Over the 21st and 22nd of March 2008 1,036 people from the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.7% were male, 7.0% in their teens, 14.7% in their twenties, 30.1% in their thirties, 27.0% in their forties, 10.9% in their fifties, and 10.2% aged sixty or over. Note that the score in the results refers to the relative number of votes for each option, not a percentage of the total sample. Only the single people were asked today’s questions.
This is a fascinating list. First, there is but one Japanese author, then there are a good number of countries represented, although of course it will be the Japanese translation that people read as a child. Next, I must admit to never having heard of books 2, 8, 18 and 19.
For me, the book that defined my childhood would have to be The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, both of them read to me by my mother. I could only manage to read by myself the Tales of Narnia, which would probably be third on my list of memorable adventures. Read the rest of this entry »
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By Ken Y-N ( December 28, 2007 at 23:23)
· Filed under Mobile, Polls
Perhaps this Christmas many children in both Japan and the rest of the world found a mobile phone in their stockings. To see how elementary school-aged children view their phones, goo Research released on Christmas day the results of a survey of users of Kids goo (goo’s child-targeted portal) on children’s use of mobile phones.
Demographics
Between the 9th and 26th of November 2007 1,100 elementary school-aged users of the Kids goo portal completed a public survey available through the web site. 60.0% were girls, 3.7% in first year of elementary school, 4.8% in second year of elementary school, 7.7% in third year of elementary school, 20.0% in fourth year of elementary school, 28.9% in fifth year of elementary school, and 34.9% in sixth year of elementary school.
In Q6, it’s interesting to see the differences between the sexes; boys have significantly less contact with friends through mobile phones. The reasons for this would be fascinating to investigate further; is it that girls are more sociable with their friends, or do boys prefer to meet in person, or is there another driving force behind the differences?
In Q7 I’m really surprised that 45% of the mobile phone using children have basically no parent-enforced usage rules. I would hope that the parent has set up limits with the service provider such as blocking potentially harmful sites or even turning off internet access altogether, and other limits such as not allowing them to make any payments for site access or content download. Read the rest of this entry »
I haven’t looked at video games for a while, so I was glad to find this survey from goo Research on video game usage by children. Video games cover handhelds, TV-connected games and even PC-based gaming.
Demographics
Between the 25th of June and 13th of July 2007 1,165 elementary school children (or people claiming to be children) responded to a public questionnaire available on the Kids goo web site. The sample was 60.0% girls, 3.4% in first year of elementary school (ages six or seven), 5.0% in second year, 9.9% in third year, 20.3% in forth year, 26.9% in fifth year, and 34.6% in sixth year (ages eleven or twelve). Note that since this is a public internet-based survey there will definite sampling bias.
There’s so much great data in this survey! Q4SQ is perhaps my favourite; based on my casual observations, not surprisingly the DS totally dominates everything else. However, the other new portable, the PSP, is played less than the ancient Famicon and Super Famicon. I’m surprised that these two machines did so well; is this due to parents being cheap, to them having less worries about graphic violence in the older titles, not wanting to spoil the kids on photo-realism, or do kids really choose themselves to play these machines?
By Ken Y-N ( September 20, 2007 at 23:46)
· Filed under Polls, Rankings, Society
This rather revealing ranking survey by goo Ranking looked at what expectant Japanese women hope their husbands can do regarding childcare. I think the average western person (both male and female) may be surprised at how basic many of the hoped-for actions are. The fieldwork was conducted between the 20th and 24th of July 2007, but no further demographic information was given. Do any of my readers have first-hand experience of Japanese fathers as I cannot really believe that such basic tasks need to be wished for! Read the rest of this entry »
By Ken Y-N ( September 5, 2007 at 23:36)
· Filed under Lifestyle, Polls
Perhaps just because I come from more northern stock where skin is paler and more susceptible to not just burning but melanoma and skin cancer, but I feel that over-exposure to the sun is seen more a beauty rather than a health issue here in Japan, and indeed there seems to be a lot of folk wisdom that suggests a child cooked brown is a healthy child. In addition, given the apparent lack of parental care regarding second-hand smoke and child car seats, for instance, I lloked forward to seeing what results came from a recent survey by DIMSDRIVE Research on the topic of ultraviolet protection for children.
Demographics
Between the 20th and 29th of June 2007 DIMSDRIVE Research interviewed 7,121 members of its internet monitor pool by means of a private online questionnaire. 51.8% of the sample was female, 1.0% in their teens, 14.2% in their twenties, 34.0% in their thirties, 29.7% in their forties, 14.6% in their fifties, and 6.5% aged sixty or older. 66.0% were married, and 53.0% had children.
For myself, I wear a hat mostly, and avoid going out for too long in the summertime sun. Thinking about it, in the last few years I’ve actually had sunburn more often when abroad than in Japan, which is perhaps a reflection on Japan being far too hot meaning I have stay in air-conditioned space as much as possible.
I’ve done a bit of web research to find out what is the incidence of skin cancer in Japan, and surprisingly it looks like it is almost neglegible. It doesn’t merit its own separate category in the official cancer statistics of Japan (interestingly, by 2020 prostate cancer will be the second most common cancer in men, yet I’ve never ever seen it mentioned on any popular health program here, and I watch rather a lot of them), and a rather old TIME article suggests that Japanese in Kauai, Hawaii are 88 times more likely than Japanese in Japan to develop skin malignancy. Read the rest of this entry »
With mobile phones becoming an essential item for parents to give their children, and with mobile phone companies advertising child-tracking services, it would be interesting to look at a recent article published by japan.internet.com on the results of a survey conducted by goo Research into children using mobile phones.
Demographics
Between the 16th and 20th of August 2007 1,077 members of goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.6% of the sample was male, 23.6% in their twenties, 22.0% in their thirties, 21.2% in their forties, 20.2% in their fifties, and 13.0% aged sixty or older.
I rather like the current au advertisement for their child-tracking service, so I present it here for your enjoyment.
By Ken Y-N ( August 20, 2007 at 22:54)
· Filed under Polls, Society
One complaint I often hear from fellow foreigners in Japan is that the cost of having kids is expensive, if not prohibitive, although I often have a suspicion that those saying it have an axe to grind and are inflating costs, much like those Westerners who constantly complain about racist behaviour as if it were a daily occurance. However, perhaps another reason that foreigners find childbirth, or the prospect thereof, a scary prospect is that they are not aware of all the support that local governments provide to parents. With this in mind, perhaps some of my readers with young children will find this survey by goo Research into child medical fees and child-rearing support informative.
Demographics
Between the 3rd and 9th of July 2007 1,989 members of goo Research’s online monitor pool with children of middle school or younger ages successfully completed a private online questionnaire. 51.4% of the sample was female, 28.6% in their twenties, 29.0% in their thirties, 25.4% in their forties, and 17.0% aged fifty or above.
The biggest help for new parents is a lump sum from the local government on the birth of a child, with the same amount being offered to all parents regardless of income levels, usually 400,000 yen, which is enough to cover most straightforward births. However, it is interesting to note that in Q2 and Q3 about one in six has not heard of and doesn’t plan to take advantage of this money.
My employer also pays a child support allowance, but the value of it barely covers the nappy bill, I would guess! Read the rest of this entry »
By Ken Y-N ( July 19, 2007 at 10:09)
· Filed under Polls, Society
With the ubiquity of mobile phones and computers with kanji input abilities, both the need to remember and the opportunities for writing kanji, the Japanese language’s main script, has decreased. In addition, worries about education includes whether children are really learning kanji correctly. Thus, goo Research, in conjuction with the Mainichi Shimbun, conducted a survey into kanji ability.
Demographics
Between the 25th and 27th of May 2007 1,101 randomly selected internet users aged 20 or over (presumably chosen from goo Research’s monitor pool) completed this survey. More detailed demographic information is not available.
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m studying for the Kanji Kentei examination in order to up my ability, particularly from the point of view of writing. Reading is relatively easy, and with a computer to aid you, electronic entry is not that bothersome at all, yet even my wife, who was always top of the class in school with kanji, occasionally forgets how to write even relatively common characters and has to resort to an electronic dictionary to crib the correct character from. Read the rest of this entry »
With the worries about “stranger danger” in Japan far outweighing the reality of the situation, japan.internet.com reported on a survey conducted by JR Tokai Express Research on the topic of children and mobile phones.
Demographics
On the 6th of June 2007 JR Tokai Express Research received 330 successfully-completed questionnaires from members of its internet monitor group aged between 30 and 59. 73.0% of the sample was female, 49.1% in their thirties, 33.9% in their forties, and 17.0% in their fifties.
By Ken Y-N ( May 26, 2007 at 23:57)
· Filed under Polls, Society
goo Research, in conjuction with the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper, published the results of a very timely and interesting poll on the topic of, as it is known in Japanese, Akachan Post, Baby Post, or a place to drop off babies anonymously. The first in Japan opened at the Jikei Hospital in Kumamoto just last month ago, and has already received one rather inappropriate delivery.
Demographics
The demographics for this survey are not terribly well-reported. All that is given is that between the 27th and 30th of April 2007, 1,092 members of the goo Research monitor group aged 20 or above successfully completed a private online questionnaire.
This survey is a little short, but I was surprised by nearly two-thirds supporting the baby drop-off services, and nearly half the sample wishing in fact to see more Akachan Posts. I was pleased to see that people consider education the best way of managing the problem of abandoned children. Read the rest of this entry »
Perhaps this Christmas many children in both Japan and the rest of the world found a mobile phone in their stockings. To see how elementary school-aged children view their phones, goo Research released on Christmas day the results of a survey of users of Kids goo (goo’s child-targeted portal) on 
I haven’t looked at video games for a while, so I was glad to find this survey from goo Research on 
Perhaps just because I come from more northern stock where skin is paler and more susceptible to not just burning but melanoma and skin cancer, but I feel that over-exposure to the sun is seen more a beauty rather than a health issue here in Japan, and indeed there seems to be a lot of folk wisdom that suggests a child cooked brown is a healthy child. In addition, given the apparent lack of parental care regarding second-hand smoke and child car seats, for instance, I lloked forward to seeing what results came from a recent survey by DIMSDRIVE Research on the topic of 
One complaint I often hear from fellow foreigners in Japan is that the cost of having kids is expensive, if not prohibitive, although I often have a suspicion that those saying it have an axe to grind and are inflating costs, much like those Westerners who constantly complain about racist behaviour as if it were a daily occurance. However, perhaps another reason that foreigners find childbirth, or the prospect thereof, a scary prospect is that they are not aware of all the support that local governments provide to parents. With this in mind, perhaps some of my readers with young children will find this survey by goo Research into 
With the ubiquity of mobile phones and computers with kanji input abilities, both the need to remember and the opportunities for writing kanji, the Japanese language’s main script, has decreased. In addition, worries about education includes whether children are really learning kanji correctly. Thus, goo Research, in conjuction with the Mainichi Shimbun, conducted a survey into 
With the worries about “stranger danger” in Japan far outweighing the reality of the situation, japan.internet.com reported on a survey conducted by JR Tokai Express Research on the topic of 
goo Research, in conjuction with the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper, published the results of a very timely and interesting poll on the topic of, as it is known in Japanese, 
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