世論 What Japan Thinks

\goo Research published a detailed report on a survey they conducted into Apple’s iPhone, with a particular focus on the largest carrier in Japan, Docomo, and their plan to carry the new iPhone5s and iPhone5c, their first foray into Apple phones.

Demographics

Between the 13th and 17th of September 2013 1,765 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 51.6% of the sample were female, 7.5% in their teens, 12.5% in their twenties, 15.9% in their thirties, 14.8% in their forties, 14.4% in their fifties, and 34.9% aged sixty or older. The percentages in each age band and both sexes reflected the results of the 2010 Census.

Again, I am quite stunned by the positive view of the general public here of the iPhone. In Q3Q3, note that in the top eight answers, only one answer is perhaps related to the quality of Android, whereas the top three in Q3Q1 seem to relate directly to the iPhone’s qualities.
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The Cabinet Office of Japan recengtly conducted a survey looking at care robots.

Demographics

Between the 1st and 11th of August 2013 3,000 members of the public with Japanese nationality were randomly selected. 1,842 of them (61.4%) chose to answer the questionnaire at face-to-face interviews. Further demographic breakdown was not provided.

Before you get the idea of robo-nurses into your head, as can be seen in the preamble to Q4 it is more just technology to assist the carer and the cared-for rather than the science-fiction image of autonomous androids tending to their human wards.
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goo Ranking took a look at the characteristics of guys who are not popular with women, in the sense of not being dating material, looking at both what women thought those features were and what men thought.

Demographics

Between the 6th and 8th of August 2013 the survey was conducted, but goo Ranking have not got round to adding the page that contains the further demographic information. Note that the score in the results refers to the relative number of votes for each option, not a percentage of the total sample.

Since today is Respect for the Aged Day in Japan, goo Ranking also published today a similar question, but what makes you think that granddad was popular with women in his younger days. Unfortunately I ran out of time to translate it, but it’s quite a sweet survey, so perhaps next weekend?
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Macromill Research conducted a survey into the attractions of the iPhone which revealed some rather interesting data.

Demographics

On the 11th of September 2013 between the hours of 7 pm and 9 pm 2,000 members of the Macromill online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The respondents were between the ages of 15 and 69 years old, and the sex and age demographics were (if I understand the Japanese term correctly!) distributed equally, as Macromill usually do; 50:50 male and female, and a sixth in each age band from teens to sixties.

Personally, I dislike the iPhone as it feels too rigid an ecosystem, everyone has one, and I’m just not an Apple fan, and particularly not a fan of Apple fans! Looking at the data, I can now understand why docomo decided to join the other two carriers and start selling Apple’s device.
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japan.internet.com reported on a new series of survey by goo Research, this one being the first regular survey of internet auctions.

Demographics

Between the 26th and 29th of August 2013 1,074 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.7% of the sample were male, 13.8% in their teens, 15.5% in their twenties, 20.9% in their thirties, 17.5% in their forties, and 32.2% aged fifty or older.

I must apologise for things being slow here recently – I’ve been rather busy at work on a new and interesting project, so I haven’t really had much time or energy for blogging when I get home! I meant to post this last night, but I fell asleep at the keyboard…

Back on topic, I’ve never used an auction – I may have once in the distant past registered with eBay to try out something. However, I keep thinking about signing up to sell some stuff I have, in particular a McVities biscuit Licca-chan (Japanese Barbie) doll that I won in a competition, a limited edition that I’m sure collectors would love to get their hands on.
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Today’s goo Ranking is one I thought looked good, but in the end… well, you decide with this look at sleep-related fails people have experienced.

Demographics

Between the 6th and 8th of August 2013 the survey was conducted, but goo Ranking have not got round to adding the page that contains the further demographic information. Note that the score in the results refers to the relative number of votes for each option, not a percentage of the total sample.

Here’s someone quite overcome with having to walk the dog:

I can related to pretty much all on the list. My probably best-ever fail was on my birthday two months ago. I woke up to my alarm, and climbed out of bed to turn it off, but my left big toe got stuck in the right leg of my pyjamas, and I fell flat on my face as I tried to take my first step! I’ve also recently started drooling when I fall asleep on the train on the way back from work, which I suppose is more of an embarrassment than a fail, though.
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japan.internet.com recently reported on a survey by goo Research into smart television.

Demographics

Between the 23rd and 27th of August 2013 1,070 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.6% of the sample were male, 13.6% in their teens, 15.7% in their twenties, 21.7% in their thirties, 17.2% in their forties, 14.7% in their fifities, and 17.1% aged sixty or older.

I’ve not used any Smart Television services, and I probably couldn’t name more than Apple’s, Google’s and docomo’s offerings. My understanding of Smart Television is that the television actually becomes a dumb display, and all the interesting work happens on the connected device. Therefore, the inclusion of television manufacturers in Q1SQ1 and Q1SQ3 seems anomalous to me.
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Life Media’s Research Bank recently conducted a survey into the free chat app LINE. The report linked to on japan.internet.com is just some highlights, but the full report is available on Life Media’s site.

Demographics

Between the 21st and 26th of August 2013 2,000 members of the Research Bank monitor group who were smartphone owners completed a private internet (most likely via smartphone) questionnaire. The sample was exactly 50:0 male and female, and 20:20:20:20:20 for the age groups of teens, twenties, thirties, forties and fifty-pluses.

I avoid LINE because I worry about the fact that it slurps your address book up to their servers, and anyway I prefer Google Hangouts, not that I use that much anyway.
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With the IOC decision this weekend, DIMSDRIVE Research published their survey on 2020 Olympics and bid activities, finding that although one in three are ambivalent about the whole affair, three to one of the remaining two-thirds favour it.

Demographics

Between the 6th and 19th of August 2013 7,311 members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 58.8% of the sample were male, 4.6% were in their teens and twenties, 16.4% in their thirties, 31.7% in their forties, 26.9% in their fifties, 14.9% in their sixties, and 5.6% aged seventy or older. Unfortunately, there was no breakdown of the area of residence of the respondents, but DIMSDRIVE usually has around 40% from the Tokyo and surrounding Kanto area.

I’m personally in favour of the bid, partially out of a desire to feel schadenfreude towards those I find are campaigning against Tokyo due to personal dislike of Japan or due to excessive Fukushima-related scaremongering. Indeed, I suspect that the deciding factor will be whether science can triumph over nuclear irrationality, but I also worry that the Japanese team will not be very good at getting the scientific, factual case across.
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The third regular survey from goo Research into SNS usage, reported on by japan.internet.com, looking specifically at what friendships were present on these Social Networking Services.

Demographics

Between the 15th and 22nd of August 2013 1,086 members of the goo Research online monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.8% of the sample were male, 13.8% in their teens, 15.3% in their twenties, 21.1% in their thirties, 17.5% in their forties, and 32.3% aged fifty or older.

I was going to say that I only use SNS to keep in touch with existing friends, but then I realised most of the friends I have there are purely internet friends, so I suppose I do use SNS to make new friends.
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