世論 What Japan Thinks

A recent survey from iShare looking at mobile phone types found that clamshells with the standard ten keys were both the most popular current phone and future phone.

Demographics

Between the 7th and 12th of April 2010 520 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 58.3% of the sample were male, 31.0% were in their twenties, 30.2% in their thirties, and 38.8% in their forties.

Interestingly enough, touch panel smartphones were around twice as popular with males as females. I got the impression from other surveys that there was more significant iPhone penetration with women.

If I can afford an unlimited data packet plan, my next phone will be a flat touch panel smartphone; if I decide to stay stingy and stick with email, it will be a ten key clamphone like my current.
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A recent survey from the Nippon Research Center looked at tourism to Japan. It was part of an omnibus survey, with another six topics covered, but none of the others directly related to Japan.

Demographics

The exact date of the survey was not reported, but 5,000 people were interviewed by both face-to-face and internet-based questionnaires. There were exactly 50:50 male and female, 28.0% between 15 and 29, 28.0% in their thirties, 28.0% in their forties, and 16.0% in their fifties. There were 370 people selected from each of the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, and Shenyang, and 210 people from each of 15 other cities.

I’m surprised by Mount Fuji being so high in the list, but perhaps it is the only place most people can recall, just as everyone would say “The Great Wall” about China. It’s also a surprise to see both Osaka and Nagoya outdoing Tokyo, although if you add up all the areas of Tokyo…
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With the government recommending that mobile companies remove SIM Lock restrictions on future mobile phones, thus allowing the same phone to be used on multiple carriers, this survey from iShare into SIM Lock removal found more people than I expected opposed to the move.

Demographics

Between the 14th and 19th of April 2010 469 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 57.6% of the sample were male, 29.6% in their twenties, 35.4% in their thirties, and 35.0% in their forties.

I’m all for SIM Lock removal, if just to encourage service providers to compete on price rather than the current locking into high-priced handsets and long-term contracts. Despite Japan having just about the cheapest fixed-line internet, mobile prices are all basically between 4,000 and 5,000 yen or so for all-you-can-use data plans, plus an additional 1,000 to 2,000 yen per month for basic service access with very few free minutes, then 40,000 to 60,000 for the handset on top. In the UK, as far as I can determine data plans are about half that price yet handsets are still subsidised. Due to these high prices, I cannot afford to upgrade to an Xperia, despite the many good reviews (barring battery life) that I am reading.
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Today’s silliness is from goo Ranking as usual, this time looking at what surprises people have when encountering after many a year male friends from middle school. The surprises for both men and women were ranked. I translated the female version previously.

Demographics

Between the 23rd and 25th of March 2010 1,128 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.5% of the sample were female, 15.1% in their teens, 16.9% in their twenties, 28.8% in their thirties, 21.1% in their forties, 9.4% 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.

I’m surprised that “He used to have a cool hair but is now going bald/grey” or the like doesn’t feature in the list! I also don’t know what the surprise is about people starting up their own businesses.
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This recent survey from goo Ranking looked at unpleasant table manners in the opposite sex, a survey that was unfortunately not broken down by sex.

Demographics

Between the 23rd and 25th of March 2010 1,128 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.5% of the sample were female, 15.1% in their teens, 16.9% in their twenties, 28.8% in their thirties, 21.1% in their forties, 9.4% 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.

I could give a list a mile long of poor manners amongst the guys in the office, but for the female sex, I’d put smoking while eating top of the list – indeed, it’s strange that doesn’t figure in the results.
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A recent very detailed survey from Macromill Research Inc looked at the matter of cooking and married couples’ relationships

Demographics

Between the 2nd and 4th of April 2010 516 married female members of the Macromill monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 25.0% of the sample were in their twenties, 25.0% in their thirties, 25.0% in their forties, and 25.0% aged fifty or older.

My wife would like me to cook occasionally, perhaps once a month, but due to a combination of my only decent dish being a flan or quiche, we neve quite having the right ingredients in, and my general slow speed in the kitchen, I haven’t actually cooked for years! However, I always help in the kitchen, from making the tea to tidying up and washing the dishes.
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A recent very detailed survey from Macromill Research Inc looked at the matter of cooking and married couples’ relationships

Demographics

Between the 2nd and 4th of April 2010 516 married female members of the Macromill monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 25.0% of the sample were in their twenties, 25.0% in their thirties, 25.0% in their forties, and 25.0% aged fifty or older.

You’ll note in the above results that there isn’t a separate entry for the wife working and a househusband. Whether there were no such couples, they were filtered out, or just forgotton about, I do not know.

My wife cooks about five or six days a week – at the weekends we’ll have one evening meal out, and during the week there’s occasionally times when she goes to the cinema, etc, and we meet somewhere to eat out. At home we almost always eat together – she’ll eat before me if I’m going to be later than about 7:30, but fortunately that rarely happens.
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Thanks to events such as the demos in Iran last year, the awareness of Twitter has gone through the roof, from around 12% to 95%, according to this survey conducted by goo Research and reported on by japan.internet.com.

Demographics

Between the 22nd and 24th of April 2010 1,077 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.8% of the sample were male, 16.0% in their teens, 17.8% in their twenties, 21.4% in their thirties, 16.8% in their forties, 15.6% in their fifties, and 12.3% aged sixty or older.

I’ve used Twitter once or twice on my non-smartphone using the special Japanese iMode gateway, but due to stupidly high data costs in Japan (about 1 yen per kilobyte – yes, not megabyte) it costs me about 150 yen to just log in and view my home page!
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On the 1st of June last year the law in Japan was changed to allow certain non-prescription drugs to be sold over the internet; this recent survey from iBridge Research Plus, reported on by japan.internet.com, looked at the sale of medical products, focusing on internet purchases.

Demographics

On the 12th of April 2010 300 members of the iBridge monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.7% of the sample were male, 13.7% in their twenties, 31.3% in their thirties, 32.0% in their forties, 16.0% in their fifties, and 7.0% in their sixties.

Looking at Q1, the law change liberalised some sales, but also reigned in others, which was what was being asked – Japan Economy News describes the situation in detail.
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A recent survey from iShare into cellphone straps, focusing in particular on disposal, revealed many interesting habits regarding Japanese people’s phone decorations.

Demographics

Between the 24th and 29th of March 2010 507 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 55.6% of the sample were male, 31.8% in their twenties, 32.9% in their thirties, and 35.3% in their forties.

A cellphone strap survey always gives me a chance to try to sell you cute cellphone straps! The pie chart above looks at function versus design – here’s a acupressure massage function and here’s the cute Mameshiba design for instance. Q1SQ4 indicates no-one’s interested on jumping in early onto the latest bandwagon, but just in case you are, can I recommend solar-powered Game and Watch keychain?

I usually change my strap when I find a new design, but I’ve not really been in the searching mood much, so I’ve got mostly rather tatty two-year-old straps right now.
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