From kimono to keitai; research Japanese facts and figures through translated opinion polls and surveys.
Following on from when I commented on my own experiences in yesterday’s survey into mobile phones versus alarm clocks, as promised (threatened?), I uploaded a look at my two alarm clocks:
Please take the time to vote below…
Following on from yesterday’s look at using a mobile phone as a wristwatch, this time Marsh Inc looked at using a mobile as an alarm clock in a survey reported on by japan.internet.com.
Between the 30th of July and the 1st of August 2009 300 members of the Marsh monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was exactly 50:50 male and female, with 2.0% in their teens, 18.0% 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.
I use an alarm clock, I recently received one for my birthday, a cat-themed one that is insulated enough not to tick, but screams out in Japanese in the morning “GET UP! MEOWWWW! IT’S TIME! MEOWwwww! GET UP!” and rather than a lever to batter it into silence, I need to fiddle with a recessed switch, and as I turn it off it screams again “YOU’VE GOT UP, PERHAPS?” I should record it tomorrow and upload a movie…
Read the rest of this entry »
Here’s a curious look at iBridge Research Plus and reported on by japan.internet.com into wristwatches.
On the 4th of August 2009 300 members of the iBridge Research Plus monitor group who were currently employed or students completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 73.7% of the sample were male, 15.7% in their twenties, 33.0% in their thirties, 30.7% in their forties, 19.0% in their fifties, and 1.7% in their sixties.
I have a watch, but only wear it at weekends, as during weekdays at work there are more than enough clocks in the office or the railway station, so why bother? It’s also a watch I got free for Air Miles that has had all its rhinestones fall out and its sky-blue fake leather strap is not really fitting for the business environment, and anyway it gets in the way when I type.
Read the rest of this entry »
In the past I have looked at women-only carriages, but this time I present a survey from iShare looking at train groping and men-only carriages.
Between the 10th and 15th of July 2009 543 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 57.5% of the sample were male, 33.3% were in their twenties, 31.5% in their thirties, and 35.2% in their forties.
I’m not in favour of men-only carriages (although I strongly support women-only) as I’m not really sure they’d change anything; I’d love to know why people wanted them, as surely it cannot just be due to the fear of being misidentified as a groper.
For a sillier look at train segregation, here’s a ranking survey I translated previously.
Following up on beach date FAIL, we have another survey from goo Ranking looking at what people don’t want to see from their partners during travel, for both women discussing their men and men discussing their women.
Between the 22nd and 24th of June 2009 1,180 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 58.6% of the sample were female, 10.3% were in their teens, 22.9% in their twenties, 31.5% in their thirties, 19.2% in their forties, 9.6% in their fifties, and 6.4% 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.
My pet hate on holiday is my wife taking far too many photos or videos whenever we visit palaces and the like, photos and videos that we ourselves will never watch again let alone give to someone else. I don’t mind her pinching all the shampoo from the hotel room, but I do mind her rather obsessive behaviour that extends to hiding half-empty bottles so that we’ll get new bottles the next day…
From her point of view, it’s my lack of planning – I’m pretty easy-going when it comes to holidays, so having a schedule makes it seem just a bit too much like work. I don’t know why on earth sleeping with her mouth open figures in the male list!
Read the rest of this entry »
With Twitter showing little sign of adoption in Japan, and TwitterPoli, a site tracking Japanese politicians’ Tweets, having just 10 local officals and 6 national politicians being tracked, this recent survey from MyVoice looking at local government Tweeting (and other related topics) seems a bit pointless, quite frankly.
Between the 22nd and 27th of July 2009 562 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 56.0% of the sample were male, 34.5% in their twenties, 32.9% in their thirties, and 32.6% in their forties.
What Japan Thinks can be found on Twitter; most of the content is just automated Tweeting of my posts, but two or three times a week or so I post one-liner survey translations that don’t make it to the main blog.
Note that the Twitter usage rate of 6.2% in this survey versus 2.3% in the previously-mentioned survey can be ascribed to iShare having a more technically-minded audience; the simple fact that the survey respondent pool comes from people using an email forwarding service demonstrates this.
The two local authorities mentioned in Q4 can be read on Twitter; the links are Aomori Prefectural Office (ooh, nice background!) and Hokkaido Rikubetsucho.
Read more on: aomori,club bbq,ishare,rikibetsucho,twitter
This recent survey from MyVoice looked at the topic of detergents and soaps for washing clothes.
Over the first five days of July 2009 15,060 members of the MyVoice internet community successfully completed a private online questionnaire. 54% of the sample were female, 1% in their teens, 14% in their twenties, 36% in their thirties, 30% in their forties, and 19% aged fifty or older.
Q1 is a bit confusing as it doesn’t make clear how husbands should respond, given that I doubt that many married Japanese men actually ever turn on a washing machine. Even I don’t do washing, although at weekends I always help with the hanging out and folding up. Given 46% of the sample being male and 22.6% of the sample not washing clothes themselves, that’s at worst roughly half the men don’t wash clothes. Given that MyVoice’s monitor group’s overall demographics are 55.6% married, then it is probable that the vast majority of the 22.6% on non-washers are husbands, and the rest perhaps children at home, those in dormitories, and those who send everything off to the cleaners. As a translation note, Q1 directly asks about the respondent himself or herself, but Q2 expands to cover the whole family.
Read the rest of this entry »
On my recent post on buttering up your Japanese wife I had a question from Galerius about pocket money, so I decided to look up about how much Japanese men get each month. In two in three married couples it is the wife who controls the family budget (see Q8) and she gives her husband an allowance each month to cover his lunch, after-work drinking and other incidental expenses. So, I found a pair of surveys, one on how much pocket money fathers get, and another on how much of the family budget women secretly skim off to spend on themselves.
For the women, between the 22nd and 24th of June 2009 1,180 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 58.6% of the sample were female, 10.3% were in their teens, 22.9% in their twenties, 31.5% in their thirties, 19.2% in their forties, 9.6% in their fifties, and 6.4% aged sixty or older.
For the men, between the 23rd and 25th of March 2009 1,043 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private online questionnaire. 52.2% of the sample were male, 7.8% in their teens, 17.1% in their twenties, 28.2% in their thirties, 24.8% in their forties, 11.4% in their fifties, and 10.7% 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. Also note that for the men it was only fathers who were asked, and for women it was either all married women or those with children; the stats aren’t quite clear,
I get as much or as little pocket money as I need to get, and usually use about 400 yen per weekday, plus charging lunch at the work canteen to my credit card.
Read the rest of this entry »
Although the traditional time for ghost stories in the West is around Halloween, in Japan it is summer as the chill ghost stories send down your spine cools you off in the summer heat, or so the theory goes. To find out what people thought about this, iShare took a look at scary stories.
Between the 22nd and 24th of July 2009 509 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 54.4% of the sample were male, 33.8% in their twenties, 29.7% in their thirties, and 36.5% in their forties.
I am disappointed that the fundamental question “do you believe in ghosts?” was not asked. According to the survey that was the spur behind the creation of What Japan Thinks, in Q3 only 27.0% do not believe that anything supernatural exists. If you do believe they exist, please visit James Randi’s site and find out not why they don’t exist, but why no-one has been able to demonstrate in a properly-designed experiment that they do.
Read the rest of this entry »
No, it’s not a new adult video from Japan, but instead one of a pair of surveys about techniques people use to get into their spouse’s good books, for both men currying favour with their wives and women currying favour with their husbands. Oh, and if you haven’t guessed already, this one too is of course from goo Ranking.
Between the 22nd and 24th of June 2009 1,180 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 58.6% of the sample were female, 10.3% were in their teens, 22.9% in their twenties, 31.5% in their thirties, 19.2% in their forties, 9.6% in their fifties, and 6.4% 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.
This is a great list! However, for number 7, keep listening until she’s said everything, if I did that I could spend all day at it… Number 2, taking the initiative on the housework, wouldn’t work for me as evn though I do the majority (just) at the weekend, helping with her half is difficult as she’s very particular, even down to the colour of clothes pegs to use when hanging out the washing!
From my point of view, her curry and stew are probably her best way to butter me up, followed by a day where not just me, but both of us needn’t do much more than the basic housework. We had one of these days today, which was nice.
Read the rest of this entry »
Subscribe to feed