Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last month or two you surely must have heard about the Democratic Party of Japan winning the recent general election. During the run-up, I steered away from publishing polls regarding it as there are blogs out there with much better political coverage than me, and anyway since the election outcome was pretty much a foregone conclusion, I didn’t really find them that interesting.
However, now with the election out of the way, here’s a quick look by iShare at ,a href=”http://release.center.jp/2009/09/1801.html”>expectations for the new Japan. Note that iShare’s monitor demographic is I feel quite geeky, so it may be a bit fraught with danger to extrapolate these results to the general public.
Demographics
Between the 31st of August (the day after the election) to the 3rd of September 2009 523 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private online questionnaire. 56.4% of the sample were male, 32.1% in their twenties, 31.9% in their thirties, and 35.9% in their forties.
For me too uncertainties outweigh expectations. Being a non-car-owner with a full time homemaker wife I fall outside the two large demographics that are going to get benefits thrown at them, and although them promising to cut wasteful public spending is of course a good move (assuming they can achieve their goal, of course) so far all I have seen is measures that put even more people out of work in a time of record unemployment, without a concrete plan for job creation. Read the rest of this entry »
Here’s a subject I’ve never touched before, a survey regarding nail elegance from DIMSDRIVE Research. I found this interesting gallery of nail art if you want to see what it’s all about.
Demographics
Between the 16th and 30th of April 2009 10,667 members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 51.6% of the sample were male, 1.0% in their teens, 12.6% in their twenties, 32.4% in their thirties, 30.9% in their forties, 16.2% in their fifties, and 6.9% aged sixty or older.
One thing I often notice in Japan are the interesting nails that some of the young ladies have, especially when their fingertips are even more tarted up than the deco-den underneath! That reminds me, there’s actually one touch-screen mobile phone (can’t remember which one!) that advertises itself as being manicured nails-friendly – I’ve heard a rumour that the iPhone isn’t terribly usable with long nails.
In the rankings of favourite colours, I’m a bit surprised that black didn’t figure.
Between the 10th and 14th of September 2009 300 members of the Marsh monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was exactly 50:50 male and female, 1.0% were in their teens, 19.0% in their twenties, 20.0% in their thirties, 20.0% in their forties, 20.0% in their fifties, and 20.0% aged sixty or older.
Q2 is a bit vague in the wording, as especially for a portable machine, the room in which it is placed, which implies when not in use, and the room in which it is used may differ. I know when I take my work note PC home it sits in the study/spare room when I’m not using it, but I bring it through to the kitchen table when I want to use it. However my main desktop sits permanently at a computer desk in the study.
Which reminds me, I really should organise the area around my computer desk to be a proper homeworking setup… Read the rest of this entry »
Although when I lived in Ayr I used to go to their racecourse, I’ve felt absolutely zero interesting in racecourses in Japan, the subject of a recent survey from iShare.
Demographics
Between the 21st and 26th of August 2009 545 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private online questionnaire. 52.3% of the sample were male, 34.1% in their twenties, 33.0% in their thirties, and 32.8% in their forties.
The horses is one of the few things that one in Japan can legally gamble on. Rather than lots of small betting shops like there is in the UK, instead there are massive gambling halls where everyone gathers to (presumably, as I’ve never been inside) watch satellite broadcasts of the races and bet.
There’s no shortage of free papers around town, even though it wasn’t until 2002 that the first one appeared in Japan. These free sheets were the focus of this recent survey from iBridge Research Plus, as reported by japan.internet.com.
Demographics
On the 14th of September 2009 300 members of the iBridge Research Plus monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 57.7% of the sample were female, 12.0% in their twenties, 30.3% in their thirties, 29.3% in their forties, 22.0% in their fifties, and 6.3% in their sixties.
I’m not sure exactly what that 2002 date for the launch of free papers means, as when I came to Japan in 1998 there was already three or four free weekly or monthly freesheets and magazines targetted at the foreign market; indeed I met my wife through a free paper advertisement. Read the rest of this entry »
A few months ago I published a survey into home consoles that was rightly criticised for not having information on home much machines were actually played. Hopefully this recent survey from goo Research and reported on by japan.internet.com into consumer games machines, their first in a regular series, will go some way to answering these complaints.
Demographics
Between the 27th and 31st of August 2009 1,045 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.8% of the sample were male, 16.6% in their teens, 18.5% in their twenties, 21.4% in their thirties, 16.4% in their forties, and 27.2% aged fifty or older.
I have a Nintendo DS at home, but it’s the wife’s and it’s gathering dust. I’d take it to play on the train, but it’s pink… Perhaps I can find a suitably macho jacket for it that can hide the real colour?
In addition to the questions below, people were asked what game they had bought most recently. Top by a mile was Dragon Quest 9 for the DS, with many of the earlier games in the series also featuring. The games were equally popular with both male and female purchasers. Second was Monster Hunter 3 from the Wii, then Wii Sports. Read the rest of this entry »
Between the 21st and 24th of July 2009 1,026 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private online questionnaire. 48.2% of the sample were male, 8.0% in their teens, 14.6% in their twenties, 28.8% in their thirties, 26.0% in their forties, 12.5% in their fifties, and 10.1% 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. Note that today’s question is for the men only.
As it’s a while since I’ve tried to sell you mobile phone straps please allow me this indulgence of a high-tech demo of a train leaving Tokyo station:
Between the 21st and 24th of July 2009 1,026 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private online questionnaire. 48.2% of the sample were male, 8.0% in their teens, 14.6% in their twenties, 28.8% in their thirties, 26.0% in their forties, 12.5% in their fifties, and 10.1% 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. Note that today’s question is for the men only.
Using a cubicle is a strange one – it’s not (only?) a fear of dirty toilets or other personal issues, but apparently students get very heavily teased for going for a number two, and some schools do worry about the state of their charges’ intestines, as I once saw a program where a school got rid of all their urinals and replaced them with cubicles only, thus no-one could tell which you were doing. Read the rest of this entry »
With this summer’s poor weather causing a thin harvest of vegetables thus an increase in prices, iShare decided to look at a current hot topic, oddly-shaped vegetables.
Demographics
Between the 18th and 21st of August 2009 538 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private online questionnaire. 56.3% of the sample were male, 29.7% in their twenties, 31.4% in their thirties, and 38.8% in their forties.
I’ve not seen any oddly-shaped veggies in the supermarket myself, although I’ve bought such ones at a farmers market or other direct from the farm outlet.
As for price increases, potatoes and onions are definitely up about 25%, cucumbers are in a bit of short supply, so it’s difficult to say, and lettuce is very expensive, as most seem to be about the same price as last year but half the size. I’ve not really noticed any difference for other veggies, however. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s been a while since I’ve seen a survey on RSS feed reading habits, but looking at the data in this survey by iBridge Research Plus and reported on by japan.internet.net perhaps the reason is a lack of interest.
Demographics
On the 17th of August 2009 300 members of the iBridge Research Plus monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.7% of the sample were male, 17.7% in their twenties, 31.7% in their thirties, 30.7% in their forties, 15.7% in their fifties, and 4.3% in their sixties.
I’d be lost without my reader, Google Reader. I actually get just about the same number of feed readers as web site visitors per day, and if I exclude feed readers who click through, my RSS feed is most probably the more popular way of reading What Japan Thinks. If you’re not already subscribed, check out the links on the top left to see what I’m on about!
For the benefit of my Mum, using an RSS reader means you don’t need to set mine or my brother’s site as your home page! Read the rest of this entry »
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last month or two you surely must have heard about the Democratic Party of Japan winning the recent general election. During the run-up, I steered away from publishing polls regarding it as there are blogs out there with much better political coverage than me, and anyway since the election outcome was pretty much a foregone conclusion, I didn’t really find them that interesting.
Here’s a subject I’ve never touched before, a survey regarding 
A recent survey from Marsh Inc and reported on by japan.internet.com looked at people’s 
Although when I lived in Ayr I used to go to 
There’s no shortage of 
A few months ago I published a survey into 
With this summer’s poor weather causing a thin harvest of vegetables thus an increase in prices, iShare decided to look at a current hot topic, 
It’s been a while since I’ve seen a survey on 
Subscribe to feed