世論 What Japan Thinks

[part 1] [part 2]

My main role in housework is hoovering up the rubbish (and anyone complaining about my British English will be summarily banned ) every Sunday morning, so this recent survey conducted by DIMSDRIVE Research into vacuum cleaners is right up my street.

Demographics

Between the 5th and 13th of December 2007 8,803 members of the DIMSDRIVE Monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 59.7% of the sample was female, 0.5% in their teens, 15.7% in their twenties, 37.4% in their thirties, 28.6% in their forties, 13.1% in their fifties, and 4.7% aged sixty or older. 48.9% had children (up to what age is not specified) at home, 12.8% lived by themselves, 23.3% with one other person, 24.8% with two others, 25.1% with three others, and 14.0% with four or more others. Pet ownership is interesting enough to merit a separate table!

I change the paper bag whenever the warning light comes on; our machine has a voice feature that gives a verbal alert too once the bag is seriously full. One of the reasons we chose the exact model was the accessory set which includes a brush for doing on top of beds, but my favourite feature is a button on the head that I can depress with my foot to undock it, leaving me with a smaller head for getting down the side of the fridge or round behind furniture. It also has a dust sensor, but I feel it doesn’t work properly - perhaps it is too easy for dust to build up on the sensor?

And Hello Kitty sucks!

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed, or check out my weekly newsletter. Thanks for visiting!

[part 1] [part 2]

My main role in housework is hoovering up the rubbish (and anyone complaining about my British English will be summarily banned ) every Sunday morning, so this recent survey conducted by DIMSDRIVE Research into vacuum cleaners is right up my street.

Demographics

Between the 5th and 13th of December 2007 8,803 members of the DIMSDRIVE Monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 59.7% of the sample was female, 0.5% in their teens, 15.7% in their twenties, 37.4% in their thirties, 28.6% in their forties, 13.1% in their fifties, and 4.7% aged sixty or older. 48.9% had children (up to what age is not specified) at home, 12.8% lived by themselves, 23.3% with one other person, 24.8% with two others, 25.1% with three others, and 14.0% with four or more others. Pet ownership is interesting enough to merit a separate table!

I’ve read a lot about cyclones and Dysons in particular, and they are rated highly by their owners, but I have this overriding suspicion that the users are like Mac owners, smug about their premium purchase, so they are trying to justify to themselves as much as to everyone else the extra expense.

I got the impression when I was in the UK that upright cleaners were the more popular type, but as this is not What Britain Thinks, I cannot find any statistics to confirm or deny this suspicion; here in Japan the default is the canister type, as this survey reveals.
Read the rest of this entry »

I think all my readers know my position on the trustworthiness or otherwise of Wikipedia; what I trust as an information source is the Beeb, followed by a few UK newspapers. For information about Japan in English, quite frankly I cannot really trust any commercial source, and those with user feedback are in fact one of the reasons I started WJT. To see what the Japanese themselves trust, as part of their 132nd Ranking Research, DIMSDRIVE Research asked what sources of information people could trust.

Demographics

Between the 19th and 27th of December 2007 4,044 members of the DIMSDRIVE Research monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 56.5% were female, 13.6% in their twenties, 31.5% in their thirties, 34.6% in their forties, 13.6% in their fifties, and 5.8% aged sixty or older.

Here, the trust being investigated is the reliability or usefulness of the information provided by the site, I believe. Given the high newspaper readership in Japan, it is very surprising that newspapers rate quite low, beaten by portals (which use these very newspapers as their sources!) and even shopping sites!

Other interesting results outside the top 10 were that the Yomiuri Online was the number three newspaper at position 23. kakaku.com was number 13, my favourite comparision shopping and user review site. For communities, mixi was 20th, beaten by the cesspit that is 2 channel, a bulletin board that caters on the whole for racists and tinfoil hats; young men seemed to be those that trusted there the most.

Read the rest of this entry »

I rent a car about twice or thrice a year, and did in fact win a free one day rental of a Voxy from Toyota Rent-a-Car recently, and this summer I finally applied for an ETC, Electronic Toll Collection, card that interfaces with the box in all Toyota rental cars to allow you to automatically pay the tolls. The first time we used it we got two 200 yen refunds for a 700 yen charge, which was nice. If you want to rent from Toyota (a bit expensive, but their cars are very nicely turned out and all have car navi, and the Prius especially is a really pleasant drive) I advice applying online for a Hertz #1 Card, as you’ll get a 10% discount and with three rentals in Japan a year you get upgraded to gold status (I hope!) and nice bonuses if you rent in Europe or the US. Today’s survey is from DIMSDRIVE Research and is about not car rental, but ETC.

Demographics

Between the 14th and 22nd of November 2007 7,287 members of the DIMSDRIVE Research monitor panel who had a car for private use completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 55.8% of the sample was female, 0.9% in their teens, 16.2% in their twenties, 37.1% in their thirties, 28.1% in their forties, 12.8% in their fifties, and 4.9% aged sixty or older.

Note that there are two components needed to use the ETC system; first, you need a card reader and transmitter to talk to the toll gate, then you need a special ETC card, usually tied to either your bank account or credit card account. Some credit card companies add the ETC functionality to a credit card, but others issue separate cards.

There’s one big puzzle regarding a highway near me; if you ever watch or listen to the traffic news during holiday periods there is always a report of 20 or 30 km tailbacks on the Chuugoku Highway at the Takarazuka Tunnel near Osaka. Having traversed this area, I can report that almost every time I go through that tunnel there is some sort of slowness. However, there are no turn-offs at that point and the road doesn’t narrow, dip or twist drastically, so why is that point a bottleneck? Last year I saw an in-train advertisement magazine with a teaser headline asking “Why is there always a traffic jam at the Takarazuka Tunnel?”, but I never bothered to buy a copy, so I am still scratching my head.
Read the rest of this entry »

Given that according to some definition of lactose intolerant, perhaps as much as 90% or more of the Japanese population are lactose intolerant, and seven years ago over 14,000 Japanese drank staphylococcus-infected milk, one might expect to find relatively few milk-drinkers in Japan. However, this recent survey from DIMSDRIVE Research into milk (and one previously on fermented milk products) suggests otherwise.

Demographics

Between the 17th and 25th of October 2007 7,517 members of the DIMSDRIVE Monitor group toop part in a private internet-based questionnaire. 54.0% of the sample was female, 1.0% in their teens, 14.7% in their twenties, 33.0% in their thirties, 30.8% in their forties, 14.6% in their fifties, and 5.9% in their sixties. In addition, 13.1% lived alone, 22.8% in a two-person household, 25.0% in a three-person household, 24.8% in a four-person household, and 14.3% in a five or more-person household. 6.2% had an oldest child aged between 0 and 1, 5.5% with an oldest child aged between 2 and 3, 5.2% with an oldest child aged between 4 and preschool, 11.6% with an oldest child in elementary school, 5.5% with an oldest child in middle school, 18.9% with an oldest child in high school or above and still living at home, and 47.1% had no children living with them.

In the summer I drink milk over cereal, but in the winter it’s usually limited to just an ingredient in stews or cakes. When buying, I want to make the decision on price alone; usually the cheapest non-house brand so I don’t appear too stingy, although the wife usually has other ideas when she comes shopping with me.
Read the rest of this entry »

Given that according to some definition of lactose intolerant, perhaps as much as 90% or more of the Japanese population are lactose intolerant, and seven years ago over 14,000 Japanese drank staphylococcus-infected milk, one might expect to find relatively few milk-drinkers in Japan. However, this recent survey from DIMSDRIVE Research into milk (and one previously on fermented milk products) suggests otherwise.

Demographics

Between the 17th and 25th of October 2007 7,517 members of the DIMSDRIVE Monitor group toop part in a private internet-based questionnaire. 54.0% of the sample was female, 1.0% in their teens, 14.7% in their twenties, 33.0% in their thirties, 30.8% in their forties, 14.6% in their fifties, and 5.9% in their sixties. In addition, 13.1% lived alone, 22.8% in a two-person household, 25.0% in a three-person household, 24.8% in a four-person household, and 14.3% in a five or more-person household. 6.2% had an oldest child aged between 0 and 1, 5.5% with an oldest child aged between 2 and 3, 5.2% with an oldest child aged between 4 and preschool, 11.6% with an oldest child in elementary school, 5.5% with an oldest child in middle school, 18.9% with an oldest child in high school or above and still living at home, and 47.1% had no children living with them.

Note that in Q2 the high frequency of milk consumption is contrasted with the small quantity that daily drinkers consume according to Q2SQ. This can partially be explained by the fact that milk in tea or coffee, or even as an ingredient in cakes or biscuits, count as milk consumption.

Also, the price of milk is due to increase for the first time in 30 years.
Read the rest of this entry »

[part 1][part 2]

Last year I translated an interesting survey on kimono, so as perhaps a followup, DIMSDRIVE Research recently took a look at the other Japanese national dress, the suit.

Demographics

Between the 22nd and 31st of August 2007 6,366 members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor group successfully completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 54.9% of the sample was female, 1.0% in their teens, 15.3% in their twenties, 35.8% in their thirties, 27.6% in their forties, 14.2% in their fifties, and 6.1% aged sixty or older. In addition, 39.0% of the sample were company employees (including contract employees), 1.6% were executive or board level, 4.2% worked in the public sector, 9.2% were self-employed, 12.9% were part-time or caqsual, and 33.1% were others, which included housewives, students and retired people.

In Q7A, the “aging playboy” option is my translation of a phrase that has been in vogue recently, ちょいワル, choi waru, a shortened form of ちょい悪オヤジ, choi waru oyaji, literally “slightly bad old guy”, an aspirational phrase that is meant to appeal to the middle-aged men’s fashion and lifestyle magazine reading segment of the population. Thinking about western role models, George Cluney and Sean Connery in Italian tailored suits would perhaps be typical choi warui oyaji gaijins.

One suspects that in some of the answers in Q9, the male respondents may have been thinking more about birthday suits. Indeed, I couldn’t find images of many of them in said formal dress, so instead here’s a couple of other Japanese women in suits:

Read the rest of this entry »

[part 1][part 2]

Last year I translated an interesting survey on kimono, so as perhaps a followup, DIMSDRIVE Research recently took a look at the other Japanese national dress, the suit.

Demographics

Between the 22nd and 31st of August 2007 6,366 members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor group successfully completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 54.9% of the sample was female, 1.0% in their teens, 15.3% in their twenties, 35.8% in their thirties, 27.6% in their forties, 14.2% in their fifties, and 6.1% aged sixty or older. In addition, 39.0% of the sample were company employees (including contract employees), 1.6% were executive or board level, 4.2% worked in the public sector, 9.2% were self-employed, 12.9% were part-time or caqsual, and 33.1% were others, which included housewives, students and retired people.

I personally hate suits, but own two; one gets dragged out for the very occasional business trip, and the other one is in reserve for funerals. Our office is casual or company uniform, but I am about the only person in the office who wears a shirt (open-necked) on a daily basis, which is perhaps a bit odd.

For the purposes of this survey, a suit was defined as a matching jacket and trousers or skirt.
Read the rest of this entry »

This is a subject where I think stereotypes diverge greatly from the reality. Ask someone what the Japanese eat and you get tales of lots of vegetable-based side dishes lovingly prepared, but if you observe the reality you’ll find that fast foods and fried foods abound, and vegetables are often limited to just a lettuce leaf or a teacup-sized salad of sliced cabbage. To find out more about this subject, DIMSDRIVE Research recently performed a survey on vegetables.

Demographics

Between the 18th and 26th of July 2007 8,135 members of DIMSDRIVE Research’s monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 57.0% of the sample was female, 0.8% in their teens, 14.9% in their twenties, 35.5% in their thirties, 28.5% in their forties, 14.1% in their fifties, and 6.2% aged sixty or older. In addition, 12.8% lived alone, 24.0% lived with one other person, 25.6% with two others, 24.1% with three others, and 13.5% with four or more other people.

Supermarket vegetable quality is very variable; I sometimes use Jusco or Daiei, and find that most of the time their veggies are average to poor quality. However, right opposite Jusco is Kohyo, a slightly more upmarket chain who are just as cheap, if not cheaper, than Jusco yet have so much higher quality. The best I’ve found in town was a farmer’s co-op shop that was almost half the price of the nearest supermarket.

In Q3SQ4, I was suprised to see that country or area of origin of food was relatively low on the list despite the recent scares about Chinese foods being laced with chemicals and the amount of emphasis that the average Japanese seems to place on foods from particular traditional localities in Japan.
Read the rest of this entry »

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 »