世論 What Japan Thinks

Recently, goo Research conducted a very thorough survey into media consumption in Japan, covering both the old and new media.

Demographics

Between the 2nd and 4th of June 2010 1,561 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.5% of the sample were male, 16.1% in their teens, 18.1% in their twenties, 21.4% in their thirties, 16.1% in their forties, 15.8% in their fifties, and 12.4% aged sixty or older.

I’m surprised at the number who surf while watching television! I very rarely do so, perhaps because I can’t handle Japanese television as a background task because I need to use too much brain to follow the Japanese, especially as I often need to read the ever-present subtitles to help my understanding. Furthermore, even though television is a passive task, being married I think it is ignoring my spouse to some degree, and anyway it’s difficult to type with one arm round her shoulder…
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Here’s a great survey from iShare, looking at the potentially rather dull subject of search engines, but by examining the relationship between usage patterns and browser choice they uncover interesting trends.

Demographics

Between the 29th of June and the 2nd of July 2010 474 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 54.6% of the sample were male, 27.4% in their twenties, 34.2% in their thirties, and 38.4% in their forties.

I feel that the CLUB BBQ demographic tends to be more technical than the average user, and that is perhaps reflected in the choice of search engine in Q1SQ3 where Google beats Yahoo! by a factor of three to one, despite other surveys with a wider demographic spread indicating that Yahoo! is a few points ahead of Google.

I use Opera and use its built-in toolbar to search Google. I’ve heard from a few people that Bing is actually worthwhile trying out, but when I’ve tried it out it very cleary biases my search towards Japan-located and Japanese-language results and I don’t know how to tell it to take a more global view.
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With 3D television starting to get off the ground in Japan, with a few particular programs being broadcast in 3D, goo Research took a look at television in general, but the report from japan.internet.com chose to focus on the 3D aspect.

Demographics

Between the 7th and 12th of July 2010 1,095 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.6% of the sample were male, 16.3% in their teens, 17.9% in their twenties, 21.4% in their thirties 16.4% in their forties, 15.5% in their fifties, and 12.4% aged sixty or older.

Although I’ve been to two 3D movies, I’ve not actually watched 3D television. I was in a store with a pair of 3D glasses set up, but they had some really rather uninteresting scenery sample playing, so I didn’t bother having a peek through the specs. I’ve no desire to buy despite manufacturers strongly pushing the new technology.
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A rather interesting survey by iShare looked at a topic that I’ve covered before, namely mobile battery recharging frequency, but with a look at a new angle, specifically what causes the battery to run down.

Demographics

Between the 23rd and 28th of June 2010 462 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 56.3% of the sample were male, 32.9% in their twenties, 33.5% in their thirties, and 33.5% in their forties.

I recharge my phone about once every three days, but I blame that more on a two year old battery than on my occasional email habit.

It would have been nice to also see a breakdown of recharging habits against smartphones and feature phones.
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Here’s a short and perhaps less interesting than it could have been look at software keyboards, not just touch panels as on many smartphones, but also pen or even mouse-operated on-screen keyboards. The survey was conducted by goo Research and reported on by japan.internet.com.

Demographics

Over the 29th and 30th of June 2010 1,065 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.7% of the sample were male, 16.1% in their teens, 18.5% in their twenties, 20.9% in their thirties, 16.2% in their forties, 16.2% in their fifties, and 12.1% aged sixty or older.

Sort-of connected with this topic, on the news tonight I saw an item on the use of the iPad by seniors. There were things like a training school for older people, with almost everyone over 70 years old and the oldest 95, who said he was keen to learn how to use it. There also seems to be a mini boom in the Japanese software industry for making OAP-targeted iPad applications.
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Today’s bit of fun from goo Ranking is a look at when women feel there’s an ulterior motive behind a man’s actions. There’s no equivalent survey for men yet, but I’ll be sure to publish it when it appears!

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. In addition, this question was for females only.

I think the premise of the question is wrong, myself – is there anything we guys do in relationships that doesn’t have an ulterior motive?
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The 16th regular survey from goo Research into electronic money found that the number of users continues a slide first highlighted in the 15th regular survey, although the report on japan.internet.com does not speculate at what might be the cause.

Demographics

Over the 6th and 7th of July 2010 1,156 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.1% of the sample were male, 16.5% in their teens, 19.6% in their twenties, 20.8% in their thirties, 15.8% in their forties, and 27.2% aged fifty or older.

My IC card cash gets used on public transport and convenience stores only. All the other shops that accept it also accept the credit card portion, and most of them also award 3% points instead of just 1%, so it’s an easy choice. Furthermore, they more often than not don’t even ask for a PIN when using credit, so the extra effort required is minimal.
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Following on from the earlier survey into summer plans, iShare also took a look at beach fun.

Demographics

Between the 14th and 17th of June 2010 475 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 55.4% of the sample were male, 28.6% in their twenties, 34.3% in their thirties, and 37.1% in their forties.

I did once get invited to the beach by a nubile Japanese female, but that’s a story for another day…

I don’t want to go to the beach in Japan this summer and based on photos like this one from Yuki Naotori on flickr, I have no intention of ever going. In particular, having grown up with vast, empty, clean (barring the seaweed) sandy beaches, Japanese beaches could only be an anti-climax.

With the rainy season lifting this weekend in Japan (we’ve just had a cracker of an electrical storm to finish it off!) this survey (well, actually just a single question) from iShare looked at people’s main plan for the summer.

Demographics

Between the 17th and 22nd of June 2010 481 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 54.7% of the sample were male, 32.2% in their twenties, 33.3% in their thirties, and 34.5% in their forties.

My plans for the summer are first taking the in-laws for a drive round some graveyards, then going to see an amateur play that my wife’s schoolmate is appearing in. If I had a free choice, I’d spend a week asleep…
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The sixth regular survey by goo Research into mobile devices, reported on by japan.internet.com, produced evidence that compared to the fourth time the survey was conducted smartphones have got more popular.

Demographics

Between the 28th of June and the 1st of July 2010 1,090 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.8% of the sample were male, 16.5% in their teens, 18.3% in their twenties, 21.1% in their thirties, 16.4% in their forties, and 27.6% aged fifty or older.

I wonder next time they do the survey if the tablet PC category will see a jump due to iPad purchasers? Furthermore, I also expect smartphones to jump due to the iPhone 4′s release, assuming there isn’t a recall.

My interest in smartphones has waned again – I’m seeing a huge number of new models coming out in the UK and US with various packages of hundreds of minutes and hundreds of megabytes of data for under 3,000 yen, yet here I pay about the same for 30 minutes or a megabyte…
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