世論 What Japan Thinks

Here’s a little bit of fun from goo Ranking, looking at what actions by young girls bring out their old woman character.

Demographics

Over the 23rd and 24th of August 2010 1,127 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 57.3% of the sample were female, 11.7% in their teens, 16.5% in their twenties, 29.0% in their thirties, 23.2% in their forties, 10.9% in their fifties, and 8.7% 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.

Hopefully they do the male equivalent soon, which of course I will translate as soon as I see it.
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A recent survey from the Cabinet Office Japan looked at Japan’s three large metropolitan areas, specifically at international development and preserving the green belt and other green areas.

Demographics

Between the 15th of July and 1st of August 2010 5,000 people randomly selected from resident registeries all over the country were approached for face-to-face interviews. 3,283 people, or 65.7% were available and agreed to take part. 51.9% of the sample were female, 12.3% in their twenties, 15.4% in their thirties, 16.5% in their forties, 18.1% in their fifties, 20.5% in their sixties, and 19.2% aged seventy or older.

There’s unfortunately no nice data to plot from the questions below, so instead here’s a picture of a park from ykanazawa1999 on flickr.

The amount of green space is pretty depressing – I live on the edge of the Osaka conurbation so fortunately there’s a bit of green around, but in the one hour train ride to work, barring river banks I see almost nothing but concrete by the side of the tracks. As there seems to be little evidence of green belt protection laws in Japan, it’s only the mountains that stop the builders, sadly.
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A recent survey from the Cabinet Office Japan looked at Japan’s three large metropolitan areas, specifically at international development and preserving the green belt and other green areas.

Demographics

Between the 15th of July and 1st of August 2010 5,000 people randomly selected from resident registeries all over the country were approached for face-to-face interviews. 3,283 people, or 65.7% were available and agreed to take part. 51.9% of the sample were female, 12.3% in their twenties, 15.4% in their thirties, 16.5% in their forties, 18.1% in their fifties, 20.5% in their sixties, and 19.2% aged seventy or older.

Q5SQ is interesting from my foreigner perspective and coming from a country where inward investment is a key strategy, with only one in five Japanese in favour of it. Perhaps the term is not too familiar, but from what I have heard there are a lot of barriers preventing entry by foreign corporations, so many items end up being produced under licence by local firms.
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[part 1][part 2]

A recent survey from Macromill Research looked at overseas holidays, both weekend breaks via the new Haneda international terminal and longer holidays.

Demographics

Between the 25th and 27th of August 2010 1,000 members of the Macromill monitor group resident in Tokyo or one of the three surrounding prefectures of Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama and in full-time employment in either the public or private sectors completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was split by sex exactly 50:50 in each of the age groups, with 25.0% in their twenties, 25.0% in their thirties, 25.0% in their forties, and 25.0% aged fifty or older.

I’m surprised by a number of the answers in Q4SQ10, as the typical image of a Japanese tourist is very much according to the Statement A, yet around half identified with the more adventurous holidaymaker. Perhaps there is a difference between what holidays the Japanese would like to take versus what holidays they actually do feel comfortable taking, as language and personal safety always features high in the lists of concerns when overseas.
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[part 1][part 2]

A recent survey from Macromill Research looked at overseas holidays, both weekend breaks via the new Haneda international terminal and longer holidays.

Demographics

Between the 25th and 27th of August 2010 1,000 members of the Macromill monitor group resident in Tokyo or one of the three surrounding prefectures of Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama and in full-time employment in either the public or private sectors completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was split by sex exactly 50:50 in each of the age groups, with 25.0% in their twenties, 25.0% in their thirties, 25.0% in their forties, and 25.0% aged fifty or older.

One reason that South Korea is so popular for a short break is that their currency is really cheap these days. I’d like to visit Seoul myself just to see what it’s like, but South Korean cooking looks even less veggie-friendly than Japanese, and I prefer my spicyness limited to curry only!
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In this recent survey from goo Research, reported on by japan.internet.com, into the PC Recycle Law, the vast majority who knew it well reckoned it worked to at least some degree.

Demographics

On the 6th of September 2010 1,084 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.6% of the sample were male, 16.0% in their teens, 17.5% in their twenties, 21.2% in their thirties, 16.5% in their forties, 16.3% in their fifties, and 12.5% aged sixty or older.

I never got any explanation about the law, nor did I see anything in the manual, when I bought my computer nor my LCD monitor, which should also be covered.

I know somone who was too stingy to pay the 4,000 yen or so to throw out an ancient LCD monitor, so instead he dismantled it and chucked it out (in the correct recycle bins, I he must add) bit by bit.
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A recent survey from DIMSDRIVE Research took a look at women’s excess body hair, and found hairy armpits the biggest concern for them, and ordinary manual shaving the most popular way of getting rid of it.

Demographics

Between the 9th and 24th of June 2010 8,334 members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.1% of the sample were male, 0.7% in their teens, 11.0% in their twenties, 31.4% in their thirties, 31.6% in their forties, 16.9% in their fifties, and 8.4% aged sixty or older. Furthermore, 63.2% were married, and of the remaining 3,065, 28.7% had a partner, 63.4% did not, and 7.9% just didn’t want to say.

I don’t think my wife gets too bothered by excess hair; by that I mean that she doesn’t have much in the first place. She’s forever shaving her eyebrows, but that’s for beauty reasons so she can draw them back on with a pencil.
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Here’s an interesting survey from goo Ranking, looking at what people think that compared to overseas is far too expensive in Japan.

Demographics

Over the 23rd and 24th of August 2010 1,127 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 57.3% of the sample were female, 11.7% in their teens, 16.5% in their twenties, 29.0% in their thirties, 23.2% in their forties, 10.9% in their fifties, and 8.7% 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.

With the recent appreciation in the yen, prices have got a bit closer, but looking at the list, number 1 is fair enough for city property, although land in the countryside is often ridiculously cheap. Homes are perhaps comparable in price, but certainly not comparable in terms of floor space or build quality! Pizzas are stupidly expensive, but I’m not really sure about US university fees, although compared to many places in Europe they are, as further education costs are heavily regulated or even non-existent. An hour on Japanese motorways costs about the same as a week-long or more carte for German, Swiss or Austrian motorways, but petrol is similar in price to Europe. Movies are expensive, although the concessions are cheaper and more importantly there’s no-one talking on phones, shining laser pointers or otherwise disrupting movies in Japan. My monthly minutes (30 minutes) for my mobile is about the same price as a plan with 500 minutes or more in the UK, and it costs me close to 100 yen to load just the specially-designed Japanese mobile-friendly home page on Twitter! Foreign brands are heavily marked-up, but personal tax (income and sales tax) in Japan is low, although the national insurance component has been slowly creeping up as of late.

The others I disagree with are tropical fruits – all fruits are expensive, and alcohol. The average pint in the pub or carry-out can of mainstream beer is more expensive that the west, but there’s always the all-you-can-drink option, and in supermarkets the own-brands of firewater – chu-hai fruity alcopops, gut-rot whisky and the two litre sake bottles – have a pretty good price/performance ratio.

Oh, and everyone seems to have forgotton rice, which is kept expensive by the government to keep small farmers farming.
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Here’s a short but sweet survey from goo Ranking, looking at when on holiday, at what moments do people wish they’d studied more English.

Demographics

Between the 21st and 23rd of June 2010 1,137 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 65.1% of the sample were female, 8.0% in their teens, 20.4% in their twenties, 31.2% in their thirties, 23.9% in their forties, 9.2% in their fifties, and 7.2% 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 a native English speaker, I of course have the benefit that any communications problems are caused by the other person not learning enough English, so just shouting a bit louder can solve all language problems.

Seriously though, in Japan I occasionally have the second problem, often as I adopt the English, not the Japanese pronunciation for certain words that should be understood by both of us. The most recent example I can think of was when I was asking if they had any Xylitol-based chewing gum, and given that I’m not even quite sure of how to say it in even in English, I had to get my Japanese wife to rescue me from the blank stares!
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The latest survey from iShare took a look at the matter of punches, in particular hitting children and adults, the results of which were a shock to my namby-pamby western liberal attitudes.

Research results

Between the 2nd and 7th of September 2010, 475 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 54.7% of the sample were male, 30.7% in their twenties, 31.4% in their thirties, and 37.9% in their forties.

Although corporal punishment is banned in Japanese schools, from what I hear teachers still occasionally dish out punishment, and in sports clubs there seems to be a lot of hazing, from over-enthusiastic cheerleading to deaths in sumo stables.

Some of the stories about memories of being hit were as follows: “My gentle father getting mad and beating me for the first time”, “I was playing with matches and nearly set something on fire, so after getting hit I remember reflecting long and hard”, “I never got hit by my parents, so it was a shock the first time my friends hit me”, “I did something that wasn’t sensible and got hit by a teacher”, and “I skived off doing a kanji drill homework and got detention until past 7 pm. I got curious about what the elementary school was like at night, so exploring around the school. I was found by my homeroom teacher who slapped my cheek and gave me a noogie. He was a good teacher.”
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