世論 What Japan Thinks

I believe this is the first time I’ve translated a survey on this topic of fax machines, conducted by goo Research and reported on by japan.internet.com.

Demographics

Over the 2nd and 3rd of September 2010 1,089 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.8% of the sample were male, 16.3% in their teens, 18.0% in their twenties, 21.3% in their thirties, 16.3% in their forties, 16.0% in their fifites, and 12.2% aged sixty or older.

My fax machine is a combined fax, telephone (including wireless handset), colour scanner, photo printer, SD card reader and wireless printer which probably has another few functions hidden in the depths of its full-colour touch screen-controlled menu system! We get and send less than one fax a week, however…
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A recent survey from Media Interactive (iResearch) and reported on by japan.internet.com took a look at the matter of servers, with this particular article focusing on the virtualisation aspect. I’ll apologise in advance for the technical nature of this, but it’s something I’m interested in, and it’s one aspect of Cloud Computing, another buzzword that does the rounds a lot without many people particularly knowing what it actually means.

Demographics

On the 27th of August 2010 300 members of the Media Interactive monitor group who worked in organisations and has the power of approval for server purchases completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The respondents were between 20 and 79 years old, but no further demographic information was given.

Cloud Computing is one of these terms with different meaning for different people. My definition is using resources from a pool of resources, with the usage expanding and contracting on demand, and charging being based on the usage. On which device, or how many devices, or who else is sharing the device is unimportant, just that the resources are available somewhere.
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Here’s a survey from goo Reseach with an interesting focus, terminals in western Japan, in particular those in Osaka, Hiroshima and Fukuoka.

Demographics

Between the 6th and 13th of August 2010 1,625 members of the goo Research monitor panel who lived either within 20 kilometres of the centre of Osaka, in Hiroshima City, or Fukuoka City completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 1,087 were from Osaka, 273 from Hiroshima, and 265 from Fukuoka, and in total 53.4% were female, 0.7% in their teens, 12.9% in their twenties, 34.2% in their thirties, 31.0% in their forties, and 21.2% aged fifty or older.

Depsite going to the Osaka area to shop once a month or so, the number of Asian tourists does not really register on me, perhaps because it’s more the Westerners that catch my eye!
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If there’s one thing Japanese drivers hate, it’s fags and other rubbish being tossed out of car windows, according to this survey from iShare into driving manners.

You’ll notice that there are a couple of questions regarding insurance. This is because the survey was conducted in conjunction with American Home and their car insurance arm, American Home Direct.

Demographics

On the 6th of September 2010 1,067 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-base questionnaire. All of the respondents had free use of a car that they drove at least once a week. 85.0% of the sample were male, 3.0% in their twenties, 38.5% in their thirties, 44.0% in their forties, and 14.5% in their fifties.

The demographics are quite different from the usual CLUB BBQ ones – the male:female split is usually closer to 50:50, and the twenties age group around 30%, indicating that younger and female ownership of cars is pretty low.

My worst manners in others is poor indicating, although my own driving manners are perfect. People who dangle their hand holding a ciggie out the window irrationally annoy me too. Being driven by someone who doesn’t anticipate is my way of spotting a useless driver.
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I can’t go anywhere in Europe or America without bumping into a Fairtrade product, usually coffee or tea, but as this recent survey from goo Research into Fairtrade found that even awareness of the system was pretty thin on the ground.

Demographics

Between the 27th and 30th of August 2010 2,350 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was exactly 50:50 male and female, and similarly the age groups were evenly split with 20.0% in each of the age bands from twenties to the over-sixties.

I did reference Fairtrade once before, and I can remember somewhere seeing a Fairtrade logo on perhaps a chocolate product; certainly not a speciality brand nor a eco-brand, just a pretty normal mass-market product.
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I’m back after a two day layoff (for a rather interesting reason that I might blog about later!) with this rather difficult-to-translate for me survey by goo Ranking into what mysteries about Japanese men do women not understand.

Demographics

Over the 21st and 22nd of July 2010 1,159 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 63.4% of the sample were female, 12.4% in their teens, 21.1% in their twenties, 28.3% in their thirties, 23.6% in their forties, 8.2% in their fifties, and 6.4% 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.

Number 2 is something I’ve never, ever heard of! Anyone have any more info about why being able to boil food is seen as an aspect of level-headedness?

Although most of the rest of the reported answers are pretty universal, I think, even as a man I don’t know many of the answers! My wife often mentions number one, but I keep trying to persuade her it’s just her perception.
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Here’s another delayed survey from DIMSDRIVE Research, this time looking at food home delivery, which finds out that pizza is still Japan’s favourite delivery food.

Demographics

Between the 17th of February and the 4th of March 2010 9,602 members of the DIMSDRIVE Research monitors completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 51.5% of the sample were male, 0.8% in their teens, 11.2% in their twenties, 31.0% in their thirties, 31.9% in their forties, 16.9% in their fifties, and 8.2% aged sixty or older. Furthermore, 62.8% were married, 14.1% lived alone, 24.3% with one other person, 25.4% with two others, 23.2% with three others, and 13.0% with four or more.

I haven’t ordered home delivery for ages and ages, probably almost two years, because none of the pizza shops take credit cards, and once you add in all the side dishes, etc, it’s just as easy and slightly cheaper to go and eat out.
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From my point of view, honeymoons are all part of getting married, so I cannot understand why this survey from iShare into honeymoons found that just a third of unmarried Japanese thought a honeymoon was essential.

Demographics

Between the 20th and 25th of August 2010 450 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 54.4% of the sample were male, 29.8% in their twenties, 33.8% in their thirties, and 36.4% in their forties.

On the other hand, given the lack of holidays, or at least the combination of both a reluctance to take and to grant holidays in Japan, I can understand some of the lack of enthusiasm for honeymoons. Although most of the married people I know did take honeymoons, a number of them took them a few weeks to a few months after the ceremony.

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An interesting survey from Media Interactive iResearch took a look at coffee drinking habits.

Demographics

Between the 24th and 25th of August 2010 500 members of the iResearch monitor group in their twenties, thirties or forties and who drunk at least one coffee per week completed a private internet-based questionnaire. No further demographic breakdown was given.

I drink probably just under the one cup per week threshold. Coffee caffeine affects me much more than chocolate or tea, so I don’t as a rule drink it, limiting it to when eating out or sometimes when popping into cafes. My biggest exception is Mr Donuts, as they have unlimited refills for their hot coffees, so when I go I always make sure to have at least three cups, and damn the shakes!
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The Cabinet Office Japan recently took a look at the international movement of workers, which for this survey was specifically Japanese wanting to work overseas and foreigners coming to Japan.

Demographics

Between the 15th and 25th of July 2010 3,000 people randomly selected from resident registration information were approached for face-to-face interviews. Of the 3,000, 1,913 people, or 63.8% were available and answered the questions. 54.0% of the sample were female, 8.6% in their twenties, 16.0% in their thirties, 17.8% in their forties, 18.6% in their fifties, 19.8% in their sixties, and 19.2% aged 70 or older. There were a few other demographic questions, but they were sufficiently interesting to be presented in distinct tables below.

I wonder if the last two questions about foreign workers are in any way related to this article from Ampontan, in particular this quote from Naoto Kan, who is Prime Minister at the time of writing, but may not be by the time you read this, in an interview responding to a question on job creation:

The first is to create hiring by such means as long-term care, for which there is long-term, latent demand, and relaxing the issuance of visas to foreigners.

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