世論 What Japan Thinks

As a foreigner there’s a lot of things in Japan that aren’t quite right, but this survey from goo Ranking looked at what the Japanese felt just weren’t right.

Demographics

Between the 21st and 23th of May 2008 1,072 members of the goo Research monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. Exactly 50% of the sample were male, 5.7% in their teens, 12.9% in their twenties, 31.8% in their thirties, 27.5% in their forties, 11.3% in their fifties, and 10.8% 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’m pleased that there are no mentions of foreigners in this survey, but I covered surprising foreigner behaviour a couple of weeks back.

Number 2 is perhaps a little hard to explain to non-Japanese speakers; there’s a lot of “family restaurant Japanese”, young people working part-time in restaurants (or supermarkets, etc) who haven’t quite learnt the correct polite way of asking for things, with “I’ve taken it from 10,000 yen” being one example when you hand over a 10,000 yen note to pay your bill. It’s probably similar to getting annoyed at the “10 items or less” sign in British supermarkets!

I can relate to number 12, especially when I see fake Hello Kitty or other characters on cheap knock-off goods. Number 15′s translation doesn’t feel quite right, but I do feel uncomfortable when wifey is talking to friends and refers to me as shujin, master. Last week in the train I saw a guy with a manicure, nail gloss and a few gems stuck onto a nail, but pretty grubby worker’s hands and rough clothes. Kiddy beer is not quite right either!

Photo is from dlisbona on flickr.
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Read more on: goo ranking

A bit of a straightforward (read: rather dull) survey today, reported on by japan.internet.com and conducted by Marsh into news sites.

Demographics

Between the 26th and 30th of June 2008 300 members of the Marsh monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was exactly 50:50 male and female, 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. Presumably teenagers were judged not sufficiently interested in news to bother asking…

In Q1 it might be surprising to western readers that there is not a separate category for television station-related news, as we have the BBC, CNN, and MSNBC, to name just a few high-profile television-related news sites. In Japan, two issues are that most of the television stations are owned by newspaper groups anyway, and their news tends to expire very quickly. In addition, portal sites are favoured by such a vast margin not just because everyone uses Yahoo! for everything, but also that few newspapers put more than a few paragraphs per story online anyway, so by reading the newswires through a portal one doesn’t really miss out on anything.
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I haven’t done such a straightforward topic for quite a while, so it’s nice to get back to basics with this short and to the point survey reported on by japan.internet.com and conducted by JR Tokai Express Research Inc into blogs.

Demographics

On the first of July 2008 330 members of the JR Tokai Express Research monitor group successfully completed an internet-based questionnaire. 52.7% of the sample were female, 3.3% in their teens, 13.9% in their twenties, 27.0% in their thirties, 30.0% in their forties, 12.1% in their fifties, 8.8% in their sixties, and 4.8% aged seventy or older.

There’s a couple of new-to-me sites in the list of hosts in Q2SQ. Lolipop Blog sounds downright suspicious but it seems quite innocent, a paid-for hosted blogging service. My Profile seems to be a mobile phone-targeted blogging service that will make your eyes bleed and your brain melt, and Laff Blog is from Yoshimoto Kogyo, the home of many of Japan’s comedians.

I’m not sure if writing diaries in mixi or other Social Networking Services was counted as blogging in Q2.
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Read more on: blog,jr tokai express research

With tomorrow (July 11, 2008) being release day in Japan of the 3G iPhone through SoftBank, I thought I’d add to the tsunami of articles by adding this survey from BlogCh that looks at, amongst other things, what people feel is stopping them from buying Softbank’s iPhone.

Demographics

Between the 27th and 30th of June 2008 427 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 57.1% of the sample were male, 11.5% in their twenties, 49.2% in their thirties, 32.3% in their forties, and 7.0% other ages. The sample was pre-screened with all selected being holders of personal-use mobile phones.

It’s very interesting to note in Q2 that women seem slightly more interested in the iPhone than men, and in the detailed breakdown by current provider (see original survey for details) I think I could detect some envy amongst DoCoMo users!

One ease of use issue I’ve not seen specifically addressed but which is important in Japan is whether you can write email one-handed hanging off a strap in a crowded train. Inability to be thumb-driven in this fashion will be a black mark among reviewers, I suspect.

Commenting on another blog, I just realised that here about 13.3% are investigating purchasing, whereas earlier this month when looking at all the regular new models from DoCoMo, au and SoftBank just 6.7% wanted to buy any one of all the other summer 2008 phones. Incredible!

I also see that Strapya is already decked out with a few 3G iPhone accessories from Japan!

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Read more on: blogch,iphone,ishare

I rarely use online sentence translators for Japanese as they are usually pretty much useless, although of course I couldn’t live without Jim Breen’s WWWJDIC for single word lookups. This recent survey from JR Tokai Express Research Inc and reported on by japan.internet.com into translation sites discovers the Japanese don’t rate them much too.

Demographics

On the 29th of June 2008 330 members of the JR Tokai Express Research online monitor panel employed in private industry successfully completed an internet-based closed questionnaire. 71.5% of the sample were male, 8.2% in their twenties, 42.7% in their thirties, 30.3% in their forties, 15.5% in their fifties, and 3.3% in their sixties.

Contrary to the occassional comment I get, I don’t use the output from online, or even offline, translation engines as a basis for my articles. Blame any bad grammar on not a machine or other forms of cheating, but on me alone!

I must say I enjoyed translating this one, so I hope you find the contents useful!
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Read more on: jr tokai express research,translation

With the sub-notebook market hotting up, and the Asus Eee PC available even in the big electrical superstores at a reasonable price, making it the top-selling portable according to Kakaku.com at the time or writing, this is a good tim to take a look at a recent survey published by japan.internet.com and conducted by goo Research into home computers, with the column focusing on portable machines.

Demographics

Between the 1st and 3rd of July 2008 1,101 members of the goo Research online monitor pool completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.0% of the sample were male, 8.7% in their teens, 26.1% in their twenties, 21.4% in their thirties, 16.2% in their forties, and 27.6% aged fifty or older.

In addition to the previously-mentioned Eee PC, other people getting in on the market in Japan include HP with their HP 2133 Mini-Note PC and local maker Kohjinsha with their imaginatively-named SC3KP06A. I’m hoping that the Acer Aspire One will be out by the time I pass back through duty-free at the end of the month, and judging by a recent article on The Register I’ll be spoilt for choice as a flood of Intel Atom-based sub-notebooks come out at the end of this month. I want the Linux one, not for any anti-Microsoft reasons, but just that I’m a stingey git…
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Read more on: eee pc,goo research,notebook

I read the results of an interesting survey into how many Japanese had downloaded the new Firefox 3 release. The executive summary is that 5.5% of a sample of Japanese internet users from all walks of life had downloaded on release day, the 18th of June, then another 5.8% have downloaded since. However, 70.3% were unaware of the release, but after being informed of it through this survey, just another 6.9% wanted to download it, but 62.9% didn’t know, suggesting that there is qite a significantly proportion of Japanese internet users who are ignorant of Firefox’s existence.

Demographics

On the 3rd of July 2008 330 members of the JR Tokai Express Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 54.5% of the sample were female, 14.5% in their twenties, 35.2% in their thirties, 30.3% in their forties, 14.2% in their fifties, and 5.8% in their sixties.

The full details of the survey may be found at the japan.internet.com’s report here.
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Read more on: firefox,jr tokai express research

The physical ailment that seems perhaps not unique to Japan, but at least far more prevelant here is 肩こり, katakori, or stiff shoulders, caused mainly by the tightening and knotting of muscles around the shoulder blades. This recent survey from MyVoice into stiff shoulders and back pain tried to find out more on how people suffer.

Demographics

Over the first five days of June 2008 13,808 members of the MyVoice internet community completed a private online questionnaire. 54% of the sample were female, 1% in their teens, 15% in their twenties, 38% in their thirties, 29% in their forties, and 17% in their fifties.

Note, stiff shoulders is not aching muscles from, for example, carrying a heavy load all day, but apparently a deep-down tightness in the shoulders. I remeber a couple of years ago at a work health check the doctor did a quick back muscle check on me and was most surprised to report not the slightest hint of stiff shoulders, suggesting I was about the only person he’d seen that week who was problem free.

I did some research on this topic last year and did plan to publish an article, but I never quite got round to it. However, I did discover one very interesting scientific paper that suggests that stiff shoulders is a somatic response to depression. Japanese brought up in the West report very little katakori, but instead displayed more typical Western responses such as headaches. Another study also showed a definite corrolation with stress.
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Read more on: health,katakori,myvoice

Your second dose of silly Sunday surveys for today! This time looking at what trivial things people end up quarreling with their other half over, for both men and women.

Demographics

Between the 21st and 23th of May 2008 1,072 members of the goo Research monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. Exactly 50% of the sample were male, 5.7% in their teens, 12.9% in their twenties, 31.8% in their thirties, 27.5% in their forties, 11.3% in their fifties, and 10.8% 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’m too laid-back to start arguments (or too scared to try…), but from the woman’s perspective number one is probably the worst one for setting the wife off, and I know better than to get involved in arguments about number ten!
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Read more on: gender,goo ranking

Here’s a look with goo Ranking at what the top reasons the Japanese think is great about Japan and their fellow Japanese.

Demographics

Between the 21st and 23th of May 2008 1,072 members of the goo Research monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. Exactly 50% of the sample were male, 5.7% in their teens, 12.9% in their twenties, 31.8% in their thirties, 27.5% in their forties, 11.3% in their fifties, and 10.8% 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’ve previously presented another survey on why the Japanese like being Japanese, and this one too will no doubt induce groans and eye-rolling within my readership!

Surprisingly but thankfully, most of the feedback from Japanese reading the survey seems to have been pretty negative.
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Read more on: goo ranking,nihonjinron