世論 What Japan Thinks

Here’s an interesting look by goo Ranking at why people are determined to successfully diet, with separate results for both men and women.

Demographics

Between the 23rd and 25th of March 2010 1,128 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.5% of the sample were female, 15.1% in their teens, 16.9% in their twenties, 28.8% in their thirties, 21.1% in their forties, 9.4% in their fifties, and 8.7% 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.

My reason for losing weight is that we both need to lose weight and my wife has said she will if I do. I’m surprised that that reason didn’t come up in the survey. I also need to lose weight as I’ve fallen into the metabo bracket due purely to me not breathing in enough when they measured my waist! I was less than a centimetre over the limit, honest!
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It’s been a while since I’ve done a FAIL survey, so I’m sure you’ve all missed them. This time it was goo Ranking looking at internet shopping site FAILs.

Demographics

Between the 23rd and 25th of March 2010 1,128 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.5% of the sample were female, 15.1% in their teens, 16.9% in their twenties, 28.8% in their thirties, 21.1% in their forties, 9.4% in their fifties, and 8.7% 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.

I don’t think I’ve had a failure shopping for a while, as it’s almost exclusively services or downloadable software I purchase. I did have a failure when I switched my domains to GoDaddy, then after a year they billed me for some useless directory service – I’ve since changed everything over to Namecheap.com who are, as the name suggests, cheap and, more importantly, do not try to upsell you at every opportunity. They also do domain anonymising at a very reasonable rate.

The wife buys some waffle cakes online occasionally, but I can’t help thinking that since a branch of the waffle shop is located at the next station down the line, we’d be cheaper buying from there.
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Even though one large English conversation school went bust last week, learning English still seems to have a high cachet attached to it, if this recent survey from goo Ranking into what people think cool guys study. There is a hint of a follow-up survey into what cute girls are into, so I’ll be sure to translate that later.

Demographics

Between the 23rd and 25th of March 2010 1,128 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.5% of the sample were female, 15.1% in their teens, 16.9% in their twenties, 28.8% in their thirties, 21.1% in their forties, 9.4% in their fifties, and 8.7% 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.

I must say I have zero idea why people answered the way they did. I can maybe agree up to number 7, but then we get bread-making and interior design! Wedding planning and meteorology bamboozle me even further. Finally, it’s interesting that about the most macho activity is karate – I’m wondering if the survey question was actually “What do you think herbivore boys would be studying?”
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Today’s silliness is from goo Ranking as usual, this time looking at what surprises people have when encountering after many a year female friends from middle school. The surprises for both men and women were ranked. I’ll be sure to report on the old school male friends whenever it appears.

Demographics

Between the 23rd and 25th of March 2010 1,128 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.5% of the sample were female, 15.1% in their teens, 16.9% in their twenties, 28.8% in their thirties, 21.1% in their forties, 9.4% in their fifties, and 8.7% 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.

I don’t think I’ve ever really had a surprise from meeting old school friends of either sex, but I suppose I don’t really make much attempt to keep in contact, whereas in Japan keeping track of your ex-classmates appears to be the norm.
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goo Ranking took another look at a subject I also translated in 2009, what actions by your partner makes you happy, for both women making men happy and men making women happy.

Demographics

Over the 22nd and 23rd of February 2010 1,123 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 58.6% of the sample were female, 9.6% in their teens, 22.2% in their twenties, 32.1% in their thirties, 24.9% in their forties, 7.5% in their fifties, and 3.8% 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.

The guys in this survey must be lying as I would have expected number 14 for them to be way out in the lead!

I also wonder why linking arms is second-top for men, but 15th for women – why don’t they like linking arms?
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A recent survey from goo Ranking looked at what people thought it would be best to get rid of for the environment’s sake.

Demographics

Between the 23rd and 25th of March 2010 1,128 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.5% of the sample were female, 15.1% in their teens, 16.9% in their twenties, 28.8% in their thirties, 21.1% in their forties, 9.4% in their fifties, and 8.7% 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.

Most bookshops in Japan wrap your book (after asking you) in a simple paper cover. I think it’s quite a good idea myself, and it’s just a cheap sheet of brown paper usually with the bookstore’s logo, so the cost and environmental load must be pretty low. Getting rid of disposable chopsticks is a good way for a restaurant to advertise its green credentials, but I don’t think it’s really that positive an action, as reusable chopsticks need to be washed, and of course take more resources to make.

Just last week my wife told me that she’d seen on the television some program saying it was more green to drink milk straight out of the pack, rather than using a straw or pouring in into a cup, which is of course correct, but that seems so trivial a point in the great scheme of things.
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goo Ranking took a look at what people thought it was best to get over and done with during one’s school days.

Demographics

Over the 22nd and 23rd of February 2010 1,123 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 58.6% of the sample were female, 9.6% in their teens, 22.2% in their twenties, 32.1% in their thirties, 24.9% in their forties, 7.5% in their fifties, and 3.8% 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.

The part-time job is a useful thing to get over and done with at school – I have many interesting memories from working at a petrol station many weekends during school then over the holidays when I was in university.

Going on a foreign holiday is an odd one, but I wonder if that implies a back-packing or other independant travel, unlike the group travel (or no travel at all) that many Japanese tend towards as they get older.
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With the new batch of graduates joining companies this month, here’s a look by goo Ranking at what people want to warn new starts about. In addition, more experienced pople are expected to teach them the ropes, so there’s also look by goo Ranking at what business manners people are not confident they do correctly.

Demographics

Over the 22nd and 23rd of February 2010 1,123 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 58.6% of the sample were female, 9.6% in their teens, 22.2% in their twenties, 32.1% in their thirties, 24.9% in their forties, 7.5% in their fifties, and 3.8% 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.

Seating order is an important topic – in a Japanese room the most senior sits opposite the door, so that when the ninja come it’s just the plebs that get chopped up. However, there’s different rules for where everyone goes depending on whether it’s a round or rectangular table. Seating order on an airplane is a new one on me, and probably a very rare occurance.
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Here’s another interesting survey from goo Ranking, this time looking at what lies we tell that come back to haunt us.

Demographics

Over the 22nd and 23rd of February 2010 1,123 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 58.6% of the sample were female, 9.6% in their teens, 22.2% in their twenties, 32.1% in their thirties, 24.9% in their forties, 7.5% in their fifties, and 3.8% 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.

My biggest lie was announcing to friends back in Scotland shortly after moving to Japan that I now had a million in the bank, but without pointing out it was in the rather less impressive yen, not pounds. I also lived in a royal mansion when I first came to Japan.

For number 13, I would have thought claiming not to be married would have been a bigger problem!

My wife doesn’t need to lie about 2,　4, 5, 15, 16 and 20. At least I hope she’s not lying about them…
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With graduation season just finished in Japan, here’s a look with goo Ranking at people’s memories, both the sad ones for men and women and the happy ones for men and women.

Demographics

Over the 22nd and 23rd of February 2010 1,123 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 58.6% of the sample were female, 9.6% in their teens, 22.2% in their twenties, 32.1% in their thirties, 24.9% in their forties, 7.5% in their fifties, and 3.8% 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.

Although the URL uses “happy” and most of the Q2 incidents seem happy to me, the actual question used “bitter-sweet”, for a reason I’m not really to sure about!

I don’t really remember anything in particular about my university graduation day, but looking at the list of event below I think they are more talking about school graduation, I think. We didn’t have any of that graduation nonsense when I was in school – the last day of school on the final year was pretty much like the last day every other year.
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