世論 What Japan Thinks

This rather fun survey from goo Research, reported on by japan.internet.com, looked at mobile phones, with the focus of the article being phones and bedtime.

Demographics

Over the 18th and 19th of December 2008 1,082 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.8% of the sample were male, 16.2% in their teens, 18.3% in their twenties, 21.2% in their thirties, 16.2% in their forties, 16.0% in their fifties, and 12.1% aged sixty or older.

Remember that a previous survey has shown that over two in five use their mobiles as alarm clocks, so that will affect where people put their mobile phones.

My phone sits on a desk in another room, but my wife’s on a desk out of reach in the bedroom as she does use it as an alarm clock.
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[part 1] [part 2] [part 3]

This extremely detailed survey from goo Research in conjunction with the NTT DATA Institute of Management Consulting, Inc looked at old people and computer and internet usage, and comparing these habits with that of younger people.

Demographics

Between the 12th and 16th of September 2008 1,064 members of the goo Research monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 67.5% of the sample were male, 0.9% in their teens, 7.0% in their twenties, 17.4% in their thirties, 12.5% in their forties, 6.0% in their fifties, and 56.1% aged sixty or older. Note that everyone in the sample had access to a computer and has signed up to goo Research as a monitor, so please be aware of that before extrapolating the behaviour observed here to the general population of Japan.

In Q13, I hope the tiny percentage applying security patches excludes those getting pushed Windows updates automatically, and similarly I hope there are a lot of people unaware that their Windows firewall is on. I also wonder what the overlap between those with local anti-virus and those with their service provider’s virus scanning is. Most providers offer the scanning only as a premium service, even though solutions like AVG anti-virus will do everything for free.

In Q16 it is entertaining to see that the only things old folk do on line more than their juniors is share trading, dating, and Second Life!
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[part 1] [part 2] [part 3]

This extremely detailed survey from goo Research in conjunction with the NTT DATA Institute of Management Consulting, Inc looked at old people and computer and internet usage, and comparing these habits with that of younger people.

Demographics

Between the 12th and 16th of September 2008 1,064 members of the goo Research monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 67.5% of the sample were male, 0.9% in their teens, 7.0% in their twenties, 17.4% in their thirties, 12.5% in their forties, 6.0% in their fifties, and 56.1% aged sixty or older. Note that everyone in the sample had access to a computer and has signed up to goo Research as a monitor, so please be aware of that before extrapolating the behaviour observed here to the general population of Japan.

In Q10 I an very surprised to see the majority of people use a spreadsheet on their home computer, and I wish I knew what sorts of uses they put it to. However, having observed at work how we get everything from databases to memos (yes, our middle-manager meeting minutes come delivered every week as a huge text box drawn in the middle of an otherwise blank spreadsheet) get delivered in Excel I cannot begin to guess what they are doing. The other surprising thing about the figure is that that many have Office installed; I’ve not seen any surveys that suggest anything other than a Microsoft monopoly at work, so why not at home too? Open Office or other free alternatives do not have the penetration in Japan.
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[part 1] [part 2] [part 3]

This extremely detailed survey from goo Research in conjunction with the NTT DATA Institute of Management Consulting, Inc looked at old people and computer and internet usage, and comparing these habits with that of younger people.

Demographics

Between the 12th and 16th of September 2008 1,064 members of the goo Research monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 67.5% of the sample were male, 0.9% in their teens, 7.0% in their twenties, 17.4% in their thirties, 12.5% in their forties, 6.0% in their fifties, and 56.1% aged sixty or older. Note that everyone in the sample had access to a computer and has signed up to goo Research as a monitor, so please be aware of that before extrapolating the behaviour observed here to the general population of Japan.

The literacy levels here are high, but as cautioned above one is dealing with a more computer-aware population.

Q2 is curious in that people want most to learn how to install new hardware. It would be interesting to find out if it’s for the curiousity value of opening the box and poking around, in order to save expensive upgrade fees from a third party, or to just connect a new printer or camera without requiring an on-site visit.

Q4, Q5 and Q6 show a very distinct and interesting split between the sexes.
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Although Joe Jones at MutantFrog is arguing that Japan doesn’t need work-life balance, I think it is badly needed, so this ranking survey from goo Ranking looking at what systems people think companies should introduce to realise work-life balance, for both men and women, was rather informative for me.

Demographics

Between the 21st and 23rd of November 2008 1,083 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a privacte internet-based questionnaire. 50.4% of the sample were female, 9.0% in their teens, 15.7% in their twenties, 29.1% in their thirties, 25.5% in their forties, 11.3% in their fifties, and 9.4% 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.

Just in case the terminology is a bit unclear, nursing refers to looking after an aged or infirm relative, and “returning to the workforce systems” is for mothers looking for a new job, as currently they find it very difficult to get a professional post after a few years out of the market. On the other hand, “support for returning to the same job” is to ease transition back into one’s old workplace after perhaps just a year or two off.

What’s needed in my opinion is training in time management to teach everyone how to do their job in the nine-to-five, and all the associated support systems that go along with that to ensure it is enforced at all levels in the workplace.
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This was the question posed by goo Ranking, to see what people would want to do if they had 100 million yen in banknotes.

Demographics

Between the 21st and 23rd of November 2008 1,083 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.4% of the sample were female, 9.0% in their teens, 15.7% in their twenties, 29.1% in their thirties, 25.5% in their forties, 11.3% in their fifties, and 9.4% 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.

I’d have to go with the money bath; I’m surprised “light cigarettes with it” didn’t feature, though, as that’s another popular image of having money to burn. I’m not sure why slapping someone in the face appears so high in the ratings, however. Does anyone recognise the reference in Japanese popular culture?
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This short survey from Marsh Inc and reported on by japan.internet.com looked at the subject of biometric identification.

Demographics

Between the 19th and 22nd of December 2008 300 members of the Marsh monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was split exactly 50:50 male and female, and 20.0% 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.

Just about all the non-special permanent resident foreigners in Japan will have had experience with biometrics as we all get out fingerprints and face scanned at immigration, but this survey is about biometric identification, and as I understand it the machines can only identify people on immigration blacklists in real-time, it perhaps does an offline (2-day turn-around) scan of ordinary criminal records, but there are no reference prints to verify the average law-abiding non-citizen against.

Many of the newer mobile phones have face-identification for unlocking the phone, but even though mine has I’ve never tried it out for fear of locking myself out of my mobile!
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Another difficult word to translate into English is モテる, moteru. The dictionary lists translations such as “to be well-liked” and “to be welcomed”, but I feel they don’t really capture the full spirit of the term. There’s also probably a good modern-day slang equivalent of being an It Girl (or Boy), being able to turn guys’ heads and be the envy of your female friends, but I haven’t a clue what it might be. The survey itself uses just “popular” in the URL, so I’ll stick with just that as I introduce this one from goo Ranking into what people want to apply themselves to this year in order to become popular, for both men and women.

Demographics

Between the 21st and 23rd of November 2008 1,083 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.4% of the sample were female, 9.0% in their teens, 15.7% in their twenties, 29.1% in their thirties, 25.5% in their forties, 11.3% in their fifties, and 9.4% 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.

I suspect the “increasing the number of popular hobbies I have” answer refers to stopping being such of an otaku/nerd/anorak!

Even some men want whiter skin, but curiously getting one’s teeth fixed appears nowhere.

For me, it would have to be stopping being such an anti-social git! Interestingly, being more communicative doesn’t come up as a direct answer, and it’s different from being a good listener or talker.
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The winter months are the driest months in Japan, causing many people problems with dry skin and brings a rise in the sales in humidifiers. To see what the average Japanese suffers from and how they cope, MyVoice looked at prevention of dry skin problems.

Demographics

Over the first five days of December 2008 15,073 members of the MyVoice internet community 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. Sadly, the answers were not broken down by sex.

I get really bad dry skin in Japan, although to what extent it is from the dry air, from aging, or just from taking more care now I’m married, I couldn’t say. My hands suffer the most, and the creams I use are just my wife’s left-overs!

I also have psoriasis on a couple of spots on my legs, but that doesn’t really count as dry skin. Interesting statistics about it is that it is the most common dematological complaint in most Western countries, but Japanese are 100 times less likely to suffer from it that us whities, although my excellent doctor says the reason is not known; it’s some combination of genetics, lack of sunlight, and being an island race that increases risk factors.

Although this survey does not look at the topic specifically, one of the most popular skin protection methods, from the effects of not just dryness, but also aging, in Japan is collagen drinks, collagen creams and collagen-rich foods. I always felt the effectiveness was overblown, so I was pleased to a story in the Japan Times saying it is indeed a waste of money! (Via Japan Probe).

Another rumour that seems to be doing the rounds is that young people should use cosmetics aimed at those in their fifties or so.
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I don’t really know what to make of the headline, but it was an interesting result that came out of a recent survey by goo Research, reported on by japan.internet.com, into internet advertising, the second regular monthly survey into this topic.

Demographics

Between the 22nd and 25th of December 2008 1,082 members of the goo Research monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.1% of the sample were male, 16.4% in their teens, 17.8% in their twenties, 21.4% in their thirties, 16.1% in their forties, and 28,2% aged fifty or older.

Comparing Q2 with the results of the first regular internet advertising survey, I see that contextual search ads are perceived as marginally more useful than contextual contents ads, which is interesting. In addition, it appears people are more aware of contextual search ads according to the last survey compared to content-based contextual ads in this survey.
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