世論 What Japan Thinks

Having done alcohol consumption earlier in the week, today I take a look at a survey from DIMSDRIVE Research into temperature of drinking water, etc, with a faddy diet as a bonus!

Demographics

Between the 6th and 8th of November 2009 9,947 members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 55.9% of the sample were male, 0.6% in their teens, 8.4% in their twenties, 27.6% in their thirties, 32.7% in their forties, 19.0% in their fifties, and 11.7% aged sixty or older.

The fad diet is the Sayu diet, 白湯 in kanji, the drinking of water at between 40°C and 50°C. Looking at the answers below, it appears it should raise one’s metabolism and burn more fat for the same food intake. Who knows if it works or not, although I would guess that the answer would be no, it doesn’t!
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Here’s a survey I translated last month but it fell through a crack and I forgot to publish it! It was performed by DIMSDRIVE Research, and looked at book purchasing.

Demographics

Between the 29th of October and the 13 of November 2008 9,566 members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.2% of the sample were male, 1.1% in their teens, 12.8% in their twenties, 31.3% in their thirties, 31.4% in their forties, 16.1% in their fifties, and 7.3% aged sixty or older.

This was one of these surveys that I really liked the idea of, but as I started translating it I realised it wasn’t living up to my expectations, thus I ended up laying it aside and forgetting about its existance!

Note that books here include manga comics in book form, I believe. I’d have loved to have seen the average spend per person per month on books, how many of their monthly book purchases are from second-hand stores, and how often people swap or borrow books with friends or from libraries.
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Although the topic of this survey from DIMSDRIVE Research Inc was fish, the most interesting figure for me was some data to allow me to estimate the number of vegetarians in Japan.

Demographics

Between the 1st and 16th of Octoer 2008 9,524 members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.5% of the sample were male, 1.3% in their teens, 13.7% in their twenties, 34.% in their thirties, 31.2% in their forties, 14.5% in their fifties, and 5.1% aged sixty or older.

The vegetarian numbers can be derived from first noticing that 0.7% don’t eat fish according to Q2, then 2.7% of these 0.7% say they don’t eat fish because they are vegetarians, meaning that a whole 8 people from the original 9,524, or 0.08% of the sample, which makes a mere 10,000 vegetarians in the whole of Japan! Of course, monks would inflate the figures, although note that the average local priest is not averse to even grilled beef!

Note that here fish refers to fish only, not other beasts of the sea like octopus, squid, prawns, shellfish, or indeed whale.
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I think it might just be Scottish slang, but “I could fair murder a curry/Chinese/Mick Jagger” indicates a not inconsiderable desire to consume said item, and of course the second slang meaning fairly describes how people feel on first tasting Japanese curry. This survey from DIMSDRIVE Research looked at how the Japanese consume curry rice.

Demographics

Between the 23rd of July and the 7th of August 2008 9,921 members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor group completed a private online questionnaire. 52.7% of the sample were female, 1.3% in their teens, 13.7% in their twenties, 34.0% in their thirties, 29.6% in their forties, 15.1% in their fifties, and 6.3% aged sixty or older. In addition, 14.0% lived alone, 64.1% were married, and 51.9% had children.

The name “curry rice” helps differentiate from “proper” curry; this Japanese invention, served at countless restaurants up and down the country, is usually half a plate of standard Japanese short-grain sticky white rice and half a plate of spicy stew. At home the stew is usually prepared from dehydrated blocks of sauce.

My wife cooks lovely curry with lots of potatos, but what most of the prepared mixes lack is a complexity of flavour. I was over in the USA last week and had a curry at a cheap food court, but just to get long-grain Basmati rice and a complex blend of spices that had soaked through the ingredients over many hours was heaven!
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Given the lifestyle (or to be cynical, lack-of-lifestyle) of the average company employee, it’s no surprise that functional foods like nutritionally-balanced foods are rather popular over here. This recent survey from DIMSDRIVE Research Inc tried to find out most about this topic of nutritionally-balanced foods.

Demographics

Between the 16th and 24th of April 2008 8,477 members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.6% of the sample were female, 0.6% in their teens, 13.9% in their twenties, 36.4% in their thirties, 30.2% in their forties, 12.9% in their fifties, and 6.0% aged sixty or older.

I’ve recently been eating SOYJOY for lunch in an attempt to lose weight and save money. I succeeded in both, dropping about two and a half kilograms in three weeks, but then last week I went on a business trip to Nice and managed to put it all right back on. SOYJOY is nice on its own regardless of the particular flavour, and at work the also have another one I like, wheat based with a maple flavour, but I can’t for the life of me remember the name, although I do know it’s from Asahi, perhaps from wheat left-over from the beer-making…

I’ve never heard of “Natural Brown” before, but it’s a quite unappetising name and suggests to me the laxative effect it might induce!

Finally, here’s a rather weird (fan-made surely?) CalorieMate advert:

I use a built-in water purifier for drinking water at home, so consumption of mineral water is limited to the occasional half-litre bottle at the weekends when going out. To see how the Japanese use it, DIMSDRIVE Research conducted a survey into this topic of mineral water.

Demographics

Between the 19th and 27th of March 2008 8,383 members of the DIMSDRIVE Monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.9% of the sample were female, 1.3% in their teens, 14.9% in their twenties, 33.3% in their thirties, 29.9% in their forties, 14.7% in their fifties, and 5.9% aged sixty or older. 51.7% lived in a house, 47.0% in a flat (apartment), and 1.3% other. By family size, 13.0% lived alone, 23.8% with one other, 25.1% with two others, 24.1% with three others, and 14.0% with four or more other people.

The pictured bottle sounds even less appealing than the Engrish standbys of Pocari Sweat and Calpis, but it’s actually mineral water for your four-legged friend, not Dogpis!

Getting back on track, my purchased brand is determined by seeing which one is 110 yen in the convenience store, although I can’t remember the brand right now, but it is a Japanese one. I’ve tried the oxygenised water a couple of times, but I didn’t really notice any difference.

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I did get as far as going to look round a sports club once, but the staff were not very friendly at all and the price was a bit high, so I gave up. I should try again somewhere else… To see how the Japanese view this topic, DIMSDRIVE Research recently performed a survey into sports clubs.

Demographics

Between the 20th and 28th of February 2008 6,016 members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 55.7% of the sample was female, 1.5% in their teens, 20.0% in their twenties, 34.5% in their thirties, 25.3% in theire forties, 17.5% in their fifties, and 1.2% aged sixty or older.

I have been just the once to a fitness club in Japan in a hotel we were staying in, as we had a package that included free use of the facilities. The walking machine was fun, and the instructor helped us out with stretching exercises and the like, but then he introduced me to the stair machine which completely killed me in under 10 seconds. After that it was off to the hot tub and swimming pool, which is much more my idea of exercise!

In Q4 there is one type of training mentioned, 加圧, kaatsu, which is quite the popular fad in Japan amongst people on television. Basically you constrict bloodflow to your arms or legs and do a normal workout, and scientific studies in Japan have shown that for certain conditions and certain people it is better than normal exercise. To me it looks pretty dangerous, quite frankly! There’s very little English language information on this, and the scientific papers I see are split between those seeing an effect and those not.
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[part 1] [part 2]

With almost three-quarters of Japanese reckoning that they themselves need to lose a few kilos, and with Billy’s Boot Camp flying off the shelves, not least because for men metabolic syndrome is the in cause of concern, and for women the summer and the associated revealing fashions are fast approaching. This recent survey by DIMSDRIVE Research on weight-loss dieting offered me so many possible headline opportunities, and I succumbed to the temptation to stuff in as many sweet keywords as I could.

Demographics

Between the 23rd and 31st of May 2007 DIMSDRIVE Research interviewed 8,408 members of its online monitor panel by means of a private internet-based questionnaire. 43.1% of the sample was male, 0.8% in their teens, 15.0% in their twenties, 35.9% in their thirties, 28.8% in their forties, 13.9% in their fifties, and 5.6% aged sixty or older.

Television still remains the most popular source for information on dieting, despite the infamous natto diet scandal at the start of the year. Not terribly suprisingly, I think, Norkia chan is the body shape women most desire, while Hiromi Go, an aging-but-not-really-showing-it singer is tops for men, and not a person I would have considered.
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[part 1] [part 2]

With almost three-quarters of Japanese reckoning that they themselves need to lose a few kilos, and with Billy’s Boot Camp flying off the shelves, not least because for men metabolic syndrome is the in cause of concern, and for women the summer and the associated revealing fashions are fast approaching. This recent survey by DIMSDRIVE Research on weight-loss dieting offered me so many possible headline opportunities, and I succumbed to the temptation to stuff in as many sweet keywords as I could.

Demographics

Between the 23rd and 31st of May 2007 DIMSDRIVE Research interviewed 8,408 members of its online monitor panel by means of a private internet-based questionnaire. 43.1% of the sample was male, 0.8% in their teens, 15.0% in their twenties, 35.9% in their thirties, 28.8% in their forties, 13.9% in their fifties, and 5.6% aged sixty or older.

Note that Billy and Norika don’t make an appearance in this survey until tomorrow’s part 2 post, so you’ll just have to wait!

I too, despite being underweight for my height, could do with losing (or moving elsewhere) a couple of kilos of spare tyre. Actually taking more exercise in addition to just walking between stations would help, but just cutting down on snacks is my lazy way out, I suppose.
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What do Japanese men think being handsome is? Do they themselves want to be handsome? This rather intriguing subject was investigated in a survey conducted by DIMSDRIVE Research and sponsored by DIME magazine, a rather popular trend-watching magazine. I hope there will be a follow-up for the women to describe what they think a man is, or for them to describe beautifulness.

Demographics

Over the 31st of May and the first of June 2007 2,990 male members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor group replied to a private internet-based questionnaire. 0.7% were in their teens, 9.6% in their twenties, 26.5% in their thirties, 34.5% in their forties, 19.2% in their fifties, and 9.5% aged sixty or older.

I wouldn’t consider myself handsome (note that the word I translated as “handsome” is 男前, otokomae, although the meaning is perhaps closer to having an aura of manliness or charisma. The ALC dictionary amusingly translates it as studmuffin!), but I think (or at least I hope!) my wife would disagree. As for my regular personal grooming habits, I don’t think that pulling out nose hairs with my bare hands at home or at the office really counts for much. You may also note that getting one’s teeth regularly descaled or whitened didn’t rate even in the Other category of Q6.

If I were to name a handsome man, I’d probably choose Sean Connery.
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