世論 What Japan Thinks

The government of Japan may have changed, but the Cabinet Office Japan surveys are carrying on - it’ll be interesting to see if I can detect a change in tone in the questions. This survey was entitled a built environment for pedestrians, but also covered most other local transport means.

Demographics

Between the 16th of July and the 2nd of August 2009 5,000 members of the public were selected at random to complete the survey; 3,157 people, or 63.1%, agreed to cooperate. 54.4% of this sample were female, 7.8% in their twenties, 14.3% in their thirties, 17.1% in their forties, 19.8% in their fifties, 23.4% in their sixties, and 17.6% aged seventy or older. Additionally, 46.1% were employed, 11.6% were self-employed, 3.0% were home workers, and 39.3% were unemployed, including students and housewives, who made up 60.9% of that 39.3%. Finally, 47.8% drove some form of motorised transport almost every day, 15.7% several times a week, 7.3% several times a month, 8.3% had a licence but didn’t drive, and 20.9% did not have a licence.

For me, to walk or cycle to the shops involves traversing an exceptionally steep hill and a bit of pavement-free road, whereas instead my train season ticket allows me to hop on a train and ride one stop down the line to get right into my suburban town centre.
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The government of Japan may have changed, but the Cabinet Office Japan surveys are carrying on - it’ll be interesting to see if I can detect a change in tone in the questions. This survey was entitled a built environment for pedestrians, but also covered most other local transport means.

Demographics

Between the 16th of July and the 2nd of August 2009 5,000 members of the public were selected at random to complete the survey; 3,157 people, or 63.1%, agreed to cooperate. 54.4% of this sample were female, 7.8% in their twenties, 14.3% in their thirties, 17.1% in their forties, 19.8% in their fifties, 23.4% in their sixties, and 17.6% aged seventy or older. Additionally, 46.1% were employed, 11.6% were self-employed, 3.0% were home workers, and 39.3% were unemployed, including students and housewives, who made up 60.9% of that 39.3%. Finally, 47.8% drove some form of motorised transport almost every day, 15.7% several times a week, 7.3% several times a month, 8.3% had a licence but didn’t drive, and 20.9% did not have a licence.

I have a licence but rent a car about once every two months or so, so I don’t really know where I would fall in the demographic question above. I also managed to get a fixed penalty parking fine (15,000 yen!) last weekend, but that’s another story.

My commute is train only - my home is one minute from the station, work is two minutes away at the other end, so I cannot see any point in having a car.
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This year sees the fourth year of Cool Biz, an initiative started by the Japanese government to persuade businesses and homes to set air conditioners to 28°C in the summer and to wear lighter clothes and no ties. To see how it has been progressing, Cabinet Office Japan looked at awareness of Cool Biz.

Demographics

Between the 28th of May and the 7th of June 2009 of the 3,000 people selected at random from all over Japan, 2,054 people (or 68.5%) completed a questionnaire conducted via face-to-face interviews.

Looking at the details on occupation, it’s interesting that the government still has only a “housewife” category, not a gender-neutral “homemaker” or a “/househusband”.

I most often feel the air-conditioner is too strong in trains, although so far this year it’s been a bit more gentle than usual. Although my employer makes a big fuss about supporting Cool Biz and selling Eco Ideas, my office this year too is 23°C or 24°C, cold on my skin in short sleeves.
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Following up on the 12,000 yen cash handout to every resident, the Government of Japan is next having an Eco Point system, where for buying certain energy-efficient home electronics you get a 5% point award in return that you will be able to cash in for some as-yet not-very-well-specified items. To see what people think of this, Macromill Research recently conducted a survey on the Eco Point system.

Demographics

Over the 27th and 28th of April 2009 516 members of the Macromill monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was split exactly 50:50 male and female, and 20.0% of the respondents were in their twentes, 20.0% in their thirties, 20.0% in their forties, 20.0% in their fifties, and 20.0% aged sixty or older.

I’m not really sure of a good reason why people wouldn’t buy energy-efficient items in general. Thinking about it there are good reasons not to buy some items just because they have a stamp on them as often there is a higher price tag and the payback period may be longer than the lifetime of the item itself.

I also can’t help worrying that the stimulus package will encourage people to dispose of items which still have some life left in them, rendering a net negative effect on the environment. My television is a six year old standard tube-type television, but I see no reason why I should bin it now to buy a new set as it is still perfectly serviceable. However, looking at the results of Q4SQ1 almost half of the sample expect to see a positive environmental outcome.
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Continuing the ecology theme, let’s look at how well the corporate eco slogans are getting through to the public in Japan. This was the topic of a recent ranking survey from goo Ranking.

Demographics

Between the 18th and 2nd of February 2009 1,076 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private online questionnaire. 51.1% of the sample were male, 7.2% in their teens, 15.8% in their twenties, 29.4% in their thirties, 25.2% in their forties, 11.1% in their fifties, and 11.3% aged sixty or older. Note that the score in the results refers to the relative number of votes for each option, not a percentage of the total sample.

If I can’t find an official translation of the slogan I will translate it as best I can. These unofficial English versions are indicated by italicised text and probably sound really rather awful, but often even the official translations suffer from that kind of problem.

I must admit to a high degree of ignorance of the slogans; for instance, even though I get bombarded with Toyota advertisements I cannot recall seeing that particular slogan. The recognisable slogan for Mitsubishi mostly sticks in my mind for the pronunciation of Drive@earth:

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A recent topic that has cropped up here and there under the heading of “eco” in Japan (”eco” these days is just no more than a catch-all for money-saving in general) has been taking your left-over food home from restaurants, a subject looked at recently by iShare.

Demographics

Between the 24th and 27th of March 2009 339 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.5% of the sample were male, 39.2% in their twenties, 28.9% in their thirties, and 31.9% in their forties.

I’ve never taken home a doggy bag in Japan, as I’ve always finished the food put in front of me, unless it was too digusting to eat. Conversely, I dislike the way it gets forced upon you in the USA, especially as when I’m staying in a hotel there’s no way to reheat it even if I wanted to finish it off the next day. I wonder what is the proper etiquette for this?

Here’s two recent stories on doggy bags in Japan, one from the Japan Times (see the last few paragraphs) and one from Tokyofoodcast, looking at a doggy bag campaign in Meguro, Tokyo.
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This recent survey from MyVoice into environmental issues, their second time of conducting it, with the first time being here, found that positive action was quite low.

Demographics

Over the first five days of March 2009 15,563 members of the MyVoice internet community completed a private online questionnaire. 54% of the sample were female, 2% in their teens, 14% in their twenties, 36% in their thirties, 29% in their forties, and 19% aged fifty or older.

MOTTAINAI is the Japanese word that approximately translates to “what a waste”.

Here is a public service advertisement about refusing a plastic bag that gets broadcast quite often even at prime time:

I find it quite depressing that such a small step is reckoned to be so difficult for people to understand or carry out that it bears repeating so often even at prime time, when there are a hundred and one other just as simple and more effective steps that they could be talking about, and there are another hundred and one more important messages that a public service advertisement could address.

Oh, and don’t get me started on the people who once saw a program somewhere that showed how at that point in time separated rubbish all got burnt together, therefore they don’t need to bother doing it themselves.
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Today’s survey is from not just Japan, but also from China, in a wide-ranging survey from Gallup International conducted into the matters of tourism, food safety, the environment, and the relationship between the two countries.

Demographics

For Japan, between the 5th and 17th of November 2008 1,200 people aged between 15 and 79 were chosen from all over the country at random from residents information and answered the survey either face-to-face or were left with the questionnaire. For China, between the 13th and 19th of November 2008 1,266 people between the ages of 18 and 59 from the 15 largest cities in China completed an internet-based questionnaire.

In the environmental questions in Q5, perhaps surprisingly China is more concerned than Japan about them, but when one looks at their particular worries, Chinese citizens are worried about the immediate threat from airborne and water pollution, this result being reflected in their distrust of their own food products.

I would like to visit the Great Wall of China and see the Terracotta warriors in their home settings, but I worry about being able to find veggie food and about the general level of hygene in the country.
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I wonder how the fear of impending collapse in a number of the car manufacturers will affect their investments into research and development into alternative power sources. However, this survey from MyVoice into electric cars was conducted before the bottom fell out of the manufacturing business, so such worries are not reflected in the results.

Demographics

Over the first five days of November 2008 15,382 members of the MyVoice internet community completed a private online questionnaire. 54% of the sample were female, 2% in their teens, 14% in their twenties, 36% in their thirties, 29% in their forties, and 19% aged fifty or older.

Although I’m not convinced yet of the overall relative environmental impact of electric vehicles, they go some way to at least displacing pollution. Hybrids like the Toyota Prius are a nice ride once you get used to the gearbox, though, but I can’t see me giving up the train in the forseeable future.
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With other surveys showing that car manufacturers are among the most green companies, let’s look at one effort they make to show their green credentials, hybrid cars, in a survey conducted by MyVoice.

Demographics

Over the first five days of August 2008 14,782 members of the MyVoice internet community successfully completed an internet-based private questionnaire. 54% of the sample were female, 1% were in their teens, 15% in their twenties, 37% in their thirties, 29% in their forties, and 18% in their fifties.

The Prius is a lovely car which I always try to rent when I need a car in Japan. I always use Toyota Rent-A-Car. If you pay using a (Japanese only?) credit card you get a 5% discount. The cars are fully-equipped with a CD player, good satellite navigation system (Japanese only!) and ETC automatic toll payment machine, if you have a card for that. I’m picking up one the weekend after next, and it works out at about 8,000 yen per day.

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