Demographics

The survey was conducted between the 4th and 8th of October 2013 where 1,074 people completed a private web-based questionnaire. 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’ve stayed here:

The video below is of room 310 at the Feigning Ignorance Beaver Legend, although there is a distinct lack of feigning or otherwise ignorant beavers on display…

Googling the Japanese names should bring up more information about the places, should a name take your fancy. Note that all the translations are mine so may differ from their real English name, if they have one.

Research results

Q: Which of these love hotel names do you find strange? (Sample size=1,074)

Rank	日本語	English	Score
1	ホテル　ゴリラの夢	Hotel Gorilla Dreams	100
2	と、いうわけで。	And This Is Why.	99.7
3	ホテルだぞぉ～	It’s A Hotel	88.4
4	ホテル王将	Hotel King	80.4
5	おとぼけビーバー伝説	The Feigning Ignorance Beaver Legend	70.4
6	ホテル　いちねんいちくみ	Hotel Primary One, Class One	70.1
7	オラオラ	Ola Ola (also a call from the animation “Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure”)	59.8
8	ホテルべんきょう部屋	Hotel Study Room	55.6
9	あひるのともだち	Duck Friends (no, not a misspelling!)	54.3
10	ホテル　バナナとドーナツ	Hotel Banana And Doughnuts	52.7
11	ホテル妖精が忘れた緑の時間	Hotel Forgotton By Fairies Greenery Time	46.9
12	ホテル　さりげなく！	Hotel Casually!	46.6
13	つれてって～	Take Me There…	46.3
14	ポニーテールは風にゆれて	Ponytails Blowing In The Wind	43.4
15	キティーネ・ヨッテーネ	Kitty-ne Yotte-ne	43.1
16	ホテルちょっと	Hotel A Little	42.1
17	ホテル松屋	Hotel Matsuya (not sure why this is strange!)	40.2
18	ぼくんち	My Place	38.9
19	このゆびと～まれ	This Finger Stops Here	37.6
20	いつものところ	The Usual Place	35.7
21	フェスタリゾート野猿	Festival Resort Wild Monkeys	33.4
22	どんと恋	Plenty Of Love	32.2
23	きまぐれポニーテール	Whimsical Ponytail	31.2
24	ホテル南の風 風力3	Hotel Southern Wind, Wind Force 3	28.3
25	おしゃれ貴族	The Elegant Aristocrat	28.0
26	やんちゃ貴族	The Naughty Aristocrat	27.3
27	きまぐれ貴族	The Whimsical Aristocrat	24.4
28=	くちなし城　桃源郷	The Castle With No Entrance, Shangri-la	19.0
28=	ときめき貴族	The Throbbing Aristocrat	19.0
30	ホテル　ねこのきまぐれ	Hotel Whimsical Cat	17.4

Demographics

Between the 7th and 9th of July 2013 1,096 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.5% of the sample were female, 24.4% in their teens, 25.2% in their twenties, 24.8% in their thirties, and 25.6% in their forties; there was no-one older than 49 in this sample. 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 found Baseball Sadako pretty disturbing:

Ranking result

Q: What kinds of Sadako would you hate to meet? (Sample size=1,096)

Rank		Score
1	Talkative Sadako	100
2	Anime character-voiced Sadako	57.6
3	Healthy complexioned Sadako	54.6
4	Too fat to climb through your television Sadako	54.0
5	Pigtailed Sadako	53.2
6	Talkative and cheery Sadako	50.1
7	Maid outfitted Sadako	42.2
8	Model walking Sadako	40.1
9	Scent of fresh shampoo Sadako	39.7
10	Perfectly made-up Sadako	39.1
11	Brunette Sadako	38.7
12	Pony-tailed Sadako	35.4
13	Big bow in the hair Sadako	35.0
14	Blushing when your eyes meet Sadako	33.2
15	Sitting in the television and not wanting to come out Sadako	32.6
16	Facebook Sadako	32.4
17	Clumsy Sadako	30.8
18	Comedy act Sadako	30.6
19	Hatred-free Sadako	30.3
20	Sexy one piece Sadako	30.1
21	“Oops, wrong person!” Sadako	29.5
22	Goth-Lolita Sadako	28.7
23	Pop idol group leader Sadako	26.9
24=	Holding a marriage licence Sadako	26.5
24=	Short hair Sadako	26.5
26	“Oops, sorry, too soon” bad timing Sadako	25.7
27	Killing with Kung Fu, not curse Sadako	25.0
28	Slightly erotic Sadako	22.2
29	Concerned about Feng Shui Sadako	20.0
30	Host of a cable television show Sadako	19.8
31	Winning you over with sweets Sadako	19.4
32=	Wrong kanji Sadako	18.7
32=	Incomprehensibly bad pronunciation Sadako	18.7
34=	Comes out, does nothing, then goes back Sadako	18.1
34=	Stiletto-heeled Sadako	18.1
36=	Vocaloid Sadako	17.5
36=	“Oops, I forgot something” Sadako	17.5
39	Broken Japanese Sadako	17.1
40	Busting rhymes hip-hop Sadako	16.9

Next was Research Panel’s Day Research, asking 36,625 people on the 27th of May 2013 which they disliked more; other people’s farts or other people’s burps. This was a surprisingly close 43.8% voting for (or should that be “against”?) burps, and 56.2% hating on bottom burps.

Demographics

Between the 17th and 18th of January 2012 1,048 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 61.6% of the sample were female, 12.3% in their teens, 15.6% in their twenties, 27.9% in their thirties, 25.8% in their forties, 9.5% in their fifties, and 8.9% in their sixties. Note that the score in the results refers to the relative number of votes for each option, not a percentage of the total sample. This survey was for the women only.

I can identify with most of the list, I suppose, and those I don’t identify personally with, I know someone in the same line of business who does! The only one that stands out as a bit odd is number 7, they tell logical jokes. Perhaps in Japan it has a different meaning, or perhaps it is as a contrast to slapstick?

Ranking result

Q: What are the slightly lop-sidednesses of science-oriented men? (Sample size=646, women)

Rank		Score
1	They know a lot about electrical products	100
2	The conversation heats up when the talk turns to computer programs	97.5
3	They prefer glasses to contact lenses	94.7
4	They are not really bothered about fashion	90.9
5	They don’t read the mood and drone on at length about their favourite topic	86.7
6	They are poor at expressing emotions	77.9
7	They tell logical jokes	67.7
8	They speak little and in a small voice	66.7
9	They like computer games	65.3
10	They hold illusions about women	54.4
11	They don’t really get caught up in the emotional flow	49.1
12	They surf the internet when they have free time	46.3
13	They sometimes speak too fast for me to catch	41.4
14	They don’t feel resistance to reading English books	35.4
15	They try their hardest to stay in at weekends	34.0
16	They love new stuff	33.3
17	They are attracted by the beauty in function	31.2
18	They like neatness	29.5
19	They like beautiful women	26.7
20	They run hot and cold	24.2

Demographics

Over the 25th and 26th of November 2011 1,074 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 57.4% of the sample were female, 11.6% in their teens, 14.7% in their twenties, 26.9% in their thirties, 25.0% in their forties, 11.1% in their fifties, and 10.7% 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.

Note I’ve used “they”, “them”, and “their” rather than “he/she”, “him/her” and “his/her” to make the text more readable, I hope.

Ranking result

Q: What painful experiences have you had confessing your love? (Sample size=1,074)

Rank		Score
1	I was sure the feelings were mutual but my advance was snubbed	100
2	Before I could confess, a rumour spread that I fancied them	97.8
3	I thought they were free, but they were already in a relationship	83.3
4	When I went to declare my love, I was so vague I didn’t get my feelings across	72.2
5	Against my sober judgement, blurted out my love in a drunken fevour	55.6
6	The day after confessing my love everyone knew all about it	51.1
7=	I was nervous and just couldn’t get my words out correctly	42.2
7=	I was nervous and just couldn’t get any words out at all	42.2
9	They said they’d reply another day but never replied	40.0
10	I thought they were single, but they were already married	25.6
11	I confessed my love, but was embarrassed and ended with “By the way, it’s all lies!”	22.2
12	Someone else spotted me as I was declaring my love	18.9
13	When I called out to them, they gave me a dirty look so I couldn’t confess	17.8
14	I sent an “I love you!” email to the wrong person	13.3
15	I chose a love song at karaoke and stuck their name into it, but they missed it	6.7
16=	I came out in a fever so I couldn’t make it to the place I’d asked them to meet me at	4.4
16=	I sang a love song I wrote myself, but it put the willies up them	4.4
18	I was so nervous when confessing my love that my clothes were dripping with sweat	2.2
19=	I was seen practising my confession speech	1.1
19=	I phoned the wrong person but continued to declare my love for them	1.1

Demographics

Over the 25th and 26th of November 2011 1,074 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 57.4% of the sample were female, 11.6% in their teens, 14.7% in their twenties, 26.9% in their thirties, 25.0% in their forties, 11.1% in their fifties, and 10.7% 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. Further note that the 125 people in their teens would not have been asked this question since they are below the drinking age of 20.

It’s a bit of a cliche, so I’ll skip a photo of number one, and instead find a different kind of crashed-out drunk:

I’ve never had the falling asleep in the train one, although when I first came to Japan in the evenings seemingly random trains decided not to stop at my stop, so it was all too common for me and other foreigner colleagues to end up quite a bit further down the line than we intended…

Looking at the list, I’ve only done four, honest!

Ranking result

Q: What failures have you had while drunk? (Sample size=949)

Rank		Score
1	Fell asleep on the train and ended up at the last stop	100
2	Threw up in the train, on the platform	97.7
3	Walked into a lamppost, wall on the way home	64.9
4	Went into the opposite sex toilets	63.4
5	Fell asleep in the pub	55.0
6	Spat out abuse to someone older than me	46.6
7	Stuffed my face at a late-night ramen shop	42.0
8=	Fell asleep on the road home	41.2
8=	Spent all my cash so had to bum drinks	41.2
10	Made a mistake changing trains and ended up in an unknown station	35.9
11	Fell asleep in the toilet at home	35.1
12	Forgot to lock the toilet door and someone walked in	32.8
13	Made a drunken and passionate phone call, email, etc to an ex	30.5
14	Compulsively phoned everyone late at night	25.2
15	Got lost going between pubs, on the way home	22.9
16	Drunkenly declared my love to someone I fancied	19.1
17=	Got home in someone else’s shoes	14.5
17=	Fell asleep in the nude at home	14.5
17=	Lost my mobile phone	14.5
20	Lost my bag	13.7
21	Entered the wrong house	13.0
22	Spent the night in a field	11.5
23	Got home in someone else’s jacket	9.9
24	Joined in with the wrong group at the pub	9.2
25	Stepped in dog poo between pubs, going home	8.4
26	Flushed my mobile phone down the toilet	7.6
27	Brought the pub menu, ashtray, etc home	6.9
28	Deleted someone important’s mobile phonebook entry in a moment of drunken passion	6.1
29	Got home barefoot	3.8
30	Got home with someone else’s bag	1.5

Demographics

Over the 22nd and 23rd of July 2011 1,114 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 65.4% of the sample were female, 12.3% in their teens, 16.5% in their twenties, 28.6% in their thirties, 24.8% in their forties, 10.1% in their fifties, and 7.7% 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.

Here’s a couple of old folk giving it laldy on Dance Dance Revolution:

Via Japan Probe.

Ranking result

Q: What would you be surprised to see your parents using or doing skillfully? (Sample size=1,114)

Rank		Score
1	Smartphone	100
2	Twitter	70.3
3	mixi, Facebook, other SNS	66.8
4	English	61.3
5	iPad	55.3
6	Osaifu Keitai, mobile phone electronic cash	50.7
7	Electronic cash (non-mobile phone)	46.0
8	Social game	45.1
9=	Microsoft Excel, Word, other office software	38.8
9=	Console game	38.8
11	Portable audio player	37.9
12	Programming the video timer	34.8
13	Digital memo (Pomera, etc)	26.2
14	Printer, scanner	24.7
15	Car satellite navigation	21.1
16	Online shopping site	20.4

Demographics

Between the 23rd and 26th of March 2011 1,070 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-base questionnaire. 53.4% of the sample were female, 10.2% in their teens, 13.1% in their twenties, 24.7% in their thirties, 23.7% in their forties, 13.3% in their fifties, and 15.0% 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.

All the foods link to images or videos of the food.

Can’t say there’s anything there I’ll be rushing out to eat, and number 18 looks a bit suspicious…

Ranking result

Q: What curious service station local delicacies are you curious about? (Sample size=1,070)

Rank	Food	Location	Score
1	Octopus cabbage burger	Akashi Service Area	100
2	Cream stew-filled steamed bun	Hirugano Kogen Service Area	81.9
3	Cactus ice cream	Moriyama Parking Area	79.6
4	Maiko han burger	Katsuragawa Parking Area	76.5
5	Unshu mikan (mandarin/satsuma) bread	Nihonzaka Parking Area	74.2
6	Crocodile set lunch	Hongo Parking Area	68.8
7	Gabai!! Double Turkish rice burger	Kawanobori Service Area	65.6
8	Conger eel burger	Miyajima Service Area	63.3
9	Karinto manju (fried dough cake/steamed bean paste bun hybrid)	Dangozaka Service Area	62.9
10	Sasakama (bamboo leaf-shaped fish cake) fondue	Ohiso Parking Area	54.3
11	Sakura ebi (small pink prawn) ice cream	Yui Parking Area	52.5
12	Nuki (warm) sushi	Kibi Service Area	50.7
13	Saigo Don	Sakurajima Service Area	50.2
14=	Fried breaded pork with grapefruit set	Kita Kumamoto Service Area	47.1
14=	Tosa ishin (Tosa restoration) burger	Nangoku Service Area	47.1
16	Peanut ramen	Ichihara Service Area	43.9
17	Dangozaka-exclusive Houtouman (steamed bun filled with “houtou”, a local delicacy)	Dangozaka Service Area	41.6
18	Aka oni (Red devil) chili-flavoured soft ice cream	Kibi Service Area	39.8
19	Oyster balls and tiny sardine burger set	Asa Service Area	38.5
20	Weiner sausage rice bowl	Tanigawadake Service Area	37.6

Demographics

Between the 23rd and 26th of March 2011 1,070 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-base questionnaire. 53.4% of the sample were female, 10.2% in their teens, 13.1% in their twenties, 24.7% in their thirties, 23.7% in their forties, 13.3% in their fifties, and 15.0% 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’d bet that most of my readers would feel irritated or frustrated rather than uncomfortable by someone stealing their seat, but I suppose feeling awkward is a very Japanese reaction. The two number sixes are similar, I think. Personally, I’ve been embarrassed by number two (especially if it includes drooling, snoring and sleeping on someone’s shoulder), number three, and number nine.

Ranking result

Q: What makes you feel uncomfortable on a train? (Sample size=1,070)

Rank		Score
1	When about to take an empty seat someone darts in ahead of me	100
2	Suddenly jolting myself awake while dozing	85.4
3	After sprinting into the train just before the doors close the guard makes an announcement about it being dangerous	77.5
4	After almost sleeping past my stop, getting up to exit but the doors close in front of me	70.8
5	Meeting up with someone I don’t really get on with too well	69.9
6=	Giving up my seat for someone to sit, but they refuse	62.5
6=	Getting on a packed train with large luggage	62.5
8	My stomach rumbling	59.8
9	Getting squashed by the closing doors on boarding	55.1
10	Being in a table seat of four but the other three are friends	52.1

Demographics

Between the 21st and 24th of January 2011 413 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.0% of the sample were male, 31.0% in their twenties, 31.5% in their thirties, and 37.5% in their forties.

Although this is a single answer survey, a favourite rice warning for foreigners in Japan, not to put soy sauce on top, gets a big fat zero, and I’m glad to see that over a third are relaxed enough not to be bothered.

Here’s a disgusting rice topping from The Infatuated on flickr:

Research results

Q: What flavouring can not forgive people for putting on top of their rice? (Sample size=413)

	All	Male N=219	Female N=194
Sugar	37.5%	36.5%	38.7%
Mayonnaise	10.7%	10.5%	10.8%
Brown sauce	3.6%	1.8%	5.7%
Ketchup	3.1%	4.1%	2.1%
Butter	2.7%	1.8%	3.6%
Vinegar	2.4%	3.2%	1.5%
Ra-yu (edible Chinese hot sauce)	1.9%	2.3%	1.5%
Pepper	1.7%	2.7%	0.5%
Salt	0.7%	1.4%	0.0%
Miso	0.2%	0.0%	0.5%
Soy sauce	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Other	1.0%	0.9%	1.0%
Don’t think there is anything that doesn’t go with rice	34.4%	34.7%	34.0%