世論 What Japan Thinks

iShare published the third part of their hayfever surveys for 2011; this repeated most of the results from the second survey, however, so there is only one new answer to report today.

Demographics

Between the 17th and 20th of December 2010 2,766 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 56.6% of the sample were male, 14.6% in their twenties, 37.3% in their thirties, and 48.1% in their forties.

I didn’t have a clue about the measure, but it would have been interesting to see how many of the people from Q2 who reported mild hayfever were actually moderate.
Read the rest of this entry »

With one of the biggest cinema chains in Japan, Toho Cinemas, announcing that from next month (March 2011) they will cut the price of an adult ticket from 1,800 yen to 1,500 yen, iShare decided it would be a good time to conduct a survey to see what people thought about multiplex ticket prices.

Demographics

Between the 21st and 24th of January 2011 a mere 284 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.5% of the sample were female, 32.0% in their twenties, 32.4% in their thirties, and 35.6% in their forties. All had watched a movie at a multi-screen theatre, although it would have been useful to see the percentage of people who had been to the cinema.

As I always say, if you’re regularly paying 1,800 yen for the cinema you’d doing it wrong! The first of the month is 1,000 yen, Toho Cinemas have a loyalty card that gives you one free for every six watched, late shows are 1,200 yen or so, advance tickets are usually 1,300 yen, and ticket shops around cinemas often have left-over advance tickets on sale or other discount passes.

I’d like to see them do something about 3D surcharges; Toho Cinemas started off charging 300 yen extra, but last autumn they bumped it up to 400 yen. I’d watch more 3D (actually, I’ve given up now) if it was just 200 yen, or my loyalty card gave me a discount, or if I could buy my own pair.

My next movie will be The King’s Speech, and although I’d be prepared to pay full price for it, I’ll be going on March 1st, 1,000 yen day.
Read the rest of this entry »

At least according on this recent survey from iShare into hayfever, their second survey this season; actually, this survey is the second half of the first one, as the demographics and survey dates are identical.

Demographics

Between the 17th and 20th of December 2010 2,766 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 56.6% of the sample were male, 14.6% in their twenties, 37.3% in their thirties, and 48.1% in their forties.

The last two seasons towards the end of April things have got too much for me and I’ve had to resort to visiting a local ENT clinic. The anti-histamines always knock me out, so I ask not to get the prescribed, but the other two I get to turn off the taps work well and get me through the last few weeks of the season.
Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a little bit of a silly spacefiller from iShare, looking at hayfever, a survey that seems to be the first in a series, but how often they will be carrying it out, it doesn’t say, but given that the survey was conducted in December, I hope they have a monthly report.

Demographics

Between the 17th and 20th of December 2010 2,766 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 56.6% of the sample were male, 14.6% in their twenties, 37.3% in their thirties, and 48.1% in their forties.

This year (actually, it seems to be every year we get a similar prediction) the ceder pollen, the most common one for causing allergies in Japan, is supposed to be five times the average. It took me about five years to get hayfever in Japan – I also have rapeseed allergy, but there’s none in Japan – but on the positive side, I used to have awful mosquito allergy and would get huge swollen arms, but that’s gone away. On the other hand, it could have been a bedbug allergy as it went away as soon as I got married…
Read the rest of this entry »

With Japanese primary schools about to start compulsory English lessons, this survey from iShare took a look at people’s English ability and children’s English lessons. As it’s rather a long survey and lends itself into splitting into two, I’ll do just that.

Demographics

Over the 17th and 18th of January 2011 1,722 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service in full-time employment completed a private internet-based survey. 579 people had children of primary school age or younger, 62.0% of the sample were male, 52.2% in their thirties, and 47.8% in their forties.

I recently saw a program where they sent a guy to join an elementary school English class to see how he’d fare. It did seem rather useless, with a native English teacher leading the class in songs and roleplay but a Japanese teacher on hand to command the class. The roleplay feature was that essential skill for life, ordering fast food, with the opening line being a stereotypically Japanese pronunciation of “Harro!”; the kids however seemed to enjoy it and had a relatively good command of the rest of the script.
Read the rest of this entry »

With Japanese primary schools about to start compulsory English lessons, this survey from iShare took a look at people’s English ability and children’s English lessons. As it’s rather a long survey and lends itself into splitting into two, I’ll do just that.

Demographics

Over the 17th and 18th of January 2011 1,722 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service in full-time employment completed a private internet-based survey. 579 people had children of primary school age or younger, 62.0% of the sample were male, 52.2% in their thirties, and 47.8% in their forties.

Q3 is a funny one to me – I don’t really associate primary school with studying, so I can’t say there is anything academic I should have put more effort into, although I do wish I’d persevered more with music-making as I wish I didn’t have such a tin ear.

My employer requires various levels of TOEIC scores before promotion to higher levels and there is also some indirect input of English skill into a system for rating skill level. Conversely, they have zero requirement for foreigners to speak Japanese, an issue that I regularly take up with personnel.
Read the rest of this entry »

iShare recently released a detailed look at where single businesspeople live.

Demographics

Between the 13th and 17th of January 2011 1,192 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. All lived within Tokyo or two of the neighbouring prefectures Kanagawa and Saitama, and were single, in full-time employment, and with no wedding plans. 74.6% of the sample were male, 7.3% in their twenties, 55.4% in their thirties, and 37.3% in their forties.

You’ll note that despite the older age profile just around 14% have their own place and 35% live at home. This is in part due to stupidly-high property prices in the Tokyo area, and perhaps also due to property very rarely going up in price, usually depreciating as fast as the average car; it is only really the land underneath that can make money.

In Q1SQ3 Japanese code for counting rooms is used. 1R is “One Room”, the most basic studio. 1K is one room plus a kitchen, although that usually means just one burner and a sink in a corridor. 1DK adds a dining room or more usually space for a kitchen table, 1LDK adds a living room or living area. 2 and 3 indicate two or three rooms other than the L, D or K.

Permalink Comments