世論 What Japan Thinks

I’m personally not convinced that natsu-bate, fatigue brought on by the summer heat, really does exist as a diagnosable illness, or whether it is just another thing the Japanese like to complain about, just like stiff shoulders. Regardless of whether it is real or not, here comes another slighly incongruous double-header from goo Research, conducted in conjunction with the Yomiuri Shimbun, looking at both the upcoming upper house elections and the summer heat.

Demographics

Between the 22nd and 24th of June 2007 546 people in their teens to their thirties who were members of the goo Research monitor group completed an internet-based questionnaire. The group was split 50:50 male and female, and 37% attended school or university, 26% were full-time company employees, and 13% were homemakers. More detailed information was not presented.

I’m not particularly surprised by Junichiro Koizumi coming tops of the poll, and Abe barely ranking, but I am surprised by the foreign secretary Taro Aso coming second, but after his recent Alzheimer’s comment, I wonder if he would drop out of the rankings were the survey repeated today.
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Gadgets and widgets on the desktop annoy me; I have Google Desktop installed, but I keep it parked in the task bar as when it is active it either just gets hidden when I run applications maximised, or the frequent updates distract me when trying to do work in other windows. Additionally, Opera widgets just didn’t do anything for me. This survey by MyVoice looks at what the average Japanese internet user thinks of these desktop applications, widgets and gadgets.

Demographics

Between the 1st and 5th of June 2007 13,376 members of the MyVoice internet community completed a web-based questionnaire. 54% of the sample was female, 2% in their teens, 19% in their twenties, 38% in their thirties, 27% in their forties, and 14% in their fifties or older.

I’m not surprised that calendars come out on top – about half the people in my office run some ancient-looking calendar app on their desktops, but I’ve not seen anyone with anything else. I did once try out a Post-It Note™-like app or two, but as mentioned above for other application types, they just didn’t appeal to me at all.
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I keep wanting to download more games to my phone, but being a stingy git I never quite get round to it. In theory, since wifey has an unlimited packet deal (I keep telling her to use her phone more!) she can download and move to an SD card, then I can move it off the SD card onto my own phone. I must try that sometime. In the meantime, let’s look at a recent survey conducted by Yahoo! Japan Value Insight (ex-infoPLANT) on this topic of mobile phone applications, in particular NTT DoCoMo’s iAppli.

Demographics

Between the 4th and 22nd of June 2007 (this must be a misprint as the text says the survey was conducted over one week) 6,031 people, 57.6% female, self-selected themselves and completed a public questionnaire available through the NTT DoCoMo iMode menuing system. Note that the self-selecting nature of the survey attracts a high percentage of people on unlimited data download plans.

There’s a puzzle game I’ve seen a few people playing that I’d like to get hold of – the idea is to draw a picture in a 20×20 grid or so with a set number of blocks available for each row and column. Does anyone know what this is called? I also had fun doing a Kakuro in a copy of the Guardian I picked up on holiday, so I should search out an electronic version of that too.
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As much part of Japanese fireworks festivals as the explosives themselves, the outdoor stalls selling various foodstuffs always attract lots of hungry punters. To find out what people just have to buy at these outdoor stalls, goo Ranking asked an unspecified number of people from the goo Research online monitor group that very question between the 19th and 21st of June 2007.

For me personally, the smell of cooking and sauces actually puts me off rather than attracting me! What do you like to eat?
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I’ve rather given up on fireworks, as there are just too many people attending them these days so it never seems worth the hassle. Sadly, the numbers planning to attend fireworks this year was not reported, but a recent survey by goo Research conducted in conjunction with Metroguide magazine into fireworks displays came up with other interesting data.

Demographics

Between the 7th and 8th of June 2007 1,092 members of goo Research’s internet monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. All respondents lived in Tokyo or the surrounding three prefectures of Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba. No sex or age breakdown was reported.

The first year we stayed in my previous flat we had a great view of the Takarazuka fireworks from our balcony, but then they build a tower block right in the way, and although we lived barely 500 metres away from the heart of the party, we never bothered watching or going out. From our new flat, if we stand on chairs on the balcony we can just see parts of the Inagawa fireworks, but other than that, we haven’t been to fireworks for ages, and I don’t feel we’re really missing much.
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I’ve never actually participated in an online auction myself, but the stories I hear about eBay’s security problems and about fraudulent auctions fair put me off wanting to try, despite stories about some people getting lucky. So, I was interested to read a column on japan.internet.com about research conducted by goo Research into the subject of internet auctions.

Demographics

Between the 10th and 13th of July 2007 1,077 members of goo Research’s online monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.3% of the sample was male, 17.7% in their teens, 18.8% in their twenties, 16.2% in their thirties, 16.6% in their forties, 18.9% in their fifties, and 11.7% aged sixty or older.

There is, of course, many sites that specialise in highlighting the tat and other interesting rubbish that people try to flog on online auctions; here are a few of my favourites:

Who would buy that?
What the heck?
hexadecimal – the oddities of eBay motors
Strange Japanese auctions
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Sorry folks, but for some reason my host blew up today – I think someone else on the shared hosting overdid their quota and brought me down in the process.

To make up for it, please accept a free chou cream (cream puff) courtesy of Beard Papa, a big Japanese chain that has a presence around many stations, and I hope near you too.

To collect your free chou cream, first send a blank email to pa@adada.jp from your mobile phone. Fill out the very short questionnaire (just one screen) on the web page pointed to by the URL you get returned, and select the Beard Papa shop from which you would like to get said free chou cream. You’ll get another email with a URL, which you must not click until you are queueing up at the shop, as the coupon is only valid for 15 minutes after you open the URL. Show your mobile phone screen to the staff, and you’ll get one free plain cream puff.

It worked for me, so let me know if it works for you, and please pass on to your friends!

With the ubiquity of mobile phones and computers with kanji input abilities, both the need to remember and the opportunities for writing kanji, the Japanese language’s main script, has decreased. In addition, worries about education includes whether children are really learning kanji correctly. Thus, goo Research, in conjuction with the Mainichi Shimbun, conducted a survey into kanji ability.

Demographics

Between the 25th and 27th of May 2007 1,101 randomly selected internet users aged 20 or over (presumably chosen from goo Research’s monitor pool) completed this survey. More detailed demographic information is not available.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m studying for the Kanji Kentei examination in order to up my ability, particularly from the point of view of writing. Reading is relatively easy, and with a computer to aid you, electronic entry is not that bothersome at all, yet even my wife, who was always top of the class in school with kanji, occasionally forgets how to write even relatively common characters and has to resort to an electronic dictionary to crib the correct character from.
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Although I started out as somewhat of a skeptic about the iPhone, mainly in reaction to the blanket news coverage it has been receiving, reflecting on the situation I now consider that the iPhone has what it takes to be big in Japan; indeed to become the very first foreign mobile phone (Sony-Ericsson doesn’t countas foreign!) to be a success in Japan’s rather insular market. There are, however, a small number of additions and modifications that I propose Apple must make to the hardware, software, and design before they can consider selling it in Japan.

iPhone: Japan’s carriers

Looking at the market image of the three big mobile phone carriers, namely NTT DoCoMo, au by KDDI, and SoftBank, the most natural fit would be au, as according to many surveys they have the strongest image for being on the leading edge and for supporting music playback on their phones. However, if a bidding war starts, SoftBank may be prepared to lay the most cash on the table as they are most desparate for customers, and with Cameron Diaz and Bradd Pitt pushing an American image of talking on the phone for SoftBank, SoftBank’s president Masayoshi Son may see the iPhone as a natural extension of his brand. Therefore, I predict there will be a SoftBank iPhone on the shelves early next year.
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Being just back from my own two-week summer holidays – much to the envy dismay of my co-workers who are, I am sure (I think), really just jealous that I can ignore convention and fly off for a decent holiday – it was interesting to see this recent survey conducted by goo Research into 2007 summer holiday plans for company employees.

Demographics

Towards the end of June 2007 1,080 members of goo Research’s monitor panel aged up to 59 years old and employed in private companies completed a private internet-based questionnaire. Fuller demographic information was not presented.

Depressing statistics, aren’t they?

As another point of reference regarding holidays in Japanese companies, Terrie Lloyd had an interesting article on Japan Today regarding the laws and conventions surrounding holidays.

Also note that most Japanese employees take holidays in the middle of August, around the Obon period, a traditional Japanese holiday.
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