世論 What Japan Thinks

Here’s another delayed survey from DIMSDRIVE Research, this time looking at food home delivery, which finds out that pizza is still Japan’s favourite delivery food.

Demographics

Between the 17th of February and the 4th of March 2010 9,602 members of the DIMSDRIVE Research monitors completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 51.5% of the sample were male, 0.8% in their teens, 11.2% in their twenties, 31.0% in their thirties, 31.9% in their forties, 16.9% in their fifties, and 8.2% aged sixty or older. Furthermore, 62.8% were married, 14.1% lived alone, 24.3% with one other person, 25.4% with two others, 23.2% with three others, and 13.0% with four or more.

I haven’t ordered home delivery for ages and ages, probably almost two years, because none of the pizza shops take credit cards, and once you add in all the side dishes, etc, it’s just as easy and slightly cheaper to go and eat out.
Read the rest of this entry »

DIMSDRIVE Research recently reported on a not-so-recent survey into crime prevention, which revealed one surprising statistic, that people are currently tooled up with illegal weapons for self-defence.

Demographics

Between the 4th and 18th of February 2010 7,165 members of the DIMSDRIVE Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.4% of the sample were male, but rather than a breakdown by age there was a breakdown by residence area and type. 4.4% of the sample lived in Hokkaido, 5.2% in Tohoku, 2.5% in Shinchuetsu, 44.9% in Kanto (Tokyo and surrounding area), 10.4% in Tokai, 1.8% in Hokuriku, 17.2% in Kinki (Osaka and surrounding area), 4.2% in Chugoku, 2.2% in Shikoku, and 7.2% in Kyushu and Okinawa. Next, 37.3% lived in a big city, 24.6% in regional towns, 17.5% in the countryside around a big city, 20.0% in the regional countryside, and 0.6% elsewhere. 48.0% were home owners, 3.9% in rental homes, 16.5% owned an apartment, 30.0% rented one, and 1.6% lived elsewhere.

I’m really surprised about the one in eight who want to use bugging device detectors – I’d like to know more about the demographic. Is it single women in rented accomodation, people worrying their family members are spying on them, or just a general paranoia? Furthermore, 11.5% want to carry pepper spray or tear gas, 7.3% a taser, and 5.1% some form of night stick, all three of which are illegal to use, and probably even just carrying them is likely to fall foul of the law. By the way, this is a colour ball.

I’ve personally never had any worries about personal safety in Japan from a crime perspective, and the only preventative measure I take is to turn on the built-in alarm system whenever I leave the flat.
Read the rest of this entry »

Ah yes, another wonderful trolling headline after my dog food survey from a few years back! Note that it means that 8% of cat owners make food for themselves that they sometimes either share or pass the left-overs to Tibbles, not that eight out of ten cat owners prefer Kit-e-Kat! Any, back at the survey, it was from DIMSDRIVE Research, looking at pet food, and dog and cat food in particular.

Demographics

Between the 24th of December 2009 and the 20th of January 2010 (another slow report!) 14,716 members of the DIMSDRIVE online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.8% of the sample were male, 0.8% in their teens, 8.8% in their twenties, 28.4% in their thirties, 33.5% in their forties, 18.7% in their fifties, and 9.8% aged sixty or older.

If I was buying a kitten now (as opposed to getting a free moggy) I’d probably go for a Scottish Fold. There’s a really lovely Scottish Fold that regularly visits a nearby pet shop – he’s very relaxed and doesn’t mind being the centre of attention when he’s out for walkies.
Read the rest of this entry »

A recent survey (well, a recently-published one) looked at people’s habits regarding eating out alone.

Demographics

Betwen the 16th of September and the 1st of October 2009 (they are slow to report some times!) 9.409 members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.8% of the sample were male, 1.1% in their teens, 10.9% in their twenties, 31.9% in their thirties, 31.7% in their forties, 16.3% in their fifties, and 8.1% aged sixty or older.

I would have preferred to have seen people who regularly go out for lunch at work alone for a simple meal eliminated from the survey and a clearer distinction made between a cup of tea and a full meal, but even without that, we can see some interesting trends.

For myself, Mister Donut and Subway are occasionally used for a snack or meal – Mister Donut‘s free refills in particular make the place very condusive to sitting there for hours translatings surveys, although my private life doesn’t often afford me the time. Going upmarket, I can go into Dear Soup except on busy days, as the tables are a bit close together and sitting beside a slurper is an ever-present danger. Nearby my usual Dear Soup is a slightly upmarket but still cheap Italian (Portofina) where the staff know my face, so that’s very easy to enter. Oddly enough, the last time I went there alone another solitary foreigner came and queued up behind me.
Read the rest of this entry »

This very comprehensive study by DIMSDRIVE Research into convenience store usage found out many interesting facts, such as almost two-thirds of those living alone frequent them quite frequently.

Demographics

Between the 2nd and 17th of September 2009 8,317 members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.4% of the sample were female, 0.8% in their teens, 12.0% in their twenties, 33.2% in their thirties, 31.6% in their forties, 15.8% in their fifties, and 6.6% aged sixty or older.

I pop into a convenience store about two or three times a week, usually ones inside stations run by the railway company, although I don’t know if they were in scope of this survey or not. The other times I use convenience stores it’s mostly to pay bills or to use the photocopier or occasionally to pick up tickets.
Read the rest of this entry »

Recently DIMSDRIVE Research took a look at shredders and personal information.

Demographics

Between the 22nd of July and the 6th of August 2009 9,590 members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.1% of the sample were male, 1.1% in their teens, 11.9% in their twenties, 32.2% in their thirties, 31.5% in their forties, 16.5% in their fifties, and 6.8% aged sixty or older.

In Q1, just in case you are wondering what a personal information-hiding stamp is, well, I can sell you one of these. It’s a stamp that overprints data with a tight pattern in order to obscure the original text which I thought was just a novelty, but 6.4% of the sample use one.

I myself have an electric shredder that we bought mail-order for about 10,000 yen a few years ago. It’s a quite large home office size, but it works well, although it does clog up if you put plastic wrappers through…
Read the rest of this entry »

Let’s look at another curious corner of Japanese life, the use of ballpoint pens, in a survey conducted by DIMSDRIVE Research.

Demographics

Between the 19th of August and the 3rd of September 2009 11,182 members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.8% of the sample were male, 0.9% in their teens, 10.8% in their twenties, 32.5% in their thirties, 31.6% in their forties, 16.7% in their fifties, and 7.5% aged sixty or older.

I don’t buy any pens, instead I usually fremantle them on business trips.

Coincidentally, when looking at this year’s nengajo New Year postcars my wife did remark on how a couple of them that had been hand-written with fine point ballpoint pens looked very neat, and how she wanted to buy a similar pen.
Read the rest of this entry »

This detailed survey from DIMSDRIVE Research into new-type influenza or swine flu, found that surprisingly few people are always wearing masks as a preventative measure. Perhaps there is a degree of confirmation bias in our own personal experiences as mask wearers do stand out, so we remember the definite sightings from a busy day on the train but forget the times when there’s just a couple of masks in the carriage.

Demographics

Between the 14th and 29th of October 2009 13,263 members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor group completed a private online questionnaire. 54.1% of the sample were male, 0.8% in their teens, 8.9% in their twenties, 28.3% in their thirties, 32.0% in their forties, 19.0% in their fifties, and 11.0% aged sixty or older. Note that this survey was performed during a period when the number of reported cases was rapidly increasing.

Note that the Japanese term is 新型インフルエンザ, shingata infuruenza, new-type flu, but I’ll use swine flu in this translation as it’s easier to understand.

At work we have a bottle of disinfectant at the door that I always use just to show willing, but I don’t use it anywhere else.

I went today to the barber and all the staff were masked up, but no-one seemed to have a cough, but I suppose given the close-up work a barber does the mask is reassuring to the customer.
Read the rest of this entry »

Having looked last week at how people are economising in general, today I’m looking at a survey from DIMSDRIVE Research into saving money on food.

Demographics

Between the 10th and 25th of June 2009 9,685 members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.3% of the sample were male, 1.1% in their teens, 12.3% in their twenties, 32.6% in their thirties, 30.7% in their forties, 16.0% in their fifties, and 7.3% aged sixty or older.

My eating at home has definitely increased the last year, and most of the saving money has been from buying pre-prepared salad from the supermarket rather than from one of the delicatessans in a department store.

In the final question, bean sprouts coming out as the most common cheap food highlights how much people are struggling. I can understand tofu, chicken and cabbage being popular substitutes for more expensive ingredients, but bean sprouts suggests desperation to me.
Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a subject I’ve never touched before, a survey regarding nail elegance from DIMSDRIVE Research. I found this interesting gallery of nail art if you want to see what it’s all about.

Demographics

Between the 16th and 30th of April 2009 10,667 members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 51.6% of the sample were male, 1.0% in their teens, 12.6% in their twenties, 32.4% in their thirties, 30.9% in their forties, 16.2% in their fifties, and 6.9% aged sixty or older.

One thing I often notice in Japan are the interesting nails that some of the young ladies have, especially when their fingertips are even more tarted up than the deco-den underneath! That reminds me, there’s actually one touch-screen mobile phone (can’t remember which one!) that advertises itself as being manicured nails-friendly – I’ve heard a rumour that the iPhone isn’t terribly usable with long nails.

In the rankings of favourite colours, I’m a bit surprised that black didn’t figure.

Note that this survey looked only at fingernails, not toenails.
Read the rest of this entry »