世論 What Japan Thinks

I’m having trouble interpreting the results of this rather interesting survey from goo Ranking on to people in which occupation would you most like to say thanks to and hand them an energy drink. The survey was conducted over the 24th and 25th of October 2007, so it was well after Shinzo Abe disappeared from his job of running the country, so it cannot be a sympathy vote for him. However, is it thanks for the present incumbent, Yasuo Fukuda, who at age 71 should be tending his garden rather than trying to run the country, or is it just a general feeling that the top politicians need all the support they can get?
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This week’s Silly Sunday is on silly rules and customs in the office, another ranking survey from goo Ranking. The fieldwork was conducted over the 24th and 25th of October 2007, but no demographic information was given, nor was there a breakdown by sex, sadly.

At my workplace, I wish they’d quit doing 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 11, 12, 15, and 27.

For those of you who haven’t worked in Japan, perhaps a few of these options need to be explained. Number 6 and number 9 usually feature together (we actually have lunchtime meetings at my workplace); everyone gathers together, one person (rotated every day) reads the company precepts, then everyone repeats after him or her. Next, the person whose turn it is tells a story perhaps related to work, perhaps not. Other companies may also have pep talks from the boss. Actually, I do think that morning meetings are to some degree useful; ours are relatively painless, barring the company motto reading, of course, and the singing of the company song, which thankfully is not compulsory!

Number 12 is interesting – every Friday after lunch we have to vacuum the office and empty the rubbish bins. I did once ask why we did that but all I got in reply was a blank state wondering why I would question such a thing. Indeed, we even had a suggestion from someone as part of our company-wide stinginess initiative that we should also clean the corridors to save paying cleaners’ wages, an idea demonstrating blissful unawareness of the hourly rate of a cleaner versus that of an engineer.

Oh, and you don’t want to get me started on the complexity of my employer’s internal systems…
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I’m already seeing a trickle of 2007 wrap-up surveys, so here is a good Silly Sunday one from goo Ranking on what trendy items from 2007 did people end up buying on impulse. The fieldwork for this survey was carried out on the 24th and 25th of October 2007.

Note that some items are linked to shops, so please feel free to make impulse purchases yourself!
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I just spotted this quickie survey today and it suited my mood, so following up on a survey a few weeks ago on bad habits of spouses, here’s a look at bad habits in the office, courtesy of goo Ranking. The fieldwork for this survey was conducted between the 25th and 27th of September 2007.

My top three pet hates would be sniffing and slurping (both acceptable Japanese habits) followed by just too much chat, but since most of them are going to be in the office for 12 hours per day or so, idle chit-chat shouted across the desks helps pass the time, but still it GETS ME VERY IRRITATED!

A purely hypothetical situation, of course, but if the rest of your colleagues are sitting and standing around talking in loud voices and laughing, is writing blog posts no worse than taking part in the conversation yourself?

By the way, does anyone know about any experiments with cubicles or even private offices to see how they affect Japanese productivity? However, without changing the underlying culture, I can only see separate spaces being counterproductive.
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It’s Sunday, so it must be Silly! This week’s oddity is from the masters of silly, goo Ranking, with a look at closet stinginess in men and women. The demographics for the survey are as vague as ever; all we know is that the data was collected between the 25th and 27th of September 2007.

If you want to be stingy in Japan yourself, may I heartily recommend Nihon Hacks as a great place to find money-saving tips.

In Japanese the word 節約, setsuyaku, means to economise, to save money, and has mostly good connotations. However, for this survey the word used was ケチ, kechi, which is a mostly negative term usually translated as stingy or penny-pinching.

Note that I would classify some of the actions as canny rather than stingy. Canny is using discount coupons, stingy is refusing to go near a shop unless you have said coupons. Oh, and if you find change in a vending machine, legally you must hand it in to the police.

For me personally, in the guy list I do just 4, 5, 7 and 15. My meanness is usually restricted to just not spending if at all possible!
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Recently goo Ranking, a Japan public opinion survey organisation, posted the results of a look at the political world from a rather interesting angle. The respondents were asked to choose their most good-looking world politician or leader in a poll conducted between the 25th and 27th of September 2007. Note that this poll drew its sample from the goo Research monitor pool, so there would be little or no opportunity for ballot stuffing. 100 points are awarded to the top vote-getter, and the other scores are the percentage of votes of the winner that each of the rest received. By sex, the votes were very similar, although Tony Blair won more female hearts than Shintaro Ishihara.

I find it surprising that Bill Clinton (or even Al Gore) doesn’t appear anywhere, however, and personally I’d have voted for Nelson Mandela, another curious omission.
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With the Tokyo Motor Show in full swing, it might be fun to have a look at this ranking survey from goo Ranking into what collaboration projects they’d like to see from car makers. The only demographic information available is that the data was collected between the 25th and 29th of September 2007.
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Here’s this week’s Silly Sunday survey. This time it was goo Ranking looking at aspects of expressing interest, or detecting if interest was being expressed. There was what men think is the most effective way to go for the kill and what women think is the most effective way to go for the kill; then what women’s actions men think indicates they may have a chance and what men’s actions women think indicates they may have a chance. I hope you get the idea, but if not, just read on and all may become clearer! The surveys were conducted between the 25th and 27th of September 2007.
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Looking for a cheap tour of Tokyo or the surrounding area this autumn? To help you choose where to go, goo Ranking decided to ask what under 10,000 yen Hato Bus tour from their autumn schedule people would like to go on. As is par for the course, there was no demographic information supplied barring that the fieldwork was carried out between the 25th and 27th of September 2007.

Hato Bus run a full set of English tours too, should this survey whet your appetite.

Oh, and I have no idea what on earth number seven has to do with autumn, but it really does exist! Oh dearie me!

My apologies for the above link; calm your eyes with a soothing Hello Kitty bus or two.
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Following up, I suppose, on a recent ranking survey regarding what were the basic dealbreakers for potential spouses, goo Rankings came up with another entertaining survey looking at what husbands’ bad habits wives want to tell them to fix, but just can’t, and vice versa. The survey was conducted between the 28th and 30th of August 2007.

My wife informs me that she has no bad habits that I should ask her to fix (now that’s a bad habit that doesn’t feature on the list!), but my two main bad habits also don’t feature on the list, namely adjusting the lay of the land, as it were, and noxious gas emissions.

I suppose that number 15 for men and 18 for women is shorthand for a lack of rumpy-pumpy.
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