goo Ranking did another silly wee opinion survey recently, this one looking at what were unusual but tasty mayonnaise combinations. As usual, no demographics, and scores are expressed as percentages of the top votes-getter.
Kewpie mayonnaise is my favourite mayonnaise, not that I like the taste much, nor that I put it on anything other than salad, but their adverts are wonderful!
Back in May goo Ranking published the results of one of their quick web polls into people’s favourite foreign beer. As usual for goo Ranking, no demographic information is available, and the score for each beer is the percentage of the votes it received compared to the number one choice.
Sadly, but not really unexpected, Budweiser (not the real Budvar, sadly) scooped number one slot. However, many of the beers voted for are, I would guess, local beers brewed under licence. I’ve had “Indian” Kingfisher lager that was imported to Japan from the UK, and in Los Angeles I once had Asahi Super Dry with “IMPORTED” boldly stamped on the label, only to find the small print indicating it had come from Canada. Read the rest of this entry »
As always, these rankings should be taken with a pinch of salt due to the lack of demographics and the open nature of the poll. Remember that the score listed is the percentage of votes for each choice relative to the top choice. Read the rest of this entry »
goo Ranking recently looked at who is Japan’s favourite Ken. Unless you are some sort of expert on the Japanese entertainment scene, I’m sure most of these names will mean nothing to you, so feel free to look them up on Google. However, I cannot understand how they came to omit me from the rankings. I’m shocked and heartbroken!
I’ve never tried this before, so here’s a good excuse to include a YouTube video of my favourite Japanese Ken, the macho samurai warrior Matsuken Samba.
goo Ranking released the results of their latest ranking questionnaire, conducted over two days towards the end of August. An unspecified number of goo users replied to the question of what is your lasting impression of the Junichiro Koizumi premiership.
This departs from the usual fluff of these ranking surveys, but I cannot give any guarantee about how accurately the figures reflect true public opinion. As always, the score for each option is the percentage of the votes for the top answer. I’m impressed by Jun-chan’s Elvis impressions making ninth on the list, but disappointed that him dancing with his doppelganger Richard Gere didn’t get anywhere!
Additionally, I suspect that anything directly related to him backing Horiemon’s election campaigning was disallowed due to the ongoing court case. Read the rest of this entry »
Don’t ask me why Thane is so popular, and many of the other answers seem like people were just struggling to remember any gaijin’s name. Note that KONISHIKI, an ex-sumo champion, is actually a naturalised Japanese, I believe. Also note that for some reason they give the state that the USA people were born in, and “Los Angeles State” is an error in the published survey!
From that list, I think Panzetta Girolamo (a middle-aged Italian playboy sort of guy) is about the only person who might be interesting to go off on a trip with. Read the rest of this entry »
For lots, lots more Japanese text emoticons and facemarks, be sure to check out Evoticon.net!
In the middle of June, goo Ranking surveyed its readers by means of a public internet questionnaire on what emoticons, or smilies, they often used in mail from their personal computers. The following table presents the top thirty emoticons list. As usual for goo Ranking, number one slot gets ranked with 100 points, and all the rest with the proportion of votes relative to the top vote. More detailed demographics, etc, are not available.
Back in April, I translated another survey on the use of smilies, or emoticons, on Japanese mobile phones, that you may want to reference. Even though the people responding to this survey are (supposed to be!) adult, emoticons reveal a cute childish playfulness, I feel.
Please feel free to use these in your email or messenger applications to add some japanese emotions to your chat! Read the rest of this entry »
Having looked at healing sounds earlier this month, this time goo Ranking looked at what smells evoked images of summer. As usual with goo Rankings, we have absolutely no demographic information whatsoever, so take these numbers with the usual pinch of salt.
For me, if I were being cynical, I would say the smell of fetid sewers and rubbish bins are the most notable summer perfumes of Japan, but to be non-cynical it would be either the smoke of fireworks or newly-cut grass.
The scores are, as usual, 100 points for the top answer and all the others rated as a percentage of the top vote-getter. Read the rest of this entry »
One of the foods that gaijin don’t eat is, of course, natto, which as any visitor or resident to these shores will tell you is one of the stock food questions to foreigners, “Can you eat natto?”, along with “Can you eat Japanese raw fish?” and “Can you eat anko?” I myself love anko, but natto… Interestingly enough, natto is mostly a Tokyo or Northern Japan delicacy; many (I think the majority, if I could find a survey!) of people from the Kansai area turn their noses up at it, including, thankfully, my wife, although she finds many other unpalatable items to make up for it! I’ve tried it once in a cooked dish and managed to get through about a third of it before giving up.
So, goo Ranking took a wee look at what people put on top of their natto. goo Ranking offer now a service to cut and paste their original survey into your blog, so I’ll add that for those who want to see the original results. I’ll also add an English translation, of course! As usual for goo Rankings, 100 points is awarded for the top vote-getter, and the rest awarded a percentage representing how many votes they got relative to the winner. “Nothing” was perhaps not one of the answers allowed.
Here’s a nice wee summer-tinged survey from goo Ranking: in mid-May by means of presumably an open poll on their web site they asked an indeterminate number of people to choose everyday soothing sounds. As usual with goo Ranking results, the top choice scores 100, and all others rank as a percentage of the top choice.
Having recently bought a flat with a garden, and with the mating season in full swing, I can well agree with the sound of birds being tops. I’m surprised, though, that the cicada figured so low, as it is a sound very typically associated with the Japanese summer. Perhaps they are just too loud, or are usually only heard in the torrid heat of midsummer to be considered soothing? I’d also have voted for the evening insects that herald the onset of Autumn. Round about the end of August the evening chorus changes from a harsh staccato to a soft, almost melodic, chirp. Perhaps that is the crickets at number six? Of course, in a British survey, the cricket sound would be that of leather off willow. Read the rest of this entry »
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