世論 What Japan Thinks

The Cabinet Office Japan recently took a look at the international movement of workers, which for this survey was specifically Japanese wanting to work overseas and foreigners coming to Japan.

Demographics

Between the 15th and 25th of July 2010 3,000 people randomly selected from resident registration information were approached for face-to-face interviews. Of the 3,000, 1,913 people, or 63.8% were available and answered the questions. 54.0% of the sample were female, 8.6% in their twenties, 16.0% in their thirties, 17.8% in their forties, 18.6% in their fifties, 19.8% in their sixties, and 19.2% aged 70 or older. There were a few other demographic questions, but they were sufficiently interesting to be presented in distinct tables below.

I wonder if the last two questions about foreign workers are in any way related to this article from Ampontan, in particular this quote from Naoto Kan, who is Prime Minister at the time of writing, but may not be by the time you read this, in an interview responding to a question on job creation:

The first is to create hiring by such means as long-term care, for which there is long-term, latent demand, and relaxing the issuance of visas to foreigners.

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According to recent guidance from the World Health Organisation, they would like member states to limit alcohol promotions, so in Japan the all-too-common nomihodai – all you can drink may very well be in their sights. To find out what the average Japanese person thought of this, iShare conducted a survey into the subject of banning them.

Demographics

Between the 12th and 15th of July 2010 441 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 58.3% of the sample were male, 29.0% in their twenties, 32.9% in their thirties, and 38.1% in their forties.

The usual nomihodai is when you go out for a course meal as a group. An average work outing will be between 2,000 and 5,000 yen for food only, then an all you can drink on top of 1,000 to 2,000 yen. The menu will be quite varied, soft drinks, one or two types of beer, various fruity chu-hai alcopops and other cocktails, a number of types of sake, and whisky, usually with a two-hour limit to match the food. I’ve never seen hot tea or coffee though, now I think about it.

I don’t think many people really abuse it, although Japan has got more of a drinking problem than it wishes to admit to, I think. I’d target effort more towards the cheap gut-rot spirits and the even cheaper supermarket own-brand alcopops that are about five times cheaper per unit than the mainstream beer brands and under the 40p per unit minimum price that the Scottish government is probably going to recommend.
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With the election for the upper house upon us, although the government has lifted the ban on political party web pages (they used to have to blank) so the candidates are now able to update their blogs, etc, email and Twitter remains banned. To see what people think, goo Research, in conjuction with the Mainichi Shimbun, took a look at what people thought of internet-based election campaigns.

Demographics

Over the 8th and 9th of June 2010 1,079 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. All were of voting age, but no further demographic breakdown was given.

Note that as usual for this kind of report, don’t knows have been eliminated, so I cannot give a sample size for each of the questions.

At least one candidate is ignoring the ban, however.
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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.

There already is a local ID system, the Juki Net system.

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.
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Having looked recently at the computer recycle law, here’s a related look with iBridge Research Plus, reported on by japan.internet.com at printer disposal.

Demographics

On the 10th of May 2010 300 members of the iBridge monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.3% of the sample were male, 13.0% in their twenties, 33.3% in their thirties, 29.7% in their forties, 15.3% in their fifties, and 8.7% in their sixties.

In Q1SQ2, note that most local authorities have separate collections for unburnable rubbish and large rubbish. Some places charge for certain kinds of large rubbish, and some places also try to recycle the large rubbish, although I haven’t a clue what happens to the unburnables.

My local authority says that printers can be disposed of for free as large rubbish, although my last place charged 300 yen, so when I had a printer to throw away I dismantled it and chucked it out bit-by-bit…
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On the 1st of June last year the law in Japan was changed to allow certain non-prescription drugs to be sold over the internet; this recent survey from iBridge Research Plus, reported on by japan.internet.com, looked at the sale of medical products, focusing on internet purchases.

Demographics

On the 12th of April 2010 300 members of the iBridge monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.7% of the sample were male, 13.7% in their twenties, 31.3% in their thirties, 32.0% in their forties, 16.0% in their fifties, and 7.0% in their sixties.

Looking at Q1, the law change liberalised some sales, but also reigned in others, which was what was being asked – Japan Economy News describes the situation in detail.
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A recent survey from iBridge Research Plus, reported on by japan.internet.com, into the computer recycling law found a significant percentage unaware of the details, a category I fall into too, I suppose.

Demographics

On the 19th of April 2010 300 members of the iBridge monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 59.3% of the sample were male, 12.7% in their twenties, 30.7% in their thirties, 34.3% in their forties, 15.3% in their fifties, and 7.0% in their sixties.

The Law for Promotion of Effective Utilization of Resources came into being in 2003, but due to almost no computers being recycled, a new version, the PC Recycle Law, was enacted in 2008. About all I know about it is that it means that you cannot throw away old computers and monitors, etc; you have to pay a fee to get them collected. Therefore, I have sitting in my trunk room an old motherboard and flat-screen monitor that I don’t really feel like paying a fee for, so they might sit there until we move house.
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With one of the hottest topics in Japan being Prime Minister Hayoyama’s repeated dithering over the Futenma base in Okinawa, and with a frequently-appearing theme being the desire of Okinawa to be a nation again, I thought I should look up some data to see what the situation really is. The best I managed to find was a survey entitled “Okinawa Identity”, one which took place in 2005, 2006 and 2007. I couldn’t find the original report, but this blog post extracts some key points from a newspaper column on said survey.

Demographics

On the 3rd and 4th of November 2007 2,000 people were telephoned, with 1,201 choosing to reply. How the numbers were chosen was not reported, not was any further demographic information.
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This rather short survey from goo Ranking, in conjunction with the Mainichi Shimbun, into staggering long holidays (certainly not staggeringly-long holidays!) found quite a surprising (to me at least) amount of opposition to spreading the two annual five-day spring and autumn holidays across a number of weeks so that different regions of the country are on holiday at different times.

Demographics

Between the 12th and 14th of March 2010 1,060 members of the goo Research monitor aged 20 or older completed a private internet-based questionnaire. Further demographics information was not provided.

I’m all for the idea as currently everything is so busy for one week, with traffic jams and airlines, hotels etc charging a premium just because they, so I just end up staying at home.

As with a lot of these surveys, I cannot really figure out the mindset of these people who oppose the idea.

Note that I suspect that the don’t knows and can’t says have been eliminated from the below results.
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Yet another positive noise that the Democratic Party of Japan have made since coming into power is the discussion of a smoking ban to prevent second-hand smoking, a topic that was the subject of this recent survey from iShare. Like many other of the DPJ’s proposals, however, this is a rather half-baked idea that doesn’t at the moment have any fines proposed for non-compliance, and a lack of joined-up government has seen talk of punative cigarette tax shelved.

Demographics

Between the 18th and 23rd of February 2010 411 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.5% of the sample were male, 28.7% in their twenties, 32.6% in their thirties, and 38.7% in their forties.

Quite frankly, I find the smoking rates hard to believe. The usual figures I hear quoted are a little over 30% of men and 10% of women, yet here we have 23% and 12%, yet 19% male quitters and an incredible 18% female quitters!

I think there’s only one restaurant that I frequent that makes no particular attempt to separate smokers; all the rest are either all non-smoking or at least make a decent attempt to keep the smokers at bay.
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