iShare definitely has some sort of toilet obsession, with this time taking a look at public toilet seat issues.
Demographics
Between the 8th and 13th of July 2009 568 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 57.4% of the sample were male, 35.7% in their twenties, 31.3% in their thirties, and 32.9% in their forties.
I don’t like using public toilets, but more from the point of view of not being being able to relax. I think I’ve only once used the paper sheet covers, but only just because I wanted to see what they actually were, rather than any worry about hygene. Wifey, on the other hand, prefers Western toilets and always carries seat cleaning sheets with her whenever she goes out.
This recent survey from Point On Research and reported on by japan.internet.com into mobile spam found that almost half of all Japanese are getting multiple mobile spams per day.
Demographics
On the 21st of June 2009 800 members of the Point On Research monitor panel completed a private mobile phone-based questionnaire. The sample was exactly 50:50 male and female, 20.0% in their teens, 20.0% in their twenties, 20.0% in their thirties, 20.0% in their forties, and 20.0% in their fiftise.
Note that in May a similar survey found a smaller percentage of people getting mobile spam email, but goo Research’s panel is primarily PC internet-based, whereas this sample is for mobile users, who tend to be heavy users, thus more exposure to sites that might be inclined to spam. Read the rest of this entry »
There was a bit of an overdose last month amongst foreigner blogs on Pepsi Shiso, but this recnt survey from MyVoice looking at carbonated soft drinks found that just 5% of the fizzy drink drinkers had tried it.
Demographics
Over the first five days of July 2009 14,904 members of the MyVoice internet community successfully completed a private online questionnaire. 54% of the sample were female, 2% in their teens, 13% in their twenties, 36% in their thirties, 30% in their forties, and 19% aged fifty or older.
I’m a fizzy drink fan, with my favourite being Coca Cola Zero. The sweetener here is different from the one used in the USA, as I find US Diet Coke pretty poor.
An all-too-short survey this time from goo Ranking, looking at what people don’t want to see from their partner on the beach or at the pool, for both women discussing their men and men discussing their women.
Demographics
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 brother recently posted a photo of himself to his blog which broke the vast majority of the rules, but to save you the anguish of having to witness that snap, instead here’s an extremely naff advert for extremely naff beachwear that appears far too often on Japanese television:
The music is by mihimaru GT, singing “Wake up and take my hand, you could have sentimental chickens”, or something like that. The person with the big hair is a professional idiot who goes by the stage name of Suzanne, and has a sister called Margarine.
Here’s one of these surveys that helps explain something that does annoy me in Japan, namely how change is handed out. The survey was conducted by iShare.
Demographics
Between the 3rd and 8th of July 2009 590 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private online questionnaire. 55.8% of the sample were male, 36.3% in their twenties, 30.2% in their thirties, and 33.6% in their forties.
Two things annoy me about getting change here; I almost always get notes first, so I end up fumbling with my wallet trying to get them in while holding up the queue and the cashier hovering over me with the coins. Second, when getting a mix of 1,000 yen and 5,000 yen notes, they always put the 5,000 yen note on top, so I either have to put the notes in back to front or spend more time fumbling to put the 5,000 yen note to the back. Do any of my readers get bothered by this, or is it just me?
This year sees the fourth year of Cool Biz, an initiative started by the Japanese government to persuade businesses and homes to set air conditioners to 28°C in the summer and to wear lighter clothes and no ties. To see how it has been progressing, Cabinet Office Japan looked at awareness of Cool Biz.
Demographics
Between the 28th of May and the 7th of June 2009 of the 3,000 people selected at random from all over Japan, 2,054 people (or 68.5%) completed a questionnaire conducted via face-to-face interviews.
Looking at the details on occupation, it’s interesting that the government still has only a “housewife” category, not a gender-neutral “homemaker” or a “/househusband”.
I most often feel the air-conditioner is too strong in trains, although so far this year it’s been a bit more gentle than usual. Although my employer makes a big fuss about supporting Cool Biz and selling Eco Ideas, my office this year too is 23°C or 24°C, cold on my skin in short sleeves. Read the rest of this entry »
This fun survey from goo Research, and reported on by japan.internet.com, into taking electronic equipment along to the beach indicates that the majority of people who take their laptop computers to the seaside end up dropping them in the ocean!
Demographics
Between the 8th and 13th of July 2009 1,077 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.1% of the sample were male, 16.4% in their teens, 18.1% in their twenties, 21.6% in their thirties, 16.2% in their forties, 15.9% in their fifties, and 11.8% aged sixty or older.
I wonder if the high rate of butterfingered notebook computer owners suggests that those daft enough to take a computer to the beach are also daft enough not to look after it properly! Sand under the keyboard would be enough of a reason for me not to bother, let alone the risk of a briny dunk.
Have any of my readers had electronics destroyed by seawater?
For some reason that I am not quite familiar with, a recent craze in Japan is Buddhist statues, which was the subject of this survey from iShare.
Demographics
Between the 22nd and 25th of June 2009 553 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 56.1% of the sample were male, 38.9% in their twenties, 30.6% in their thirties, and 30.6% in their forties.
Here’s an interesting little survey from Marsh Inc and reported on by japan.internet.com into gourmet site usage.
Demographics
Between the 9th and 12th of July 2009 300 members of the Marsh monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was split exactly 50:50 male and female, 1.7% of the sample were in their teens, 18.3% 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 the word “gourmet” above as the Japanese also use that loan word to describe eating out, although perhaps it does sound a bit too fancy in English.
I personally only rarely used Guru-navi (an abbreviation of an approximation of “gourmet navigation”), and only when I have a specific restaurant in mind and want to check for discount coupons! They have a small English sub-site, if you want to check that out – note none of the others linked below have an English version. Read the rest of this entry »
Skype, a mostly free internet telephony application, is one of these internet utilities that I feel not enough people know about, so I’m glad to have this opportunity to translate a survey from RealWorld RealResearch and reported on by japan.internet.com looking at Skype, of course.
Demographics
Over the 8th and 9th of July 2009 1,016 members of the RealWorld RealResearch monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 63.5% of the sample were male, 8.1% in their teens, 17.5% in their twenties, 12.8% in their thirties, 28.8% in their forties, 19.5% in their fifties, and 13.3% aged sixty or older.
One handy feature for people in Japan is that US and UK freephone numbers can be called for free, a feature I’ve made use of a few times.
I’d have liked to have seen in Q2 a breakdown between free and paid usage of voice calling in Skype, but perhaps if one pays for the full survey results one could see a more detailed answer.
Note that outside of smartphones none (as far as I am aware) of the Japanese-manufactured mobile phones support Skype. Read the rest of this entry »
iShare definitely has some sort of toilet obsession, with this time taking a look at public toilet seat issues.
This recent survey from Point On Research and reported on by japan.internet.com into 
There was a bit of an overdose last month amongst foreigner blogs on 
Here’s one of these surveys that helps explain something that does annoy me in Japan, namely 
This year sees the fourth year of Cool Biz, an initiative started by the Japanese government to persuade businesses and homes to set air conditioners to 28°C in the summer and to wear lighter clothes and no ties. To see how it has been progressing, Cabinet Office Japan looked at awareness of 
For some reason that I am not quite familiar with, a recent craze in Japan is 
Here’s an interesting little survey from Marsh Inc and reported on by japan.internet.com into 
Skype, a mostly free internet telephony application, is one of these internet utilities that I feel not enough people know about, so I’m glad to have this opportunity to translate a survey from RealWorld RealResearch and reported on by japan.internet.com looking at 
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