世論 What Japan Thinks

This recent survey from DIMSDRIVE Research into pets had interesting information regarding insurance, but sadly the number of pets per person were not reported, a figure that would have helped in understanding some of the numbers.

Demographics

Between the 11th and 26th of March 2009 10,501 members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was 50:50 male and female (one more female than male, but she was lost in rounding), 1.1% were in their teens, 13.1% in their twenties, 33.8% in their thirties, 30.6% in their forties, 14.7% in their fifties, and 6.7% aged sixty or older. Additional demographic information included 51.4% lived in a house, 33.5% in a flat, 12.7% in an apartment, and 2.4% in other accommodation.

I really don’t like pet shops in Japan at all; the cages on display are far too small, and they take the animals away from their mothers too early – about six weeks is the standard figure, while they are still cute enough to sell. I remember last year seeing one male kitten that was so desparate for mother’s milk that it had taken to sucking his own nipple, pulling out a lot of his own hair and leaving a big ugly raw-red mark on his chest.
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Considering how wired the country is, with the lowest cost/performance ratio for consumers in the world, the lack of availability of public wifi always surprises me; this recent survey from goo Research and reported on by japan.internet.com into wireless LANs shows ignorance of their very existance is still quite high.

Demographics

Between the 17th and 21st of June 2009 1,079 members of the goo Research monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.9% of the sample were male, 16.1% in their teens, 18.4% in their twenties, 21.4% in their thirties, 16.3% in their forties, 15.8% in their fifties, and 12.0% aged sixty or older.

In Q3 it’s perhaps surprising to my overseas readers that games machines were the most popular device other than laptops that were used to connect to wifi hotspots, but to residents here, especially anyone who has visited a Pokemon Centre (the third most popular tourist attraction in Japan!) and seen the numbers hanging out with their DSes. In addition, McDonalds have recently announced wifi hotspots in their restaurants for DS owners.
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The pink bunny is the mascot character of the not-very-sadly missed English school, Nova, which succumbed to market forces last year, although the name has been bought out and the rabbit has returned from the grave and been spotted in television advertisements. The survey presented here is from iShare, where they looked at bankruptcy.

Demographics

Between the 9th and 12th of June 2009 558 mobile phone-owning members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.9% of the sample were male, 38.4% in their twenties, 31.2% in their thirties, and 30.5% in their forties.

If I’ve made mistakes in identifying any of the companies in Q2, please send me corrections and I’ll update as required!

I don’t think any English-speaking foreigners in Japan could have been surprised at Nova’s demise, as it had been ailing for many a month and it was quite frankly a mercy killing when the rabbit finally shuffled off this mortal coil.
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The headline figure is not really surprising to me, partially because it has taken so long to get a survey out on the new search engine Bing from Microsoft, this one being conducted by iBridge Research Plus and reported on by japan.internet.com.

Demographics

On the 22nd of June 2009 300 members of the iBridge monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. There was no split by the the sexes listed for some reason, but 12.0% of the respondents were in their twenties, 36.0% in their thirties, 37.3% in their forties, 10.3% in their fifties, and 4.7% in their sixties.

I’ve tried Bing a few times, but I suppose I’m just too much of a Google fan to look objectively at it.

As for the name, the first thing I think of is a bing, a mountain of slag from a coal mine. The second is Bing Hitler, who now seems to be doing rather nice for himself as a host on a US late-night chat show.
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Or wife, or boyfriend or husband, as the case may be, according to this recent survey from goo Ranking into what one wants to say to one’s partner, but cannot, for both men to women and women to men.

Demographics

Between the 21st and 25th of May 2009 1,082 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 51.4% of the sample were male, 7.3% were in their teens, 16.0% in their twenties, 28.1% in their thirties, 27.9% in their forties, 10.8% in their fifties, and 9.9% 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 think the biggest one for me is being able to have a rest at the weekends, followed by getting to bed a bit earlier – no, not that meaning, although by having too many late nights… ahh, my mother reads my blog so I’d better stop now!

I’m sure I translated a similar survey a couple of years ago, but I cannot find it for now.
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First, an apology for What Japan Thinks being down again earlier today. I’ve got something strange going on at my host.

Now, on to the survey; MyVoice took a look at email newsletter usage.

Demographics

Over the first five days of June 2009 14,939 members of the MyVoice internet community successfully completed a private online questionnaire. 54% of the sample were female, 1% in their teens, 15% in their twenties, 37% in their thirties, 29% in their forties, and 18% aged fifty or older.

I am probably signed up to about ten or so newsletters, but most of them I don’t look at. About the only one I really do pay attention to is from Flying Blue (KLM and Air France mileage card) as they quite often have decent promotional offers. My wife also forwards the Mister Donuts mail to me which usually has nice discount coupons.
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• Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-06-21: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-06-14: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-06.. http://tinyurl.com/ndr32m #
• Top three people on telly you want as father: 1. Tokoro George; 2. Sekine Tsutomu; 3. Gussan #
• Liked local ramen: 1. Hakata 35%; 2. Sapporo 34%; 3. Kitakata 18%; 4. Tokyo, Kumamoto 8%; 6. Yokohama 7% (goo Research) #
• Japanese women and online shopping for cosmetics: Although this survey from iBridge Research Plus and reported o.. http://tinyurl.com/mfzo38 #
• Standby blog topics in Japan: Yesterday was Sunday, but I was all jet-lagged, so please forgive me this post of .. http://tinyurl.com/nqzbcx #
• Coping with stress in Japan: If I’d translated this one yesterday I could have been all nice and happy and.. http://tinyurl.com/lpgldq #
• Virus software in Japan: There’s nothing really startlingly new from this recent survey into security soft.. http://tinyurl.com/mnqw6p #
• Faffing about on mobile phones in Japan: I do like the word faffing, but a more literal and correct translation .. http://tinyurl.com/ltohud #
• Mobiles while mobile in Japan: Despite a law being passed to forbid the use of mobiles while driving cars or rid.. http://tinyurl.com/lma7xa #

Despite a law being passed to forbid the use of mobiles while driving cars or riding bicycles, even the casual observer will see that the law is not being adhered to. To try to quantify how much, Point On Research conducted a survey reported on by japan.internet.com into mobile phone use while on the move.

Demographics

On the 16th of June 2009 800 members of the Point On monitor group who were heavy users of mobile phones completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was exactly 50:50 male and female, 25.0% in their teens, 25.0% in their twenties, 25.0% in their thirties, and 25.0% in their forties.

From my casual observations as a pedestrian, I am not terribly surprised at these numbers, although I am surprised by the amount of people admitting that they are doing it.

One could argue in Q1SQ2 that perhaps many of the phone talkers are using hands-free equipment, I suppose, but sadly it doesn’t distinguish between the two options.
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I do like the word faffing, but a more literal and correct translation of the title of this survey from MyVoice would be filling free time with mobile content.

Demographics

Over the first five days of June 2009 exactly 15,000 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, 36% in their thirties, 29% in their forties, and 18% aged fifty or older.

I save up all my faffing about for the PC internet; the only mobile internet I use is the very occasional dictionary and the even more occasional downloading of deco-mail artwork.

I must apologise for Q6, as it’s a horribly convoluted question, but I hope it makes sense!
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There’s nothing really startlingly new from this recent survey into security software from goo Research and reported on by japan.internet.com, but I’ll translate it anyway.

Demographics

Between the 11th and 15th of June 2009 1,083 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.0% of the sample were male, 16.3% in their tweens, 18.4% in their twenties, 20.9% in their thirties, 16.3% in their forties, 15.8% in their fifties, and 12.3% aged sixty or older.

In Q2, it would have been useful to know if any of the people with viruses got them despite having virus software installed.

In Q2SQ, it’s interesting that so many used free software to remove the infection – I wonder how many only discovered they were infected when the bot scanner from Windows Update ran? You may wish to cross-reference this with another survey earlier this year that discovered a large number of people pay for security software.
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