世論 What Japan Thinks

One in four seems like a large number to me, but given that this survey into Search Engine Optimisation (SEO from now) was conducted by an SEO provider Detail Cloud Creative (and reported on by japan.internet.com) perhaps there is a bit of favourable bias in the results?

There’s a lot of cowboys out their in the SEO world – I know, I get enough spam from them myself – but there are also some good companies, although I don’t know enough to recommend any. I’ve recently had reason to wander into the world of social media consultants, and there seemed to be quite a community of people who seemed to support each other’s work by Following, Liking and +1-ing each other’s clients while offering the single strategy of posting pithy homilies pasted on top of inoffensive images.
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One aspect where Japan lags far behind many other countries is the availability of Wi-Fi, so to see what people were doing regarding internet access when away from home, goo Research conducted a survey into Wi-Fi, the highlights of which were reported on by japan.internet.com.

Demographics

Over the 18th and 19th of September 2012 1,088 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.6% of the sample were male, 16.4% in their teens, 18.1% in their twenties, 21.6% in their thirties, 15.8% in their forties, 15.4% in their fifties, and 12.7% aged sixty or older.

The guy above has found the Nintendo hotspot at the Tokyo Pokemon Center!

The number of access points in Japan is steadily increasing, but mostly branded for each of the mobile carriers, so one needs an account to access them, but fortunately the access is usually free with your mobile phone plan. SoftBank in particular are popping up everywhere, so they must be offering nice incentives for shops to install them, and docomo is slowly spreading through the rail network. Just last week the station next to the office got Wi-Fi, but sadly I cannot pick it up from my desk!

I was surprised to see tethering so low down on the list, however. In Q1SQ, “On the move” may include riding on public transport – some long-distance busses and bullet trains, for instance, offer such services.
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goo Ranking looked at quite a fun subject, what excuses people have for not being able to use their days off effectively.

Demographics

From the 3rd to the 6th of August 2012 1,038 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 61.7% of the sample were female, 10.2% in their teens, 15.5% in their twenties, 27.2% in their thirties, 26.4% 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.

Being married, I’m not allowed to do the above, but instead I have a lot of housework, so I end up doing that and very little else. We sometimes do end up wasting a bit too much time, however, watching saved-up programs of to me dubious entertainment value.
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goo Ranking took a loot at features of girls who mistakenly think they are cute.

Demographics

From the 3rd to the 6th of August 2012 1,038 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 61.7% of the sample were female, 10.2% in their teens, 15.5% in their twenties, 27.2% in their thirties, 26.4% 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.

Talking of number 3, I never get tired of this animation!

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Macromill recently conducted a survey into one of the big new trends in Japanese skies, that of Low Cost Carriers.

Demographics

Between the 27th of August and the 4th of September 2012 1,000 members of the Macromill monitor group resident in Tokyo or the surrounding prefectures of Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama completed a private internet-based survey. Exactly 50:50 were male and female, and 20:20:20:20:20 in their twenties, thirties, forties, fifties and sixty or over.

I’ve flown one LCC in Asia, Hong Kong Express, from Osaka to Hong Kong, and I must say I was very impressed with the service for the price. A snack and one drink was provided, and there was an in-seat entertainment system. Overall, very close to the traditional full-fare Japanese airlines, and I’d quite happily choose them again.
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Here’s a fun survey from goo Ranking, looking at the top forty tell-tale signs that your employer may not be operating on the right side of the law or otherwise an undesirable place to work.

Demographics

From the 3rd to the 6th of August 2012 1,038 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 61.7% of the sample were female, 10.2% in their teens, 15.5% in their twenties, 27.2% in their thirties, 26.4% 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.

Looking at the list, even my employer of the finest repute scores relatively high on this list. Regarding number 5, however, it is actually the case that employees do not punch their own cards (well, fill in an intranet form) despite the company’s best efforts to get people to report their hours correctly!

However, a friend of my wife works at the Japan Post (Post Office), and she says there is, for instance, a rather significant New Year postcard sales requirement, and the latest one now is boil-in-the-bag Post Office canteen curry. She basically has to sell (or buy herself) two cases (48 bags) or she can expect a bad review come next year.
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To promote a new supplement that the cosmetics and beauty company they have released, Fancl conducted a survey, reported on by japan.internet.com, into anti-ageing awareness and practise.

Demographics

At some point during the period from the 9th to 20th of August 2012 Fancl conducted a survey through their new Purging Power Raising Committee web site. The respondents were 1,000 women between the ages of 20 and 59, and although the age breakdown is not reported, the figures in the results below suggest there were exactly 25.0% in each of the age groups of twenties, thirties, forties and fifties.

Just to give them a plug since they gave me a survey, the Purging Power Raising support product they are selling is apparently “Daizu (Soy Bean) Saponin B”, which it apparently suggests (in sufficiently-vague wording to avoid regulatory problems) helps flush out whatever it is that might build up and might cause one to appear older than if said whatever was flushed out.
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Here’s a sweet survey from goo Ranking, looking at the flames of teenage passion that one has forgotten as an adult.

Demographics

From the 6th to the 9th of July 2012 1,016 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 60.0% of the sample were female, 9.9% in their teens, 12.7% in their twenties, 29.0% in their thirties, 27.0% in their forties, 11.0% in their fifties, and 10.3% 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.

Looking at the answers, a common theme in many of them appears to be undeclared or unrequited love, which is not an unusual occurance in Japanese schools, as far as I am aware. I was totally unaware of anything when I was in school, so I cannot give a comparison with the Scottish situation! Note, I’ve translated everything in the present tense as I think the answers read better with a sense of immediacy.
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With the iPhone 5 out today, this survey from the female-targeted marketing research firm Her Story, reported on by japan.internet.com, into smartphones makes me curious to find out how many Madagala girls picked one up.

Demographics

According to the report published by Her Story on the 20th of September 2012, between the 9th and 14th of September 2012 500 mobile phone-owning women belonging to the Her Story monitor group aged between 20 and 49 completed an internet-based survey.

Madagala comes from the Japanese word mada, meaning still, and the portmandeau word Gala-kei, from Galapagos and keitai, which is the generic term for feature phones for the Japanese market, so Madagala girls are women who are still using feature phones. This appears to be a term Her Story invented for this survey, so in the same vein I have come up with Sudesuma girls which as you might guess means (well, I claim it means) women who have already moved up to smartphones.
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goo Research recently conducted a survey into smartphones, the results of which were reported on by japan.internet.com.

Demographics

Between the 4th and 6th of September 2012 1,088 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.7% of the sample were male, 16.5% in their teens, 18.0% in their twenties, 21.7% in their thirties, 16.3% in their forties, 15.6% in their fifties, and 11.9% aged sixty or older.

You’ll notice that the top five features in Q2 are all areas where the iPhone would score highly. On the other hand, the choice of answers does not seem to contain any specific feature-related replies, such as NFC smartcard, TV or radio reception, etc.

One of my colleagues who currently uses a feature phone on docomo (I think it is) was going to take a day off to queue for the iPhone 5, but it now appears that they have ordered it online instead!
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