世論 What Japan Thinks

Here’s an interesting look at socialising and friends from MyVoice.

Demographics

Over the first five days of October 2009 13,534 members of the MyVoice internet community completed a private online questionnaire. 54% of the sample were female, 2% in their teens, 13% in their twenties, 32% in their thirties, 31% in their forties, and 22% aged fifty or older.

Even though the sample used was from the MyVoice internet community, in Q2 you can see that only 8.3% form friendships through the internet. Despite, or perhaps because, being an anti-social git myself, I have made a good number of acquaintances through my blogging, and dare I say it even a friend or two, as I have done through my trusted computing conference attendance.

Two years ago I translated another survey on inter-personal relationships.
Read the rest of this entry »

One thing that I have always considered a bit of a dichotomy in Japan has been the overwhelming anti-nuclear weapon stance of the general public (hmm, I don’t actually have a survey on that, so I hope I’m correct!) versus the seemingly quiet acceptance of nuclear power. This recent survey from Central Research Services Inc looked at the second half of the above statement. The survey was entitled living and the environment, so the below is just one part of the survey.

The “Is nuclear power needed?” question is a difficult one to decipher, and the text doesn’t suggest any refinement to it. Given that Kinki’s main electricity generator KEPCO (Kansai Electric Power Co) generates 60% of its power from nuclear, it is very much required, so a negative answer is not a realistic position. However, if the question is more slanted towards “Is more needed?” or “Should alternatives be found and existing facilities decommissioned?”, that goes some way to explaining the 20% opposition. Here is an article on Kinki power.
Read the rest of this entry »

Recently goo Research conducted a survey into private junior and senior high school information systems for influenza outbreaks, quite a relevant survey with currently around 25% of all schools reporting class or whole school closures due to new-type ‘flu, as it’s known as in these parts.

Demographics

Between the 1st and 18th of October 2009 1,396 private middle and high schools from all over the country were contacted by post, with 220 schools responding, a pretty poor 15.8% response rate. The schools responding were 5.5% middle schools, 59.5% high schools, and 35.5% others, chiefly joint middle and high schools. The responding people were 7.3% school principals, 36.1% head teacher or vice-principals, 8.7% teachers, 1.4% school office staff, 44.3% health-related staff, and 2.3% others.

Also this week vaccination against swine flu has started in Japan, but despite having a national health service where most people pay just 30% of their bills, the vaccine is going to be paid for, at about 4,000 yen a shot, I think. Non-priority cases such as myself are at the end of the queue, so it will be next spring at least before I might be due one, but by that time I think enough people will have caught it (including myself?) making the jab unnecessary. If people start dropping dead in their hundreds this winter I’ll adjust my attitude, but for now I’m not interested.

Read the rest of this entry »

One popular ranking survey from lat year was how to spot an otaku and otakette, so I wonder if this recent survey from goo Ranking into what image people have of a herbivore boy (both men and women) and a carnivore boy (both men and women).

Demographics

Between the 20th and 22nd of August 2009 1,077 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private online questionnaire. 51.1% of the sample were male, 8.4% in their teens, 14.2% in their twenties, 26.7% in their thirties, 28.2% in their forties, 11.1% in their fifties, and 11.2% 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.

Herbivore boys have been the subject of news features such as this one from Reuters after a marketing firm identified (the more cynical might say “invented”) the trend. I’m definitely in the herbivore category, and not just because I’m a vegetarian, although I’m sure there’s some correlation there.
Read the rest of this entry »

Rather than just another survey on consumer interests, here’s something a bit different, a look at recent trends in smoking and drinking rates amongst Japanese schoolchildren. The multiple surveys were conducted and analysed by Central Research Services.

Demographics

I only have concrete demographics for the 1996 and 2000 surveys; both surveys asked students at about 70 to 90 junior and senior high schools, getting over 100,000 replies both times, representing over 60% of the students enrolled in each institution.

The remarkable drop in smoking and drinking rates is quite surprising, and I must admit to being a bit skeptical about the results on first reading. However, the survey report referenced a paper entitled Decrease in the prevalence of smoking among Japanese adolescents and its possible causes: periodic nationwide cross-sectional surveys (English) that tried to explain the huge drop. Their conculsion is as stunning as the statistics themselves – more schoolchildren have no friends, thus no peer pressure to indulge in such underage vices.

Photo from Don’t fry leeks,please on flickr.
Read the rest of this entry »

Recently there has been a lot of moral panic (some justified, some unjustified) about schoolkids and their mobile phone usage in Japan, with a number of schools introducing various bans on usage. To find out what kids are up to these days, MacroMill Inc looked at high school students and mobile phones.

Demographics

Between the 15th and 17th of September 2009 300 high school students (therefore aged between 15 and 18) completed a private mobile phone-based questionnaire. The sample was exactly 50:50 male and female. Note that the sample will be over-represented by heavier mobile phone users, so perhaps the figures here for usage of mobile phones in class, for instance, are higher than they are in reality, or at least I hope that is the case.

As I know there are a few people who teach in Japanese schools amongst my readership, I’d love to hear from you on how the results of this survey fit with your experiences at the chalkface.

I find it quite amazing that more students use their phones in the bath than in class! However, the fact that almost one in six admit to using them regularly in class is a pretty depressing statistic.
Read the rest of this entry »

Japan has a million and one Days every year, with today, the 10th of October being marked as Moe Day, Look After Your Eyes Day, Fishing Day, Tuna Day, Tin Can Day, Public Bath Day, and no doubt many, many more. To investigate the awareness of these and other celebrations, iShare looked at October Days.

Demographics

Between the 16th and 24th of September 2009 591 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 57.9% of the sample were male, 34.9% in their twenties, 30.3% in their thirties, and 34.9% in their forties.

Moe, or 萌え in Japanese, is basically the love of cute animation or video game characters, which for me has undertones of unhealthy obsession, and its broad acceptance within Japan is one aspect of the country that I do not like at all. As to why today is Moe Day, let’s look more closely at how the 10th of October and Moe are written in kanji:

As to why the other Days fall on today, I am at a loss to tell you why, except for Public Bath Day. 10th October is 10/10, or 1010, or one thousand and ten, which can be pronunced in Japanese as sen-tou, which is also the pronuciation for 銭湯, public bath. I’m quite proud of myself for working that one out. Finally, 10th of October used to be Health and Sports Day, but from 2000 they moved it to the second Monday in October.

萌（♡´∀`♡）え
Read the rest of this entry »

Even though consumer prices have dropped 2.4% over the last year, consumer spending is flat here, so this recent survey from MyVoice into consumption attitudes in Japan is very timely. Also, today I read an interesting article on Observing Japan about amongst other things how Keynesian economics says consumption is the key to economic growth, but after ten years of uncertainty in Japan, how can the DPJ pry open people’s wallets?

Demographics

Over the first five days of September 2009 14,139 members of the MyVoice internet community completed a private online questionnaire. 54% of the sample were female, 2% in their teens, 14% in their twenties, 34% in their thirties, 30% in their forties, and 20% aged fifty or older.

I’m all too aware of cutting back and delaying spending, not helped by having a 30% cut in bonuses in the summer, which meant that there was very little money left over after paying the bonus portion of the mortgage. Our home washing machine is liable to conk out at any moment with the drum disintegrating, the buttons losing their responsiveness, and the spin cycle making funny noises, but… The rice cooker pot is also way past replacement time, and the microwave’s been a bit dodgy too… If only I had ten times as many visitors I could easily pay it all off! Anyone want to buy an advertisement on What Japan Thinks?
Read the rest of this entry »

The government of Japan may have changed, but the Cabinet Office Japan surveys are carrying on – it’ll be interesting to see if I can detect a change in tone in the questions. This survey was entitled a built environment for pedestrians, but also covered most other local transport means.

Demographics

Between the 16th of July and the 2nd of August 2009 5,000 members of the public were selected at random to complete the survey; 3,157 people, or 63.1%, agreed to cooperate. 54.4% of this sample were female, 7.8% in their twenties, 14.3% in their thirties, 17.1% in their forties, 19.8% in their fifties, 23.4% in their sixties, and 17.6% aged seventy or older. Additionally, 46.1% were employed, 11.6% were self-employed, 3.0% were home workers, and 39.3% were unemployed, including students and housewives, who made up 60.9% of that 39.3%. Finally, 47.8% drove some form of motorised transport almost every day, 15.7% several times a week, 7.3% several times a month, 8.3% had a licence but didn’t drive, and 20.9% did not have a licence.

For me, to walk or cycle to the shops involves traversing an exceptionally steep hill and a bit of pavement-free road, whereas instead my train season ticket allows me to hop on a train and ride one stop down the line to get right into my suburban town centre.
Read the rest of this entry »

The government of Japan may have changed, but the Cabinet Office Japan surveys are carrying on – it’ll be interesting to see if I can detect a change in tone in the questions. This survey was entitled a built environment for pedestrians, but also covered most other local transport means.

Demographics

Between the 16th of July and the 2nd of August 2009 5,000 members of the public were selected at random to complete the survey; 3,157 people, or 63.1%, agreed to cooperate. 54.4% of this sample were female, 7.8% in their twenties, 14.3% in their thirties, 17.1% in their forties, 19.8% in their fifties, 23.4% in their sixties, and 17.6% aged seventy or older. Additionally, 46.1% were employed, 11.6% were self-employed, 3.0% were home workers, and 39.3% were unemployed, including students and housewives, who made up 60.9% of that 39.3%. Finally, 47.8% drove some form of motorised transport almost every day, 15.7% several times a week, 7.3% several times a month, 8.3% had a licence but didn’t drive, and 20.9% did not have a licence.

I have a licence but rent a car about once every two months or so, so I don’t really know where I would fall in the demographic question above. I also managed to get a fixed penalty parking fine (15,000 yen!) last weekend, but that’s another story.

My commute is train only – my home is one minute from the station, work is two minutes away at the other end, so I cannot see any point in having a car.
Read the rest of this entry »