世論 What Japan Thinks

People sleeping on the train, or feigning sleep so they don’t need to give up their seat, is a staple feature of the Japanese rail system, and something that I do most mornings too. The worry about sleeping past your stop was the subject tackled by this recent survey from iShare.

Demographics

Between the 12th and 15th of October 2009 568 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 58.1% of the sample were male, 34.7% in their twenties, 31.2% in their thirties, and 34.2% in their forties.

Despite needing three trains to get to and from work every day, I’ve never actually slept past my stop, although more than once or twice I’ve woken up after the train has stopped and had to fight my way through the boarding hoards to get off. My first train in the morning is all the way to the end of the line, so I have once been woken by a fellow passenger as I was still dead to the world when we got to the terminal.
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This subject is one that seems to polarises opinions in Japanese media, with those opposed arguing along the lines of having the law in place to allow separate names will mean everyone will use it, leading to a collapse of the whole of Japanese society. However, this recent survey into separate names of husbands and wives found most in favour, but very few planning to take advantage of it.

Demographics

Between the 13th and 16th of October 2009 498 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 56.6% of the sample were male, 36.7% in their twenties, 30.1% in their thirties, and 33.1% in their forties.

Separate names is by default a fact for international marriages, due to the family register system in Japan – a Japanese-only couple have one family register document for the two of them, so as the document only supports a single surname, couples must have the same official name. However, foreign residents have a separate registration system, so we and our spouses can keep our surnames, although there is a six-month window where one can easily make the change. My wife didn’t change (no particular reason, just too much hassle, I support), but when she renewed her passport she got given a double-barrel with my surname in brackets after hers.
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This recent survey from iShare into hair colouring is working under the presumption that all of its sample has black hair, given that there is no question about one’s natural colour.

Demographics

Between the 25th and 30th of September 2009 562 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 55.5% of the sample were male, 35.9% in their twenties, 30.2% in their thirties, and 33.8% in their forties.

Earlier this year I had a more detailed look at hair colouring.

Despite being 100% Japanese, my wife is actually naturally dark brown rather than black, which used to get her into trouble at school as many schools forbid hair dying, along with make-up, etc. She used to work somewhere where she got a light brown dye not because it was in vogue or the like, but actually was a very important part of the corporate image!
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For those of you coming to this thread with a dirty mind, please review the lack of a possessive apostrophe for “girls” and realise that this is merely a survey from iShare looking at purchasing underwear as gifts for not just Japanese women, but men too.

Demographics

Between the 30th of September and 5th of October 2009 562 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.2% of the sample were male, 34.5% in their twenties, 33.3% in their thirties, and 32.2% in their forties.

I’ve peeked at Japanese knickers, once before, as it were.

My wife buys all my boxers, usually Hello Kitty and friends. Last time I had a health check at the office that required stripping down I realised I’d decided to wear my bright orange Snoopy Halloween ones that day!
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I’m sure I’m not the only one who gets email newsletters from various places that I just can’t unsubscribe from, and in Japan there seems to be no law or industry best practice to have a simple unsubscribe link even from reputable businesses, so this recent survey from iShare into unwanted email newsletters revealed how the average person copes with this situation.

Demographics

Between the 18th and 28th of September 2009 513 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 54.8% of the sample were male, 30.4% in their twenties, 33.3% in their thirties, and 36.3% in their forties.

My wife gets a shed-load of spam every day, especially from Rakuten (Japan’s largest online mall), who will sell on your address to their shops at the drop of a hat, so even if you unclick all the mail delivery boxes, you come back a day or two later and find that new boxes have appeared. I suspect in the small print when you buy something from one of their shops is some text saying that you agree to get email from other businesses from the same genre. She has mostly given up on unsubscribing, so she now has hundreds of addresses blocked in her mail client!
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Call me old-fashioned or square, but I am glad that in Japan even minor body modifications such as simple ear studs are not that popular, as this recent survey from iShare into piercing confirms.

Demographics

Between the 7th and 10th of September 2009 516 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 56.2% of the sample were male, 33.9% in their twenties, 30.0% in their thirties, and 36.0% in their forties.

I’d like to know if the difference in Q2 of 24% to 8% is due to gender-based rules or due to the men and women in this survey working in different industries. Looking at my own employer’s rules, I cannot find a direct ban on piercings, but there are notes about gaudy earrings (and loud hair, etc) which suggest that anything more than a simple stud for guys would earn one a visit to the personel department.

I do occasionally see people with lip rings (yuk!), but I usually suspect they are just fake clip-ons, not real.
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Japan has a million and one Days every year, with today, the 10th of October being marked as Moe Day, Look After Your Eyes Day, Fishing Day, Tuna Day, Tin Can Day, Public Bath Day, and no doubt many, many more. To investigate the awareness of these and other celebrations, iShare looked at October Days.

Demographics

Between the 16th and 24th of September 2009 591 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 57.9% of the sample were male, 34.9% in their twenties, 30.3% in their thirties, and 34.9% in their forties.

Moe, or 萌え in Japanese, is basically the love of cute animation or video game characters, which for me has undertones of unhealthy obsession, and its broad acceptance within Japan is one aspect of the country that I do not like at all. As to why today is Moe Day, let’s look more closely at how the 10th of October and Moe are written in kanji:

As to why the other Days fall on today, I am at a loss to tell you why, except for Public Bath Day. 10th October is 10/10, or 1010, or one thousand and ten, which can be pronunced in Japanese as sen-tou, which is also the pronuciation for 銭湯, public bath. I’m quite proud of myself for working that one out. Finally, 10th of October used to be Health and Sports Day, but from 2000 they moved it to the second Monday in October.

萌（♡´∀`♡）え
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My wife’s especially bad, and it’s rubbed off on me now, for cleaning out the shampoo, shoe shine clothes, laundry bags and all other freebies in a hotel room, so I was keen to see this survey from iShare on hotel amenities to see what the average Japanese thinks about such activity.

Demographics

Between the 14th and 17th of September 2009 506 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 55.1% of the sample were male, 36.4% in their twenties, 28.1% in their thirties, and 35.6% in their forties.

In case you’re wondering what Fremantle is doing in the headline, it’s a word that’s stuck in my brain ever since I read The Meaning of Liff by Douglas Adams back when I was in school. I’d be interested to know if any of my readers know the word.
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Gender might have been a more correct word to use in the headline, but I’m sure it wouldn’t have got so many click-throughs! This recent survey from iShare looked at the interesting, but not as saucy as the title might suggest, topic of desired gender of bosses in Japan.

Demographics

Between the 10th and 15th of September 2009 555 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 57.1% of the sample were male, 35.1% in their twenties, 30.8% in their thirties, and 34.1% in their forties.

I’ve had my share of bosses of both sexes in Japan, and I can say that all bar one of the male bosses were awful. I don’t know whether it is the company training practices, promotion scheme, or just that most of them worked for or under others at some point and the uselessness rubbed off. The common faults in all their management styles are an inability to delegate meaningfully, presumption of their own correctness (reinforced by Japan’s sempai-kohai relationship) to the extent of ignoring differing opinions, and the ability to drone on at length on random subjects at the drop of a hat. Oh, and just in case my current male boss is reading, yes, that includes you too.
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I want someday learn how to write Japanese well, as do most Japanese themselves, according to the results of this recent survey from iShare into handwriting.

Demographics

Between the 27th of August and the 1st of September 2009 545 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 54.5% of the sample were male, 34.7% in their twenties, 29.2% in their thirties, and 36.1% in their forties.

Having said that I want to learn how to write Japanese neatly, perhaps first I should actually learn how to write in English, as I do have a horrendous scrawl, which does become legible to a degree if I slow down.

When it comes to making notes at meetings or sketching ideas out, etc, I nearly always use paper first, however, as even though I have a reasonably good typing speed, I can write and listen at the same time during meetings, and for ideas, underlining things on paper, inserting words, expanding concepts always seems far more dynamic on paper, and easier to follow than just raw, perfect text.
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