世論 What Japan Thinks

In the west, I hear that Bluetooth-based telephone number and email address exchange is the standard way. However, this recent survey conducted by goo Research and reported on by japan.internet.com into mobile phone address books showed very different habits in Japan.

Demographics

Between the 30th of July and the 3rd of August 2008 1,001 members of the goo Research monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.0% of the sample were male, 11.3% in their teens, 23.5% in their twenties, 21.4% in their thirties, 16.2% in their forties, and 27.7% aged fifty or older.

The main reason for Bluetooth not being used is that it is far from standard on mobile phones. I’ve looked before at Bluetooth in Japan, but why it has never taken off is a mystery to me, although the fact that infrared was already established as a standard on Japanese phones might have something to do with it.

I rarely exchange telephone numbers with people, but when I have it is always one person calls the other that we do, mainly as people can’t remember where to find the infrared menu options! For Q1, my mobile phone number is 090-xxxx-8128, but I haven’t a clue what the four digits in the middle are.
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The physical ailment that seems perhaps not unique to Japan, but at least far more prevelant here is 肩こり, katakori, or stiff shoulders, caused mainly by the tightening and knotting of muscles around the shoulder blades. This recent survey from MyVoice into stiff shoulders and back pain tried to find out more on how people suffer.

Demographics

Over the first five days of June 2008 13,808 members of the MyVoice internet community completed a private online questionnaire. 54% of the sample were female, 1% in their teens, 15% in their twenties, 38% in their thirties, 29% in their forties, and 17% in their fifties.

Note, stiff shoulders is not aching muscles from, for example, carrying a heavy load all day, but apparently a deep-down tightness in the shoulders. I remeber a couple of years ago at a work health check the doctor did a quick back muscle check on me and was most surprised to report not the slightest hint of stiff shoulders, suggesting I was about the only person he’d seen that week who was problem free.

I did some research on this topic last year and did plan to publish an article, but I never quite got round to it. However, I did discover one very interesting scientific paper that suggests that stiff shoulders is a somatic response to depression. Japanese brought up in the West report very little katakori, but instead displayed more typical Western responses such as headaches. Another study also showed a definite corrolation with stress.
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Here’s a look with goo Ranking at what the top reasons the Japanese think is great about Japan and their fellow Japanese.

Demographics

Between the 21st and 23th of May 2008 1,072 members of the goo Research monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. Exactly 50% of the sample were male, 5.7% in their teens, 12.9% in their twenties, 31.8% in their thirties, 27.5% in their forties, 11.3% in their fifties, and 10.8% 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’ve previously presented another survey on why the Japanese like being Japanese, and this one too will no doubt induce groans and eye-rolling within my readership!

Surprisingly but thankfully, most of the feedback from Japanese reading the survey seems to have been pretty negative.
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With yesterday’s G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit survey showing that most people were hoping to see something done about global warming, this survey from MyVoice on the environment explorers these green issues a bit further.

Demographics

Over the first five days of June 2008 13,867 members of the MyVoice internet community successfully completed a private online questionnaire. 54% of the sample were female, 2% in their teens, 15% in their twenties, 39% in their thirties, 20% in their forties, and 16% in their fifties.

I’ve noticed recently that The Register is publishing a number of sceptical articles about the whole global warming business. It’s well-researched (I hope!) stuff, with two recent articles looking at why wind power is maybe not that great and is the North Pole being ice-free really that much of an issue? It’s well worth a read, and not the usual anti-Gore nonsense one often sees.
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I’m gobsmacked that a smack in the gob is considered acceptable corporal punishment by about three in five Japanese! This is just one result from a genuinely shocking survey on corporal punishment.

Demographics

Between the 23rd and 25th of June 2008 467 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a pirvate internet-based questionnaire. 52% of the sample were male, 13.9% in their twenties, 46.0% in their thirties, 31.9% in their forties, and 8.1% of other ages.

I hope I’m not making a huge mistake with the translation here, as the results are so counter-intuitive to my western mind. In Q4, I think the question is what people think is appropriate as a means of punishment for students. Any advice on the correctness or otherwise of this assumption is most welcome. I’m also a bit shakey on Q2.

The Japanese phrase used for corporal punishment in this survey is 愛のムチ, ai no muchi, which translated as “tough love”. According to Japanese law I believe it is banned in school, although according to many people I know who work in Japanese schools it is very much alive and kicking.
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I’ve once or twice seen dodgy street stalls in Den-Den Town (Osaka’s Akihabara) selling copies of popular business software titles, so to see how the Japanese might purchase such goods of dubious provenance this survey from JR Tokai Express Research Inc and reported on by japan.internet.com on piracy reveals some answers.

Demographics

On the 22nd of June 2008 330 members of the JR Tokai Research monitor group employed in private industry successfully completed a private intret-based questionnaire. 77.6% of the sample were male, 9.1% were in their twenties, 40.6% in their thirties, 41.2% in their forties, and 9.1% in their fifties.

There’s actually a couple of problems with this survey – first Q1 asks if one has ever bought pirate media; how many were reporting purchases before they had broadband? I know when I had an Atari ST and a 1200/75 modem, I was regular visitor to The Barras. Second, by choosing a sample of people with internet access, they often have the ability to download stuff for free (or even paying, as the survey focussed on physical product) rather than paying for a tangible fake. And of course, there’s a certain percentage who would not admit their use of such contents.

Oh, and in Q1SQ1, pirate vinyl? Never heard of such a thing, although I wonder if that includes laser disk?
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I’ve got a couple of Nintendo DS learning games, but I don’t have a DS to play them on, but that’s another story. Today’s story is a survey from goo Research, in conjuction with the Research Institute for Digital Media and Content at Keio University into game machine and computer-based self-study.

Demographics

Between the 22nd and 25th of February 2008 (although the results were only posted on the 17th of June) 1,063 members of the goo Research consumer monitor group in employement completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The male:female split was 50:50, with the extra odd person being male. The age range is not noted, however. By employment status, 2.9% were senior management, 8.8% middle management, 10.2% lower management, 27.2% ordinary employees, 8.0% contract or dispatch employees, 13.7% part-time or temporary, 26.0% students, and 3.2% others.

At work we have various e-learning courses available that vary from free to quite expensive, with the company usually paying half of the fees, as long as you sit the exams at the end or complete most of the coursework, etc. I’m not sure how many people actually use the facilities though!

Here the term e-learning means online training on either the internet or intranet.
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With the recet spate of natural disasters in Burma, China and now Japan itself, this may be a good time to look at a recent survey published on japan.internet.com and conducted by JR Tokai Express Research Inc into internet donations.

Demographics

On the 5th of June 2008 330 members of the JR Tokai Express Research monitor pool employed in private industry completed a members-only internet-based questionnaire. 77.0% of the sample were male, 9.4% in their twenties, 33.0% in their thirties, 40.6% in their forties, 15.8% in their fifties, and 1.2% in their sixties.

It’s a pretty low number of donaters and sum they are donating, and it sounds mostly like people getting rid of saved-up points that they have no intention of ever cashing in.
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Following on from some news from the Yomiuri about religious belief, this time it is BlogCh and iShare looking at two types of fraudulent nonsense, blood typing and fortune telling.

Demographics

Both surveys were conducted between the 22nd and 24th of May 2008. For the blood type survey, 506 people completed the online survey, including 30 people who didn’t know their blood type. 55.7% of the sample were male, 12.3% in their twenties, 48.2% in their thirties, 28.7% in their forties, and 10.9% of other ages. For the astrology survey, 504 people completed the online survey. 55.3% of the sample were male, 12.3% in their twenties, 48.2% in their thirties, 28.6% in their forties, and 10.9% of other ages. All respondents were members of the free mail forwarding service CLUB BBQ.

It should be rather obvious where I stand on the issue, but I must admit to watching and enjoying the blood type race every weekday morning at about 9:50 at the end of Toku Da Ne. It’s quite fun to watch just to see if my wife or I win, and the advice is usually quite silly, although I always suspect she takes it rather more seriously than me.

Regarding Q2, my wife was convinced that I was type B, and she knew she was an A, as they both fitted her image of our personalities, but when we had a health check a few years ago, the results came back with different blood types for both of us.

Oh, I nearly forgot my two contributions to the world of divination, My Buddhist Name and brainscannr.
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Japanese weddings are another of these things you should experience as both a guest and as a bride or groom, and perhaps even as a minister. To find out what Japanese want to see more of and less of at these events, first what people wanted to do, for both men and women, and what people wish they’d stop doing at weddings, again also for both men and women.

Demographics

Between the 22nd and 24th of April 2008 1,048 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 51.7% of the sample was female, 7.1% in their teens, 14.7% in their twenties, 29.0% in their thirties, 27.4% in their forties, 11.6% in their fifties, and 10.2% 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.

Having been married in a kilt, the groom tossing was perhaps the most dodgy event for me! I wish they’d quit just about everything on the list in Q2, as the Japanese weddings I’ve been to have been universally formulaic and rather dull on the whole.

The trumpet shower mentioned in Q2 is trumpets that spit out metallic tape; the giant cracker is a similar effect, but with a huge launcher. The candle-lighting involves going round every table in the pitch dark with a big sword-like fire lighter and lighting a candle in the middle of each table.
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