世論 What Japan Thinks

The Cabinet Office of Japan recengtly conducted a survey looking at care robots.

Demographics

Between the 1st and 11th of August 2013 3,000 members of the public with Japanese nationality were randomly selected. 1,842 of them (61.4%) chose to answer the questionnaire at face-to-face interviews. Further demographic breakdown was not provided.

Before you get the idea of robo-nurses into your head, as can be seen in the preamble to Q4 it is more just technology to assist the carer and the cared-for rather than the science-fiction image of autonomous androids tending to their human wards.
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With the IOC decision this weekend, DIMSDRIVE Research published their survey on 2020 Olympics and bid activities, finding that although one in three are ambivalent about the whole affair, three to one of the remaining two-thirds favour it.

Demographics

Between the 6th and 19th of August 2013 7,311 members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 58.8% of the sample were male, 4.6% were in their teens and twenties, 16.4% in their thirties, 31.7% in their forties, 26.9% in their fifties, 14.9% in their sixties, and 5.6% aged seventy or older. Unfortunately, there was no breakdown of the area of residence of the respondents, but DIMSDRIVE usually has around 40% from the Tokyo and surrounding Kanto area.

I’m personally in favour of the bid, partially out of a desire to feel schadenfreude towards those I find are campaigning against Tokyo due to personal dislike of Japan or due to excessive Fukushima-related scaremongering. Indeed, I suspect that the deciding factor will be whether science can triumph over nuclear irrationality, but I also worry that the Japanese team will not be very good at getting the scientific, factual case across.
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There’s been a lot of surveys over the past few years about single Japanese and their widespread disinterest in matters of love, so as another datapoint I present this survey from the Nikkei newspaper (Japan’s Financial Times) into single working women’s real love situation.

Demographics

During the month of June 430 single female readers of the Nikkei newspaper aged in their twenties or thirties completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The average age was 32.9 years old, the average salary was 3,077,000 yen, and the average number of people they had had a relationship with was 3.6.

A colleague at work would fall into the sample demographic above (perhaps she even did answer it!) and the impression I get from what she talks about and her Facebook posts is that she’s far too into girls’ nights out to be bothered with all this love nonsense. On the other hand, Japanese seem to keep their relationships secret, so I can’t say I know what is really going on!
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Pet Soken, a pet insurance arm of PETOFFICE, recently conducted a survey into pets and babies, in particular to see how parents allow them to interact.

Demographics

Between the 5th of June and the 2nd of July 2013 730 people completed a survey available on Pet Soken’s pages and requiring a Facebook login to prevent multiple answers. 64.0% of the sample were female, but no further demographic data was offered.

Not having a baby, I cannot answer from experience, although I would probably go for the not paying much attention to cleanliness or anything else. On the other hand, my wife would probably tick every box in Q2!
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A service which is seeing rapid introduction in Japan is car sharing services, the subject of this survey by goo Research and reported on by japan.internet.com.

Demographics

Between the 5th and 9th of July 2013 1,100 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 54.1% of the sample were male, 13/7% in their teens, 15.3% in their twenties, 21.2% in their thirties, 17.7% in their forties, 14.8% in their fifties, and 17.3% aged sixty or older.

I’d love one of the two parking areas near my house run by Times Parking to start offering their car-sharing service; a friend of mine who recently had one open near her said she was looking forward to being able to buy beer by the case instead of by the six-pack…
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With the Japanese summer comes Cool Biz (and Ultra Cool Biz), an energy-saving initiative where everyone is encouraged to turn their air conditioning to 28 degrees and wear lighter and more casual clothes in the office. Shiseido, a cosmetics company, conducted a survey into awareness of smells in the workplace to see, amongst other things, if sweat was a source of stress.

Demographics

Over the 27th and 28th of March 2013, 1,248 business persons living in Tokyo and Osaka and their surrounding areas were interviewed. The ages ranged from 20 to 59 years old, but no further information was provided.

I probably sweat the most in the office; my problem with commuting is usually far too cold a carriage!

This year I’m trying out Uniqlo’s AIRism underneath my work shirts. So far they feel great, and they stop my back sweat soaking into my shirt, but I’ll wait until it gets a lot hotter before delivering my final verdict. Its odour neutralising properties, however, are no match for my underarms!
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Neo Marketing recently conducted a survey, reported on by japan.internet.com, into seniors and cars, targeting the over 60 age group.

Demographics

Between the 16th and 20th of May 2013 500 male and female car licence holders between the ages of 60 and 79 years old completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The respondents were drawn from Neo Marketing’s monitor panel, presumably.

I think the Daihatsu system (Toyota also has the same feature?) has an excellent feature that detects trying to run over a curb or block when starting to move, to assist people who would otherwise mash the wrong pedal and drive through a shop window and other such accidents that we often hear of.

I don’t like many of the collision avoidance advertisements, though, as they seem to suggest that one doesn’t really need to pay much attention when driving.
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japan,internet.com recently reported on a survey by goo Research into mobile phones in daily life, concentrating in the article on the use of mobile phones when walking and cycling.

Demographics

Between the 14th and 17th of March 2013 1,071 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.8% of the sample were male, 16.8% in their teens, 18.4% in their twenties, 21.3% in their thirties, 16.4% in their forties, 15.4% in their fifties, and 11.7% aged sixty or older.

This is a quite timely survey, as just a couple of days ago there was the news that a 10-year-old boy fell off a Tokyo station platform while using his mobile phone.
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japan.internet.com recently reported on a survey by Rakuten Research into older men’s awareness of housework.

Demographics

Over the 16th and 17th of May 2013 400 male members of Rakuten Research aged between 50 and 69 years old completed a private internet-based questionnaire. Exactly 25.0% were in each age band 50 to 54, 55 to 59, 60 to 64 and 65 to 69 years old. Furthermore 40.2% were retired, and 69.5% appear to be married.

For my own part, I manage about an hour of housework per weekday, usually doing some shopping on the way home, washing the dishes and folding up the drying. At the weekends, it’s probably closer to two hours as I help with hanging up the washing and airing the quilts.
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The site t-news Web, a site for university students that claims to have over 30,000 subscribers from the Tokyo area, with a high percentage of them being medical students from Tokyo and Waseda Universities, took a look at underage drinking by university students.

Demographics

Over the 20th and 21th of April 2013 323 undergraduate and postgraduate students completed an internet-based questionnaire. 51% of the sample were male, and 25% were from Tokyo University, 16% from Waseda University, 14% from Keio University, 3% from Hitotsubashi University, and 42% from other.

Judging by other forums, asking about the drinking age and carding is a common question for people planning to come to Japan, so as far as I am aware from other people’s input, there is very little if any checking of credentials except perhaps at night clubs. Most convenience stores and supermarkets, however, when you buy booze the till pops up a message on a screen asking you to confirm if you are 20 years old, usually both in English and Japanese. I’ve not actually bought any booze outside a pub for years, but it appears that there is no “NO” button on the till, so unless you shop in a school uniform no-one quite frankly bothers.
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