世論 What Japan Thinks

Nifty Research recently took a look at crime prevention.

Demographics

Between the 14th and 20th of February 2014 4,833 members of the Nifty monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. No detailed demographic information was provided.

I’ve not experienced any crime here in Japan (except getting a parking ticket once…), and I don’t take any particular anti-crime measures when out and about.

Note that in Q6, carrying pepper spray is illegal.
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goo Research recently conducted a survey, reported on by japan.internet.com, into electronic versions of physical newspapers.

Demographics

Between the 13th and 18th of February 2014 1,075 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.7% of the sample were male, 13.7% in their teens, 15.6% in their twenties, 21.0% in their thirties, 17.3% in their forties, 14.9% in their fifties, and 17.5% aged sixty or older.
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Japan is still very much a smoker’s paradise despite being outnumbered by non-smokers, as this survey from Nifty into smoking revealed.

Demographics

Between the 24th and 30th of January 2014 5,098 members of the Nifty monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. No further demographics were given.

You can even get tobacco tea from a vending machine in Japan:

In Q6, banning smoking on pavements (sidewalks for my American readers) illustrates the strength of JT, Japan Tobacco, and its advertising, which has convinced the public that despite Q5 showing that most people are aware of the health issues, impoliteness and the risk of poking children in the eye outweighs taking said children into a smoky cafe and puffing away; as many a foreigner says, Japan must be the only country where it is often easier to smoke inside than outside. Next, banning smoking in bullet trains would be low-priority for me, as on the main Tokyo-Osaka run all the newer trains are non-smoking, but have a smoking room, which I actually think is worse. With a distinct smoking car, it is easy to avoid; with a room, if you happen to get a seat nearby and beside a smoker, their fumes after their visits will be pretty obnoxious.

Where I’d like to see smoking banned is parliament; then I will know that the government is really serious about tackling the issue.
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An interesting, I suppose, survey from Lucido, a brand of men’s toiletries, where they conducted a survey into women’s perceptions of the smell of men in their thirties and forties.

Demographics

During the month of December 2013 534 women aged between 25 and 49 years old completed a private (I think) internet-based questionnaire. No further demographics were provided.

This male age band was chosen because one’s youthful hormones are fading, but are yet to be overtaken by old person smell, a smell which Lucido have named “Middle Fat Smell”, with an associated web site, which no doubt explains that said smell can be countered by ample application of Lucido’s product.

Actually, my wife has recently started mentioning that I smell (in a good way, she assures me!), although I do worry that I am developing Old Person Smell. However, this Scientific American article assures me that in blind sniff tests, it was actually rated more pleasant than young folks!
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japan.internet.com recently published the highlights of a survey by Macromill into 2014′s new adults, where they chose to focus on SNS and friends.

Demographics

On the 5th of December 2013 Macromill interviewed 500 members of their monitor panel who would be coming of age (20 years old) in 2014 through a private internet-based questionnaire. The sex split is not noted, but Macromill usually have a 50:50 ratio.

Note that in Q3 and the pie chart above, the Japanese word for “friend” used is a word that usually refers to real-life friends. Facebook friends use a different word, so the number reported was not just a simple totting up of one’s followers.
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japan.internet.com recently reported on a survey by goo Research into traveller-oriented empty room matching services, and little recognition was registered; it is not clear from the question wording, however, whether they dropped the best-known brand name along with the rather wordy survey title.

Demographics

Between the 22nd and 26th of November 2013 1,082 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.9% of the sample were male, 14.0% in their teens, 15.2% in their twenties, 21.8% in their thirties, 17.5% in their forties, 14.7% in their fifties, and 16.8% aged sixty or older.

This year I am on our block of flats’ management committee, and I keep meaning to bring up at the meetings a proposal to change the residents’ contract to outlaw the renting of rooms through Airbnb and similar schemes. Currently, commercial activity that involves visitors is forbidden, and a neighbour in fact fell foul of the regulations as she was running a craft school in her living room, so she was asked to hold her classes elsewhere. I sort-of agree with the Airbnb concept, but NIMBY! I also think it encourages the black economy, so I cannot approve of illegal sub-letting, regulation-dodging and no doubt tax-avoidance. And having foreigners in our building would no doubt bring down the property values.
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@nifty, an internet service provider and portal in Japan, conducted a survey into attitudes regarding Japan. Each question was made as a separate post, so I’ll include links inline.

Demographics

Between the 15th and 21st of November 2013 5,264 members of @Nifty completed a private internet-based questionnaire. No further demographics were provided.

When a friend came over to Japan recently I took him out to a basic restaurant for okonomiyaki (see the pic above), and he loved it. It was a pokey little place with just the one counter/hotplate and 12 seats, the chef cooking right in front of us, ciggie smoke clogging the air, ice-cold beer. He loved it, as did I, as I hadn’t been to such a simple, honest place for so long; before I got married, I used to frequent a local okonomiyaki shop, visiting at least once a week.
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I’d not heard of the term used in this survey by goo Research and reported on by japan.internet.com, namely social matching services, but once I read the survey I had a vague recall of having heard about it somewhere long ago.

Demographics

Between the 15th and 18th of October 2013 1,078 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 54.0% of the sample were male, 13.8% in their teens, 15.4% in their twenties, 21.2% in their thirties, 17.2% in their forties, 14.8% in their fifties, and 17.5% aged sixty or older.

Looking at the sites in Q1SQ1, they seem to be a mix of work-related networking, expanding one’s circle of friends through shared hobbies and interests, and just plain old dating. I could be interested in the second option myself, and perhaps the first, but I don’t really have the free time or more particularly energy to do that.
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The online English conversation lesson site hanaso recently released a survey into dealing with foreign tourists in English.

Demographics

Over the 29th and 30th of August 2013 437 people who had had the experience of being engaged in English conversation by a foreign visitor to Japan. The sample was of both sexes and between the ages of 20 and 59, but no further information was offered. Judging by other surveys on their site, I think that the sample was taken from site users.

Note that since (I presume) the sample comes from English language learners, I would guess that they are more proactive and positive in their English and tourist views, therefore it would be difficult to extrapolate to the general population. However, since I occasionally hear English conversation teachers complaining about the backward and insular views of their students, I feel the results here indicate that these opinions may be the result of confirmation bias rather than actually representative.
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A popular buzzword these days is 終活, shuukatsu, or basically End of Life Activities, specifically activities relating to tying up loose ends, such as funeral and burial arrangements, before one shuffles off one’s mortal coil, or gets too doo-lally to do so. This survey was conducted by SBI Holdings, a financial company spun off from the SoftBank group.

Demographics

Over the 6th and 7th of September 2013 550 people completed an internet-based questionnaire. All of the sample were aged sixty or older, and there was a 50:50 male and female split.

The survey also had questions on Respect for the Aged Day (16th of September this year) and, more interestingly, on priority seats on the train or bus, and how people feel being offered one.

These End of Life activities are often talked about on television, but mostly with respect to people organising their own funerals and buying cheap plots that they don’t want to burden their children with, but I very rarely hear mention of writing a will. Looking at Q1SQ, writing a will should be first done on reaching adulthood, or at least on getting married – but no, I haven’t. Buying your grave can wait until post-retirement, however.
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