世論 What Japan Thinks

NHK, Japan’s public broadcaster, today, the 2nd of May 2013, published the results of survey on changing the Japanese constitution. For reference, here is the current constitution.

If you read the foreign press on the amendment plans, I would forgive you for thinking the new draft constitution is:

1. Nuke China and North Korea
2. Err
3. That’s it

However, the reality is of course quite different, and the will of the people quite different from the will of the politicians, as this survey demonstrates.

Demographics

Between the 19th and 21st of April 2013 2,685 people were called by computer-selected random digit dialling (RDD); from that 1,615 people (60%) aged 18 or older from all over the country replied to the survey. No further demographic breakdown was given. Note that this RDD methodology calls mainly fixed-line phones during weekdays, so there is going to be a bias in the sample. Also note that “No answer” was an acceptable reply to some questions, so the percentages below sometimes don’t add up to 100% as the “No answer” figure is not noted.

The need for constitutional amendment

The first question was about the need for constitutional amendments. 42% thought it was necessary to do so, 16% that it was unnecessary, and 39% couldn’t say one way or the other. However, when NHK previously asked the question six years ago, the numbers were 41%, 24% and 30%, so it would appear that all the recent talk about external threats like China in the Senkaku islands and North Korea have not convinced a significant number of people of the necessity of change.

When asked why they thought the change was necessary, 75% said that times have changed and problems that cannot be dealt with have occured, up just two percentage points in six years. Next, 15% said that changes are needed so that Japan can play its role in international society, down from 18% six years ago. For those who thought the changes were unnecessary, the top reason given by 53% was that they want to protect Article Nine, the Renunciation of War Article, down nine percentage points, then 36% saying that there are some problems with the current constitution, but not enough to merit amending it, up ten percentage points.

Article Nine, the Renunciation of War Article

Looking specifically at Article Nine, just 33% thought it was necessary to amend it, 30% thought it was unnecessary, and 32% couldn’t say either way. Six years ago, the numbers for and against were 28% and 41% respectively.

When asked why they were in favour of amending it, 47% said that it should be clearly written in the constitution that Japan can have a defence force, and 32% that Japan should be able to participate in military operations of the United Nations and others. 66% of those against amending said that in the Peace Constitution, Article 9 is the most important article, and 16% said that even without amendment, we can change how the Article is interpreted.

Article 96, the Amendment Article

This article spells out how the constitution may be amended, namely that a two-thirds majority of all members (not just those present for the vote) of both Houses, and then a national referendum where a simple majority of the votes cast will be sufficient to ratify the amendment. The proposed amendment to the Amendment Article is that both houses need just a simple majority of all members of each House.

First of all, people were asked if they knew about the proposed amendment to Article 96; 17% said they knew it well, 36% knew something about it, 30% didn’t really know much, and 15% knew nothing at all. Regarding the specific amendment, reducing from a two-thirds to a simple majority, 26% said they agreed, 24% disagreed, and 47% couldn’t say.

Finally, there are a number of new rights, etc that it is being argued may require either new articles or amendments to existing ones. People were asked for their opinion on the following:

A topic that has recently come to the fore is buses and/or trains running around the clock in Tokyo. It was covered on last night’s news as one of the ideas being floated to increase Japan’s attractiveness to foreign investors. However, one major negative issue is that currently the last train home is often the only excuse employees have for leaving work (labour protection laws are poorly enforced, and the pressure from societal norms means a lot of unpaid overtime is worked) or indeed obligatory after-work drinkies, so removing the final escape route could make the average employees lot much worse.

So, with that in mind, Yahoo! conducted an open news poll asking is 24 hour city buses and underground necessary? At the time of writing, seven days into an ten-day poll, 41,587 people have voted. 22% say both are needed, 5% say buses only, and 17% underground only. However, these three are outweighed by the noes to both, with 58% saying that both forms of round-the-clock public transport are not necessary.

goo Research conducted a detailed survey into Fairtrade products. For reference, similar questions were asked by goo Research two and a half years ago.

Demographics

Between the 28th and 31st of January 2013 2,350 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was exactly 50:50 male and female, and similarly the age groups were evenly split with 20.0% in each of the age bands from twenties to the over-sixties.

I’d like to buy more Fairtrade, but there is a definite lack of shops here selling it. The obvious product is coffee, but although I don’t drink it at home, if there is a choice when I go to a coffee shop I will take the Fairtrade one, although again it is very rare to find such a cafe.
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Here’s a curious little quicky poll taken by Research Panel. It is tagged as their Day Research, where they get as many members of the monitor panel to vote on a question of the day for a couple of points. They asked their panel which of the following ways of writing out fifty million yen was easiest to understand. Note that in Japanese, the equivalent of our thousand is ten thousand, so instead of in English one thousand, one million, one billion, etc, Japanese goes ten thousand, hundred million, one trillion, etc. So, with that in mind, 3 ten thousands and 2549 people voted this way on the easiest-to-understand form.

Top by a long way was 84.9% choosing 5千万円, 5-thousand-ten thousand yen. Next, 10.8% chose the longhand 50,000,000 yen, the easiest form for me. 2.6% said 50,000千円, 5,000-ten thousand yen, then 1.8% 50百万円, 50-hundred-ten thousand yen.

By the way, the pictured money is fake!

For my first example of a quick chatty survey report, I found that Yahoo! Japan asked if restrictions on using smartphones while walking are needed in a poll published on their news pages, and from the 37,252 people who replied at the time of writing, 77% said that such a restriction was necessary.

Given that now just about all of the underground system in Tokyo, Osaka and elsewhere is now fully connected, and the sheer number of people commuting, and that smartphones, unlike traditional phones with physical keys, need much more attention to use, the scope for bumping into others will only increase.

This topic was apparently kicked off by a columnist who might be of some repute, Takashi Odajima, who said recently that walking more than 10 paces whilst looking at the screen should draw a fine of 2,000 yen.

Macromill Research Inc released an up-to-the-minute survey into spring storms, as Japan has been suffering from them this weekend.

Demographics

Between the 7th and 9th of April 2013 1,000 members of the Macromill monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was exactly 50:50 male and female, and 20.0% in each age band from the twenties to the sixty years old or more group.

For me the storm was a bit of an anti-climax; we had a few hours of horizonal rain, but nothing out of the ordinary compared to when I grew up and we used to have two or three days-work of Atlantic gales to handle. I always feel the same way with typhoons; they can be nasty when they pass straight overhead and you are in a mountainous area or flood plains which amplifies the effect of the rain, but preparations, tying everything in the garden down, always feel like a waste of time.
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japan.internet.com recently reported on an interesting survey conducted by Nifty, comnico and Lifemedia into social media usage, focusing on young soon-to-graduate students.

Demographics

Between the 8th and 11th of March 2013 559 social media-using people who were due to graduate at the end of this academic year and were aged between 20 and 26 completed an internet survey, but it was not reported how the sample was gathered. 62.1% of the sample were female, and 37.9% male.

Coincidentally, my new group leader today introduced himself, including his Facebook page, and suggested that people interested should befriend him, so I shall do that and see what happens…
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japan.internet.com recently reported on a survey by Video Research Ltd. into characters and the child market. More detailed information was also obtained from Video Research’s own press release.

Demographics

Between the 3rd and 9th of December 2012 617 female members of the Video Research monitor group who lived with a child aged between 3 and 12 years old, and who lived within a 30 km radius of Tokyo station.

It’s an interesting set of results, and I wonder how the one in three or so children (in this sample of internet-using parents) who view or download music and video will approach copyright when they grow up? Will media be something to be valued or just another basic human need that they expect to have on tap all the time? How will they consume television? Will they even consume television?
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Macromill research recently published a fascinating survey on one of the many phenomena in Japan I don’t quite understand university students and their recruitment activities.

Demographics

Between the 9th and 11th of Februrary 2013 300 members of the Macromill monitor group who lived in the Kanto area (Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa prefectures and Tokyo) and were in their third year in university or first year of a masters degree and engaged in job-seeking activites completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was exactly 50:50 male and female.

If any of my readers have been through the Japanese recruitment cycle, please feel free to post about it, but as far as I know, students start around the middle of their third (of four) year to look for a job, submitting their applications, attending job fairs, getting interviews and all the rest, all at the expense of their studies. The hoped-for outcome is a firm job offer at the start of their fourth year, which could be seen as a plus to allow them to study hard for their last year, but I see it as basically making the last year pretty pointless.
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japan.internet.com reported on a survey by TIMES-CURRENT into Japanese women’s hair; although the article wanted to draw the conclusion in the headline, I would reckon it is more that women who are attractive put more effort into their hair. The full Japanese-language report may be accessed here.

Demographics

At some unspecified point in time and by some unspecified sampling methodology, 358 businesswomen and 353 businessmen living within the Tokyo area (Tokyo itself plus Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba prefectures) completed a survey. 33.5% of the women were in their twenties, 33.5% in their thirties, and 33.0% in their forties; for the men, 31.7% were in their twenties, 34.0% in their thirties, and 34.3% in their forties.

I am fortunate that my wife has the traditional Japanese wonderful long straight black hair; well, actually it’s a very dark brown, and she used to get into trouble in school for being suspected of dyeing it…
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