世論 What Japan Thinks

Japanese make lousy travellers, on the whole, I feel, and this survey from goo Ranking into worried before foreign travel backs up my opinions.

Demographics

Between the 20th and 22nd of January 2010 1,071 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 51.1% of the sample were female, 19.9% in their teens, 29.5% in their twenties, 30.5% in their thirties, and 20.1% in their forties. Note that the score in the results refers to the relative number of votes for each option, not a percentage of the total sample.

My wife is a hopeless worrier about foreign travel, especially in contrast to me, as I go with just a vague idea of where might be nice to visit, yet she tries to draw up a detailed itinery. My main worry is whether or not I’ll get a chance to sit in an open cafe on a sunny afternoon having a hot coffee or a cool beer!

Number 13 is due to the fact that a lot of tours feature souvenir shops rather highly. I remember seeing a report about a cheap Hong Kong tour where you had to pay extra if you didn’t want to go to the Duty Free shopping centre.

Photo from slworking2 on flickr – I think his main worry is forgetting his battery charger…
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goo Ranking have another fun FAIL survey, this time looking at what personal grooming in the opposite sex takes you aback, for men looking at women and women looking at men.

Demographics

Between the 18th and 21st of December 2009 1,077 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 51.0% of the sample were female, 8.7% in their teens, 15.3% in their twenties, 27.0% in their thirties, 27.8% in their forties, 11.9% in their fifties, and 9.3% 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.
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goo Ranking took a look at what secrets that if you heard about someone of the opposite sex that you liked, they’d go down in your opinion, for both men hearing about women and women hearing about men.

Demographics

Between the 18th and 21st of December 2009 1,077 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 51.0% of the sample were female, 8.7% in their teens, 15.3% in their twenties, 27.0% in their thirties, 27.8% in their forties, 11.9% in their fifties, and 9.3% 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.

Just to explain a couple, a Yankee is basically a juvenile delinquent, a gal is a young girl with dyed blonde hair and far too much makeup, and a gal-man is, according to Google Images, a guy with well, just look at the fine specimens here.
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Palm reading is, of course, a load of nonsense based around cold reading, but regardless I felt this recent survey from goo Ranking looking at what lines people don’t want to have on their palms was worth translating just for the names of some of the lines that I suspect might have been made up just for the sake of the survey…

Demographics

Between the 18th and 21st of December 2009 1,077 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 51.0% of the sample were female, 8.7% in their teens, 15.3% in their twenties, 27.0% in their thirties, 27.8% in their forties, 11.9% in their fifties, and 9.3% 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 find it quite amusing that the bottom of the list is the pervy line, perhaps there ought to be a follow-up survey on what lines people wish they had. The original Japanese article describes exactly where each line can be found should you really wish to check your own hand.

The photo to the right is used with kind permission from Lee at Tokyo Times. It shows a street palm reader – in the evenings around most major stations you can usually find one or two of them plying their trade. Please click through to the original posting to see the image full size.
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Here’s a fun look with goo Ranking at what moments people feel their age, for both women and men.

Demographics

Between the 18th and 21st of December 2009 1,077 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 51.0% of the sample were female, 8.7% in their teens, 15.3% in their twenties, 27.0% in their thirties, 27.8% in their forties, 11.9% in their fifties, and 9.3% 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.

For me it has to be when I first realised I was older than all the current Formula 1 drivers! The other occasional moment is when I catch some UK TV and see some person I haven’t seen for a good number of years and notice that they’ve aged.
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Well, some of the words in the list have an even longer pedigree, but most of the ones in this list from goo Ranking of Showa era (1925-1989) words that people don’t know the meaning of.

Demographics

On the 19th of November 2009 1,166 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 59.9% of the sample were female, 13.4% in their teens, 20.6% in their twenties, 28.2% in their thirties, 23.2% in their forties, 8.3% in their fifties, and 6.3% aged sixty or older.

This survey will be of most interest to students of the Japanese language, although I hope others can also enjoy it.

For these students of the language, I used a rather good online Japanese slang dictionary (note, Japanese only) as reference for the meaning of a few of the words.

It’s a bit of a curious twist that the only word I (and probably most of my readers) recognise is the number one unrecognised word, kimosabe!
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One of my most popular posts of 2009 was this list of male fetishes, so I was glad to see that goo Ranking finally got round to posting women’s secret fetishes.

Demographics

Between the 18th and 21st of December 2009 1,077 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 51.0% of the sample were female, 8.7% in their teens, 15.3% in their twenties, 27.0% in their thirties, 27.8% in their forties, 11.9% in their fifties, and 9.3% aged sixty or older. Naturally, only the women answered this survey.

The previous survey got a few comments on the lack of more racy fetishes and how many of the options were not much more than turn-ons, so to answer these criticisms, first note that goo Research does try to keep things family-friendly, and second, that’s the Japanese language for you! The English word fetish when imported into Japanese loses a lot of its strength.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this list too. There’s some quite strange items here, starting from number two… One new word, let alone fetish, for me was Adam’s apple, which in Japanese is のど仏, nodo botoke, or throat Buddha.
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Here’s another quickie as I tidy up a bunch of goo Ranking surveys clogging up my inbox. This time they looked at what happenings may you think it’s going to be a good day.

Demographics

On the 19th of November 2009 1,166 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 59.9% of the sample were female, 13.4% in their teens, 20.6% in their twenties, 28.2% in their thirties, 23.2% in their forties, 8.3% in their fifties, and 6.3% aged sixty or older.

My lucky event would have to be getting on the train to find the only empty seat is the end of a row. Or perhaps having a cute woman sitting beside me on the train fall asleep on my shoulder, but don’t tell my wife I said that…
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“Gap moe” is a new term on me, but it seems to refer to a contradiction in exhibited characteristics that people find cutely attactive in the opposite sex. goo Ranking has a look at moments where people feel “gap moe”, with women on men’s gap moe and men on women’s gap moe.

Demographics

On the 19th of November 2009 1,166 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 59.9% of the sample were female, 13.4% in their teens, 20.6% in their twenties, 28.2% in their thirties, 23.2% in their forties, 8.3% in their fifties, and 6.3% aged sixty or older.

I cannot really think of anything fitting to add to this survey…
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The two major metropolitan areas in Japan are Kanto, centred around Tokyo, and Kansai, centred around Osaka. Both areas have many distinct facets, so this goo Ranking looked at the differences between people in the Kansai and in Kanto.

Demographics

On the 19th of November 2009 1,166 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 59.9% of the sample were female, 13.4% in their teens, 20.6% in their twenties, 28.2% in their thirties, 23.2% in their forties, 8.3% in their fifties, and 6.3% aged sixty or older.

Kansai versus Kanto is like Glasgow versus London, just to put it into perspective. I’ve lived all my Japan life in Kansai, so it’s difficult for me to directly compare, but I get the impression that the Tokyo area is much colder for foreign residents than Kansai.

The preferences for dashi broth is something I have had direct experience of – a local soba (buckwheat noodles) restaurant was initally Kansai-style, with a light, clear broth, but for some reason they decided to go Kanto-style, resulting in something that tasted and looked like warmed-up soy sauce and almost undrinkably salty! That change lasted less than three months, presumably because they had far too many complaints!

Oh, and most of the people who get posted here from Kanto complain that Kansai cyclists are horrendous scoff-laws.
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