世論 What Japan Thinks

A couple of weeks ago I published a translation of a survey into Toho Cinema’s proposed 300 yen cut to a standard admission ticket, but since then I came across a Japanese-language article telling me why it is a portent of things to come.

First, the article listed historical prices for cinema tickets, calling it cartel pricing. However, there was no adjustment for inflation, but I found a site with historical CPI data, so I’ll use January 2011 as a base.

Year	Price	CPI	CPI-adjusted price
1957	130 yen	N/A	–
1959	200 yen	N/A	–
1965	250 yen	N/A	–
1970	550 yen	31.8	480 yen
1975	1,000 yen	53.8	812 yen
1980	1,400 yen	73.9	1,115 yen
1995	1,800 yen	100.9	1,523 yen
2011	1,500 yen	99.4	1,500 yen

I think that table is saying that the correction to 1,500 yen makes prices cheaper than what they were in 1970. If the price remains at 1,800 yen, the 1970 price adjusted for inflation is 576 yen, which means that current prices are within 4% of what they were in 1970 allowing for CPI; this actually destroys the author’s argument about how prices have risen drastically since 1970. However, let’s move onto the other points.

Currently, although 1,800 yen is the standard price, one day a week is Ladies’ Day, where women get in for 1,000 yen. Furthermore, over 60s get in for the same discounted price, but Toho Cinemas are talking about getting rid of Ladies’ Day and limiting the OAP discount to the over 65s. The reason for this is that at the moment over 60% of tickets sold are at 1,000 yen, just one-tenth are at the full price, and another tenth at 1,500 yen, so if this goes through it will mean eight times as many people paying more than paying less!

The final statistic provided is that in 2004 the average ticket price was around 1,200 yen, but by last year it had dropped to under 1,100 yen, according to unnamed sources in the cinema business. Although there seems to be a bit of a slippery-slope argument here, it is iinteresting food for thought!

Read more on: discount,toho cinema

iShare took a look at bringing amenity goods to hotels, the reverse of a survey from last year on taking amenity goods home.

Demographics

Between the 15th and 21st of September 2010 470 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 56.2% of the sample were male, 31.7% in their twenties, 31.9% in their thirties, and 36.4% in their forties.

I’d love to try it an “Eco Stay” plan as I do get a bit fed up with the wife hoovering up even the razor, despite the fact that I always use an electric shaver. Furthermore, I’d rather my own toothbrush and toothpaste rather than the far too soft brushes and tiny tubes of paste.

However, I do like to grab the shampoo from posher hotels – on my recent trip to Hawaii the mango, honey and lychee soap and shampoo went straight into my suitcase (and then leaked, but that’s another story) and with the bed turn-down service also tidying up the room for a second time each day, I could get double helpings of the freebies!
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Read more on: amenity,club bbq,discount,hotel,ishare