世論 What Japan Thinks

The Japanese Government’s Statistical Bureau recently released statistics on what I think is the biggest problem that will face Japan in the coming year, namely the decline in the number of births, which coupled with the aging population, is going to put an enormous strain on Japan’s finances in the years to come.

This year too (measured on the first of April) the number of children aged under 15 hit another record low, a 25 year unbroken decline in the birth rate. The headline figures are 17,470,000 children under 15 years old, representing 13.7% of the population, down 0.1 percentage points from last year. There also seems to be an imbalance in the sex distribution, with 105.3 boys for every 100 girls. The reason for this may be worth investigating.
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Earlier this month iShare surveyed members of their CLUB BBQ service to find out mainly about people’s attitude to children and mobiles, but there were also additional questions regarding people’s partners and mobiles. This report, however, only featured three results, but I’d love to get hold of the full set of results so I could translate it! They got 880 replies to their private internet-based survey, with 73% of the sample size being male. The ages of the respondents were between 30 and 50.

It may be instructive to cross-reference these results with the other survey I have just presented on the same subject.
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ITmedia recently published a short summary of an internet-based survey carried out by Yahoo! Research amongst 545 mothers of children due to start Primary School (in Japan, this means children aged six) this Spring regarding their children’s safety. The percentages by sex of these soon-to-start-school children were 52.1% boys and 47.9% girls.

A figure of 17.6% of those people polled said that they intend to very soon give their children a mobile phone or pager. 0.6% already made their children carry one, and 81.6% said they had no plans to do so.

As for the reasons for giving their children phones, the almost unanimous top reason at 95% was for safety. Almost seven in ten said it was in order to know where their children were, and 44% saying it was to keep track of them on their return home. Only one in five said it was to know when to go and meet their children when it was time to return from normal school or extra cram school. Next, at just 9%, was in order to facilitate parent-child communication.

As a bonus question, they also asked what colour of satchel, a particularly Japanese custom for all new entrants to school, they planned to buy. Traditionally, boys get black and girls get red ones.

Q: What colour of satchel do you plan to buy for your child newly entering school?

Colour	Percentage
Black	24.8%
Red	23.7%
Pink	18.1%
Navy blue	13.3%
Green	2.6%

There’s been a survey of parents who carry their pre-school children on pedal bikes, and surprise, surprise, barely one in twenty actually makes their kid wear a helmet. The Japan Traffic Safety Association plan a campaign to persuade parents to protect their children. The gory details are as follows:

Sample size – 7,194 from all around the country, interviewed in February and March of this year around various creches and nurseries. The sex breakdown of the sample is implied to be all female. Note that the “Not clear” answer means that the mark on the answer sheet could not be read or was completed incorrectly, as this was a survey for people to fill out by themselves.

Q1: Have you (or anyone in your family) ridden your bike with a child on board?

Yes	59.8%
No	39.9%
Don’t know	0.2%
Not clear	0.1%

Q2: If you have, have you had an accident with a child on board within the last year? (Sample size=4302)

Yes	13.1%
No	86.6%
Don’t know	0.0%
Not clear	0.3%

Q3: If you have had an accident, how many times within the last year? (Sample size=564)

Once	70.4%
Twice	21.3%
Thrice	4.8%
Four times	1.2%
Five times or more	0.7%
Don’t know	0.7%
Not clear	0.9%

Q4: If you have had an accident, how many children riding were injured? If more than one accident in the last year, describe the more recent one. (Sample size=564)

One	82.6%
Two	16.1%
Three	0.2%
Four or more	0.0%
Not clear	1.1%

Q5: What were the ages of those injured in Q4? (Sample size=651 children)

0 years old	0.9%
1 year old	12.0%
2 years old	19.0%
3 years old	19.8%
4 years old	21.4%
5 years old	15.4%
6 years old	8.3%
7 years or older	0.5%
Don’t know	0.2%
Not clear	2.6%

Q6: Where were those injured in Q4 riding? (Sample size=651 children)

Child seat in front of the handlebars	13.8%
Child seat between handlebars and saddle	27.3%
Child seat behind saddle	48.2%
Non-child seat use luggage rack	5.4%
Piggy-backing on rider	0.5%
Don’t know	0.5%
Other	1.7%
Not clear	2.6%

Sadly, we don’t have a figure to say where children normally ride, in order to give some sort of idea if certain locations may lead to more accidents.

Q7: Which part of the body was most seriously injured? (Sample size=651 children)

Head	17.7%
Face	11.4%
Shoulders	0.2%
Chest	0.0%
Stomach	0.5%
Back	0.2%
Bottom	0.2%
Hands or arms	16.1%
Feet or legs	43.6%
Don’t know	3.2%
Other	3.8%
Not clear	3.2%

Q8: How serious was the injury? (Sample size=651 children)

Over two weeks in hospital	0.2%
One day to two weeks in hospital	0.2%
A number of out-patient/clinic visits	7.1%
One out-patient/clinc visit	6.0%
Didn’t visit doctor	64.8%
Don’t know	0.5%
Other	18.1%
Not clear	3.2%

Sadly, here there is no cross-referencing between location of injury and seriousness of injury.

Q9: Was the child wearing a helmet when injured? (Sample size=651 children)

Yes	1.2%
No	96.3%
Don’t know	0.0%
Not clear	2.5%

Q10: Whereabouts was the bike when the accident occurred? (Sample size=564 accidents)

When going across a step (kerb etc)	9.4%
When turning left or right	6.9%
When moving away from a stop	14.0%
When stopping	5.0%
When moving in another fashion	13.8%
When parking (engaging or disengaging stand, etc)	35.8%
When pushing bike	5.5%
Don’t know	0.7%
Other	7.4%
Not clear	1.4%

Q11: What was the cause of the accident? (Sample size=564 accidents)

Wheel hit a rut or obstacle avoidance caused loss of balance	56.0%
Collision with other bicycle or motorbike	3.5%
Collision with car	3.4%
Collision with pedestrian	0.7%
Collision with other object	2.5%
Child fell out of seat, etc	8.5%
Child got foot trapped in wheel, etc	9.0%
Don’t know	5.9%
Other	6.7%
Not clear	3.7%

Q12: Did you notify the police after the accident? (Sample size=564 accidents)

Yes	2.5%
No	95.0%
Don’t know	0.4%
Not clear	2.1%

Q13: If you did not notify the police after the accident, why not? (Sample size=536 accidents)

No serious injuries	59.0%
I didn’t think it was necessary to report bicycle accidents when riding	11.4%
I didn’t think it was necessary to report bicycle accidents when pushing or parking	10.3%
I didn’t think it was necessary to report bicycle accidents involving only myself	6.2%
It wasn’t on the public road, but private land at home, etc	6.9%
Don’t know	2.2%
Other	3.7%
Not clear	0.4%

Q14: If you answered Yes in Q1, do you use a child helmet when riding? (Sample size=4302 women)

Always use	1.2%
Sometimes use	1.4%
Never use	95.4%
Don’t know	0.1%
Not clear	1.9%

Q15: If you answered Always or Sometimes in Q14, for what reasons do you use a child helmet when riding? Multiple answers allowed. (Sample size=112 women)

There’s lots of accidents, and I’ve seen and heard information about this	52.7%
Family or friends recommended I use it	22.3%
Reduce risk, increase safety	18.8%
Experienced accidents or injury	8.0%
Family or friends have had an accident	7.1%
Obligatory abroad, obligation to parents	4.5%
Bicycle shop recommendation	3.6%
Children want to	2.7%
Requested to wear one riding to nursery, etc	0.9%
Municipality recommendation	0.9%
Nursery, creche, etc recommended it	0.0%
Don’t know	0.0%
Other	10.7%
Not clear	0.0%

Q15: If you answered Never in Q14, for what reasons do you not use a child helmet when riding? Multiple answers allowed. (Sample size=4105 women)

I didn’t know a helmet was needed when going to nursery, etc	41.8%
It’s troublesome	28.9%
It’s extra luggage	24.1%
I don’t know where they are sold	23.6%
I don’t ride so as to cause injury	16.7%
Children don’t want to wear it	15.3%
I don’t know how effective they are	13.1%
The price is high	10.3%
Frequency is low (ie won’t use it much?)	4.7%
Never thought of it or been aware of it	3.3%
Not seen many people around me wearing them	2.3%
Don’t know	4.2%
Other	10.0%
Not clear	0.2%

Q16: Within the last year, have you attended road saftey lectures for guardians or families? (Sample size=7194 women)

Yes	9.3%
No	87.0%
Don’t know	2.1%
Not clear	1.6%

Q17: What measures do you think would be effective to avoid serious accidents? (Sample size=7194 women)

Sufficient safety education for guardians	68.9%
Child helmets when riding two-up	48.6%
Flatten kerbs on pavements	47.8%
Accident risk warning posters	46.3%
Stricter road safety laws for bicycle riders	26.0%
Develop a bicycle that’s hard to fall off	25.6%
Other	5.9%
Don’t know	2.2%
Not clear	1.4%

Q18: Regarding making wearing of child helmets compulsory, what do you think should be done? (Sample size=7194 women)

Should make it compulsory immediately (to Q19)	31.2%
Too soon to make it compulsory (to Q20)	21.1%
I couldn’t accept it being compulsory (to Q21)	33.8%
Don’t know	12.6%
Not clear	1.3%

Q19: For what reasons should it be made compulsory immediately? (Sample size=2246 women)

Increasing the safety of children should be a priority	91.3%
If it’s not compulsory, no-one will use them	72.0%
I’ve seen and heard about lots of accidents occurring	26.9%
Other countries make it mandatory	5.4%
My family or friend’s children have been injured	5.1%
Don’t know	0.0%
Other	6.0%
Not clear	0.0%

Q20: For what reasons do you think it is too soon to make them compulsory? (Sample size=1520 women)

The level of awareness amongst guardians is not high enough to make it compulsory	84.5%
There are few shops selling them	28.8%
I don’t know by how much it would reduce head injury	27.5%
Price is high	26.3%
Limited range of models	18.6%
Other	13.2%
Don’t know	0.8%
Not clear	0.3%

Q21: For what reasons could you not accept them being compulsory? (Sample size=2428 women)

It is better if the guardian decides	69.3%
Children won’t like wearing them	35.5%
Extra luggage to carry	31.3%
Takes money	29.5%
Even if used, I don’t think head injuries will decrease	16.4%
Other	15.7%
Don’t know	1.9%
Not clear	0.5%

Q22: How often do you ride with a child on board? (Sample size=7194 women)

Just about every day	20.2%
Three or four times a week	7.6%
One or two times a week	8.0%
Two or three times a month	9.0%
Almost never ride together	10.5%
Almost never ride a bike at all	43.4%
Not clear	1.4%