in their twenties, 36.0% in their thirties, 19.7% in their forties, and 14.0% aged fifty or older. 51.3% were married, 55.7% were regular company employees, 12.3% students, and all other occupation types were under 7%. A couple of other significant demographics are in tables D1 and D2 below.
The iPad was released on May 28th in Japan, so most people would have had their iPad for less than three weeks. It would be interesting to see the survey results from the same questions in three months time.
It’s curious that in Q7 that a majority are dissatified with the battery life, whereas a search of Google reports that most people are getting more than the advertised 10 hours out of it. Is it just because it is new and people are doing battery-heavy tasks like playing games, downloading stuff and watching movies, or have people got Nintendo DS Lite-like expectations? Read the rest of this entry »
As a foreigner in Japan I already have an ID card, but this very short survey from iShare into a national ID system found men in favour but women slightly opposed to such as system.
Demographics
Between the 17th and 20th of May 2010 503 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 55.5% of the sample were male, 28.2% in their twenties, 35.0% in their thirties, and 36.8% in their forties.
Some of the personal reasons in favour of such a scheme were a simplification of procedures at city hall and more efficient government with an expectation of cost reduction. Furthermore, more than a few hoped that it would stop people who hadn’t paid their taxes, health insurances, etc unfairly getting access to services. Even those in favour worried about personal data leaks or hack attacks. Those opposed worried it would be used for evil, that personal data might leak, and just general discomfort about being watched by Big Brother. Furthermore, people felt the existing Juki Net system was sufficient.
The national ID system was described as a single number for every citizen that would be bring together personal information on tax, pension, nursing, and other social security-related data. Furthermore, it is possible that they will introduce Government Kiosk Terminals at post offices and convenience stores that would print out various resident forms. Finally, health records would be made electronic and patients themselves could use this information, and medical professionals could remotely diagnose people, and old folks would be looked after. Read the rest of this entry »
With 3D movies now becoming the norm, it seems, this detailed look at this subject of 3D movies by DIMSDRIVE Research reveals some interesting attitudes.
Demographics
Between the 20th of January and 4th of February 2010 8.596 members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 51.0% of the sample were male, 1.0% in their teens, 11.3% in their twenties, 32.9% in their thirties, 31.2% in their forties, 16.2% in their fifties, and 7.4% aged sixty or older.
I’ve now been to two 3D movies; first was Up, which would have been better in 2D, quite frankly, as I didn’t see what I was paying the extra 300 yen for, then it was Alice in Wonderland (note that this survey was conducted before the general release in Japan, and I’m surprised that peope claim to have seen it! Toy Story 3 similarly is still not out in Japan), which was a very good movie and was perhaps better in 3D, although the nose pain from the glasses makes me not really keen on going to see 3D movies if I can avoid it. For Alice, the only 2D English versions were either early morning or late at night, so 3D was unavoidable. Read the rest of this entry »
In this latest look, this time by Masrh Inc and reported on by japan.internet.com, into manga and internet cafes, using the internet just managed to outdo reading manga.
One of the hobbies of Japanese kids in the summer is collecting stag beetles and their friends, so I was interested to see this recent survey from iShare looking at 
I’ve read a few recent news stories stating rather high user levels for Twitter in Japan that I did find quite difficult to believe, but here is a report from japan.internet.com on a survey by Point On Research into 
With LED lights providing a better performance and eliminating the slight warming-up problem in some fluorescent lights, this survey from iShare looked at issues surrounding these 
I’ve never heard the term 
Macromill Research recently conducted a detailed survey into the opinions of recent 
As a foreigner in Japan I already have an ID card, but this very short survey from iShare into a 
With 3D movies now becoming the norm, it seems, this detailed look at this subject of 
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