世論 What Japan Thinks

Softbank has just recently reported that for each of the last twelve months they have reported the highest growth in new contracts of all the mobile companies, and if the results from this recent survey, the 37th regular modile phone upgrade needs survey, by goo Research and published on japan.internet.com is anything to go on, Softbank’s growth looks set to continue.

Demographics

Between the 21st and 23rd of April 2008 1,000 members of the goo Research monitor group, and although it is not explicitly stated the figures imply that they all have mobile phones. 52.0% were female, 1.2% in their teens, 15.3% in their twenties, 39.7% in their thirties, 27.1% in their forties, and 16.7% aged fifty or older.

Softbank has been heavily pushing their voice discount services, with intra-family calls being free all the time as one of the biggest selling points. DoCoMo’s response has been to offer the same deal, but only to those who have been with the company ten years or more! I am just now eligible for that, but I’ve got so used to using email that I cannot be bothered with it, myself!

I don’t know if there is a connection, but recently there’s been more people speaking on mobiles in trains – now that would be another interesting topic to investigate!
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This is another fascinating survey with quite surprising results. The survey is from MyVoice, where they looked into the issue of email.

Demographics

Over the first five days of April 2008 14,815 members of the MyVoice internet community successfully completed a private online questionnaire. 54% of the sample was female, 2% in their teens, 14% in their twenties, 37% in their thirties, 30% in their forties, and 17% in their fifties.

This is interesting to see how people use their computer and mobile phone email addresses. Mobile phones are restricted to mostly communication with friends and family, whereas computer-based email does many things.

Most of the new models of mobile phones support not just display but also the creation of HTML email; that is email with inline photos and emoji, but they do tend to chew up memory space on the mobile phones. I can’t really say there are many benefits from HTML email; having said that, DecoMail is HTML email and I couldn’t live without that feature now when communicating with the wife!
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Japan industry has the reputation amongst many foreigners for not using IT to the fullest in the office environment, so this survey from JR Tokai Express Research Inc and reported on by japan.internet.com may dispel or reinforce (is 50% comparatively high or low?) these stereotypes regarding groupware.

Demographics

On the 28th of April 2008 330 members of the JR Tokai Express Research monitor panel employed in the private sector completed an internet-based questionnaire. 67.3% of the sample were male, 15.5% in their twenties, 46.7% in their thirties, 31.5% in their forties, 5.8% in their fifties, and 0.6% in their sixties.

I used to use Cybozu in the office, which was a nice product even though it was mostly just schedule management I did. Last year I had to migrate to the new corporate home-brew effort that is… Ahh, I wrote two paragraphs about what it is, but then I remembered that my boss sometimes reads the blog.
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goo Research, in conjunction with All About Japan recently conducted a survey into the matter of young women and studying.

Demographics

Between the 26th and 31st of March 2008 1,052 female members of the goo Research monitor panel aged between 25 and 44 and who lived in Tokyo or the three surrounding prefectures completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 25.3% were between 25 and 29 years, old, 24.8% between 30 and 34, 24.4% between 35 and 39, and 25.5% between 40 and 44. 66.6% were married.

Note that studying is a rather broad heading here, covering anything with an instructor involved. Also, only training started from age 20 or older is considered; doing ballet as a kid doesn’t count.

The one thing I’m studying, or at least should be studying, is kanji; I hope to sit the test for the next level in October. The one thing I want to learn is the game of go. When I was a kid I played it, but it would be nice to get formal lessons from somewhere.

I am also learning how to write headlines for blog posts that attract clicks…
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Back in Scotland I had a bike which I rode rain or shine to work and generally thrashed about on at weekends. In Japan, though, I fancied buying a bike, but parking seemed a pain, and the nearest open road seemed far, far away. To see what the average Japanese thinks, MyVoice performed a survey into this subject of motorcycles.

Demographics

Over the first five days of April 2008 14,860 members of the MyVoice internet community successfully completed a private online survey. 54% of the sample was female, 1% in their teens, 14% in their twenties, 38% in their thirties, 30% in their forties, and 17% in their fifties.

Ahh, I could talk for hours about the motorcycles I have owned and ridden! My last bike was a BMW, always a nice thing to mention in Japan as the brand cachet is strong, despite the rather more staid UK image, perhaps related to the relative rarity of the bike in Japan. My Beemer was actually a made under licence single-cylinder off-road styled F650 with the rather un-macho name of Funduro painted in an even more un-macho shade of peachy-orange. I’m sure there was a good reason why I chose that colour, but it escapes me.
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When your get-up-and-go has got up and gone, what do you do? That’s the question that goo Ranking asked recently. The answers were also ranked for men and women.

Demographics

Over the 21st and 22nd of March 2008 1,036 people from the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.7% were male, 7.0% in their teens, 14.7% in their twenties, 30.1% in their thirties, 27.0% in their forties, 10.9% in their fifties, and 10.2% aged sixty or over. Note that the score in the results refers to the relative number of votes for each option, not a percentage of the total sample. Only the single people were asked today’s questions.

For me, I find a blog and moan to get all of the negative emotions out of way!
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As mobile phone’s memory capacities increase, our need to remember phone numbers decreases. To find out in detail, iShare performed a survey into mobile phone dependence.

Demographics

Between the 11th and 13th of March 2008 889 members of the free email forwarding service CLUB BBQ completed an internet-based questionnaire. 54.6% were male, 23.2% were in their twenties and 76.7% in their thirties. 47.9% were married, and 22.9% lived alone. The respondents were pre-screened so everyone had a mobile phone.

I can only remember the last four digits of my mobile phone, my full home number, but I haven’t a clue what my wife’s is! I struggle to remember my work number, and I haven’t the slightest idea what my own personal extension number is!
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With the ubiquity of computers and cell phones, penmanship skills become less and less used. To see how this affects the average Japanese, japan.internet.com reported on a survey conducted by JR Tokai Express Research Inc into handwriting and character input. This is a survey I’d love to see in full!

Demographics

Over the 21st and 22nd of April 2008 330 members of the JR Tokai Express Research online monitor pool completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 51.8% of the sample was female, 3.6% in their teens, 16.7% in their twenties, 36.1% in their thirties, 28.5% in their forties, 8.8% in their fifties, 5.8% in their sixties, and 0.6% aged seventy or older.

I translated a similar survey on literacy back in June of 2006. This time almost 60% had over 10 years of computer usage, and in total almost 90% had over five years experience, so this sample mostly contained mature users.

I use the computer on the whole to prepare documents, but when being creative, in particular when forming ideas, I use paper to sketch out, as the limitations of a keyboard stunt my inventive processes. Meeting minutes and notes are also always done on paper as I can simultaneously write and listen better than I can type and listen. Also, if I can’t be bothered switching on my computer in the train I’ll just use paper there.
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Starting about two weeks ago, Japan Today has been publishing video ads through Google AdSense for the Church of Scientology, much to the annoyance of some of their readership. Although it is perfectly easy for Japan Today to block these advertisements (despite claiming they cannot – see the 434th comment labeled “sailwind at 11:45 PM JST – 19th April”), the adverts ran for at least a week indicating that the management at Japan Today prefers the income over any hackles promotion of that wonderful organisation might raise within their audience.

(As a side note, I posted a follow-up message to point out that the JT Editor was wrong in his or her observation about being unable to block advertisements, but they deleted my message.)

Next, they ran an open thread on why people join cults, which more than a few of the regulars found quite ironic considering they had been running adverts for the not in the least bit cultish Church of Scientology.

However, the final straw was the commentary piece published today, Japan in need of moral education, by Peter Zimmatore. I read it and thought the whole article sounded a bit fishy, so I did a web search for the Metempiric Foundation and turned up just one other hit, an event that sounds like some sort of vaguely religious gathering. This caused me to merely roll my eyes, but searching for the author’s name turns up a lot of Scientology-related hits. Whilst I fully understand that there may be other people in the world with the same name as him and I am most willing to be corrected in my assumptions, I can only conclude that this article has been written by a member of the Church of Scientology.

Further evidence from the article includes:

This was a transplant from the world of therapy (Carl Rogers/Abraham Maslow) and their psychology-based influence.

The Church of Scientology is well-known for its opposition to both psychiatry and psychology.

For teenagers and young parents, we need to have a technique that makes them able to confront and handle the defects they have developed and to redirect them to the need and desire to want to live a virtuous life.

This description sounds like Scientology’s auditing process.

Why is Japan Today publishing articles that have a hidden agenda? Is it willingly or unwittingly supporting the Church of Scientology? I have emailed the editor of Japan Today to ask him or her to clarify the web site’s position, but I am yet to receive a reply. However, I did notice that they deleted three comments by people making jokey comments directed at the aforementioned article appearing to be a Scientology plant, which is not a good sign.

Update: Between writing this article and publishing it, Japan Today has seen fit to remove all bar one comment (perhaps they missed that one?) associating that article or the author with the Church of Scientology, using not the usual method that sends an email to the comment author with a reason for deleting, but with a purge that does not notify the poster.

Japan Today is also in need of moral education. Was Japan Today paid to publish that commentary? A more honourable site would have at least left the comments standing to help the reader understand where the article is coming from.

Note: Although I am no fan of Scientology, they have the right to a presence on the internet and to try to publicise their message. It is Japan Today alone that I hold responsible for this.

Ahh, the youth of today! If it wasn’t hard enough to follow Japanese in the first place, the kids are using romaji (roman alphabet) abbreviations that make LOL, BRB and CUL8R seem so simple. This survey from goo Research in conjuction with the Yomiuri Shimbun into in-vogue abbreviations looked at their use and abuse.

Demographics

Between the 25th and 28th of March 2008 533 young people from the goo Research monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The report says there was a 1:1 male to female ratio, but that would leave one extra. The age split is not noted, but 35% of the respondents were students, 30% were full-time employees, and 11% were home-makers.

I think most foreign residents of Japan will have heard of KY at least; indeed, one of the best selling non-fiction books these days is a KY Dictionary!

When the survey questions mention “conversation”, I believe it is referring to spoken language, not email.

Q3 is probably wrong in many places, so I hope my readers can point me in the right direction!

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