世論 What Japan Thinks

A recent survey from goo Research that for a change wasn’t the first in a new series looked at online shopping for foodstuff, and was reported on by japan.internet.com.

Demographics

Between the 26th and 30th of September 2011 1,095 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.3% of the sample were male, 16.6% in their teens, 18.0% in their twenties, 21.3% in their thirties, 15.9% in their forties, 15.9% in their fifties, and 12.3% aged sixty or older.

My wife most often buys rice online, as carrying 10 kilos back from the supermarket on the train is out of the question! Next would be cakes, although she hasn’t bought much recently. Her favourite shop is R.L Waffle, but they have a shop in the department store at the next station down the line, so I’m not convinced that it’s actually any cheaper (my season ticket makes the train ride free, versus the cost of chilled delivery) and certainly not really that simpler, although they usually do chuck in a freebie or two along with the order.
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This survey from goo Research, reported on by japan.internet.com, into bicycles found just over 50% wanting an electric bike, but of course there’s always a gap between “wanting” and “purchasing”.

Demographics

Between the 20th and 22nd September 2011 1,101 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.8% of the sample were male, 16.5% in their teens, 18.1% in their twenties, 21.3% in their thirties, 16.2% in their forties, 15.8% in their fifties, and 12.2% aged sixty or older.

For some reason the introduction to the article mentioned that you can get Doraemon and Snoopy limited edition folding bicycles, which are rather popular with certain segments of the population. So there you go.

Bicycles are in the news recently, specifically piste bikes as they are known in Japan, bikes with fixed gears and no brakes except for back-pedalling, so are illegal due to the lack of brakes. I’ve not seen them around my neck of the woods, but seem to be popular in Tokyo, causing quite a number of accidents.
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goo Research recently took a look at the lightly related topics of web sites and photograph printing.

Demographics

Between the 30th of August and the 2nd of September 2011 1,010 computer-using and mobile phone-owning members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 54.3% of the sample were male, 16.8% were in their teens, 20.5% in their twenties, 19.6% in their thirties, 21.4% in their forties, and 21.7% in their fifties. Furthermore, 50.7% used standard mobile phones and 49.3% smartphones, 54.8% had laptops as their primary computer at home, 44.9% with desktops, and 0.4% with tablets.

I print out stuff about once a month or so, usually emails; before you condemn me for wasting paper, in my defense they are emails from my mother and I translate them with the in-laws. Perhaps if I had a smartphone, or even a tablet, I could save a sheet of paper or two a year…
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japan.internet.com reported on the second regular survey into saving electricity by goo Research. The first survey may be found here. Note that the dates of the survey indicate that it was conducted after TEPCO removed their restrictions on electricity usage in Tokyo and the surrounding areas, and after Tokyo had survived the summer without any blackouts or even brownouts.

Demographics

Between the 12th and 14th of September 2011 1,087 members of the goo Research completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.9% of the sample were male, 15.9% in their teens, 18.5% in their twenties, 21.5% in their thirties, 16.2% in their forties, 15.7% in their fifties, and 12.1% aged sixty or older.

There seems a popular misconception amongst some foreigners in Japan that the only effects of the electricity-saving activities was cutting down domestic wastage and making people go home on time, thus proving that the electricity provided by nuclear power stations is not really necessary. However, this ignores the under-reported (or just plain ignored as inconvenient) problems that small businesses had, many forced to drastically cut back production to avoid fines of 1,000,000 yen per hour each time they failed to use 15% less than the previous year during peak times – unfortunately, I cannot find a story online about it. In July the current Prime Minister (he was Finance Minister then) highlighted that power costs (due to increase 10% for Tokyo this coming year) may drive firms abroad; indeed this has already started.

In addition, tonight I saw a short item on a news program about electricity pricing and other issues. First, electricity prices are set by law to cover assets, salaries, fuel and promotional activities, then 3% profit on the top. Thus, the generating boards are under no pressure to cut staffing costs (the average director, usually ex-finance ministry, gets just under 40 million yen a year) and can actively buy assets to increase their profits, while passing on all the costs to the user. Next, there is a small degree of competition from independent companies, but they are only allowed to target large users, and access to the electricity grid for them costs about 7 times that in the US. They showed that even with these restrictions, by converting a large-scale housing complex to the independent supplier, who offers smart meters to each householder, the price to the consumer was about 5% less per unit, and by using data from the smart meter and matching usage to tariffs, they could save a further five percent, despite all the handicaps described above.
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goo Research recently reported in detail on comprehensive medical examinations, or as they are known in Japanese 人間ドック, Ningen (Human) Dock, a play on “dry dock”.

Demographics

Between the 29th of August and the 1st of September 2011 1,083 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.2% of the sample were male, 24.1% in their thirties, 25.5% in their forties, 25.4% in their fifties, and 25.0% aged sixty or older.

Furthermore, there was a new term to me, “Ladies’ Dock”, which as you might guess is a Ningen Dock tailored towards women. The time my wife and I went for a Ningen Dock, she had the ladies’ course, but it wasn’t sold as female oriented. If I remember correctly, there was a base test for everyone, then you could buy add-on packages on top, like lady bits, allergy tests, chest CT scan, etc.
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Yet another regular survey was reborn, this time it was goo Research’s look at mobile phone video use, expanded now to explicitly include smartphones.

Demographics

Between the 5th and 9th of September 2011 1,000 members of the goo Research mobile monitors completed a private mobile phone or smartphone-based survey. 58.1% of the sample were female, 3.4% in their teens, 22.3% in their twenties, 38.0% in their thirties, 26.9% in their forties, and 9.4% aged fifty or older.

I’m not sure what silly cat clips fall under, although I would guess that it would be more likely to be self- or friend-shot video rather than other, judging by the relative percentages!
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This recent survey by goo Research and reported on by japan.internet.com into tablets produced some very surprising results, showing Windows and Android to be closer to iOS (iPad OS) than I would have expected.

Demographics

Between the 30th of August and the 2nd of September 2011 1,087 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.0% of the sample were male, 16.7% in their teens, 18.3% in their twenties, 21.2% in their thirties, 16.2% in their forties, 15.5% in their fifties, and 12.1% aged sixty or older.

The figures from Europe and the US suggest that it is only the iPad that sells, with at least 80% of the market, so are things really that different in Japan? Furthermore, where are the 8 Windows XP tablets coming from? The figures here seem just a bit too unusual to be reliable.
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Yet another new survey series starts, web site viewing from goo Research and reported on by japan.internet.com. This is a reboot of a previous mobile phone oriented survey that has now been reworked to be more smartphone-friendly.

Demographics

Between the 29th of August and the 1st of September 1,094 members of the goo Research mobile monitor group complete a private mobile (including smartphone) internet-based questionnaire. 58.2% of the survey were female, 3.2% in their teens, 24.6% in their twenties, 37.4% in their thirties, 25.8% in their thirties, and 9.0% aged fifty or older.

I think even if I had a smartphone it would only ever be a backup device for on the move surfing. On the other hand, if I had on the move surfing, I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands off it long enough to get these translations done on the train!
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japan.internet.com recently reported on a survey by goo Research into browsers, a survey that I have very serious doubts about the accuracy of.

Demographics

Over the 23rd and 24th of August 2011 1,098 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.7% of the sample were male, 16.5% in their teens, 17.9% in their twenties, 21.6% in their thirties, 16.2% in their forties, 15.8% in their fifties, and 12.0% aged sixty or older.

As I mention below, I would take the results here with a bit of a pinch of salt.
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Yet another new goo Research regular survey, this time the first look at home electrical appliances, reported on by japan.internet.com.

Demographics

Between the 19th and 23rd of August 2011 1,071 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.6% of the sample were male, 16.4% in their teens, 18.7% in their twenties, 20.8% in their thirties, 16.0% in their forties, and 28.1% aged fifty or older.

I’ve not bought anything myself recently from the list below, but I was surprised to see that 17% had bought a digital television, despite last year’s eco point discounts making them very affordable. Then again, given how flat-screen TV prices fall every year, perhaps last year’s models are down to the eco point discount levels?
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