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.
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 »
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.
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 »
Between the first and fifth of March this year, yet another survey that MyVoice conducted was into the matter of elementary and middle-school education, covering children between the ages of six and fifteen.
Demographics
15,765 members of their online community successfully completed the survey. 54% were female, 3% in their teens, 19% in their twenties, 39% in their thirties, 25% in their forties, and 14% in their fifites.
Looking back on my school days, I cannot really say there was much wrong with the, alhough I did grow up in a small town where there were not many social problems. In the present day, however, I could rattle off a million and one things that may be wrong in both my home country and Japan. However, bemoaning the behaviour of the younger generation has been a universal trait since the days of Socrates.
I am surprised that Q4 and Q5 did not have more options about perceived failures of parents to teach their children how to behave, which I feel (as a non-parent) is an important issue in the degradation of the education system. Disturbances in class is just a symptom, not the root cause.
How do English language teachers or those with children in Japanese schools find Japanese schools? How would you rate the problems? Read the rest of this entry »
On the 16th of March 330 members of JR Tokai Express Research’s monitor panel working in the education field completed a private internet-based survey. 83.0% were male, 7.9% in their twenties, 29.4% in their thirties, 40.0% in their forties, 19.4% in their fifties, and 3.3% in their sixties. 19, or 5.8%, worked in elementary schools, 6.4% (21 people) in middle schools, 11.8% (39 people) in high schools or vocational schools, 193 people (58.5%) in universities, 1.8% (or just 6 people) in technical colleges, 2.4% (8 people) in cram schools, and 18 people, or 5.5%, had other education-related rolls. 25 people actually had other jobs, and one was currently unemployed. The questions below were then asked only to the 40 elementary and middle school teachers.
It’s interesting that over half the sample consisted of university lecturers and the like. Perhaps this suggests something about the relatively light workload that allows that group to spend time completing online surveys?
For the questions presented below, the sample size is probably far too small to be any use, but I present the data regardless. Read the rest of this entry »
The survey was conducted between the 22nd of November and 7th of December in 2006, amongst fathers living in and around the Tokyo area, with 400 men aged between 30 and 49 were interviewed. Although it is not clearly stated, I believe all the men surveyed were full-time employment.
The survey results were on the whole presented not in tabular form, but as highlights of the answers given to the posed questions. I will retain the same style in this write-up.
Part three and four looked at what food means to people, and what their thoughts are about food in the future. In Q5 of part three I was a bit disappointed to see there was no information about frequency of getting children to participate. I have the impression that male children especially did basically nothing to help around the house. Read the rest of this entry »
The survey was conducted between the 22nd of November and 7th of December in 2006, amongst fathers living in and around the Tokyo area, with 400 men aged between 30 and 49 were interviewed. Although it is not clearly stated, I believe all the men surveyed were full-time employment.
The survey results were on the whole presented not in tabular form, but as highlights of the answers given to the posed questions. I will retain the same style in this write-up.
Part two looked at how fathers interacted with their families regarding mealtimes. Sadly there is no data on why over two in five men make little or no effort to eat at home. Read the rest of this entry »
The survey was conducted between the 22nd of November and 7th of December in 2006, amongst fathers living in and around the Tokyo area, with 400 men aged between 30 and 49 were interviewed. Although it is not clearly stated, I believe all the men surveyed were full-time employment.
The survey results were on the whole presented not in tabular form, but as highlights of the answers given to the posed questions. I will retain the same style in this write-up.
Part one looked at eating habits. I found the drinking habits interesting; note that only 7% of drinkers do not drink with their evening meal. Read the rest of this entry »
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, 
Between the first and fifth of March this year, yet another survey that MyVoice conducted was into the matter of 
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