世論 What Japan Thinks

According to a survey from goo Research and reported on by japan.internet.com into online dictionaries, the satisfied, dissatisfied and on the fence online translation tool users each make up significant groups.

Demographics

Between the 16th and 19th of April 2012 1,099 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.9% of the sample were male, 16.7% in their teens, 18.5% in their twenties, 21.1% in their thirties, 16.3% in their forties, 15.5% in their fifties, and 11.9% aged sixty or older.

I recently came across a case where the Japanese user appears to have been satisfied, but the native English speaker on the other end was quite dissatsified with the output. Scroll down a page or two, and you’ll see comments like:

Oh, sorry, I should give up for now. Ha ha. Without looking at the Japanese, I can’t really figure out exactly what is being said! Maybe Kaneishi will have things ready soon. I’m happy to use my Kanji reader to do the short things like this. No problem, as long as I have the Japanese script to copy onto the Kanji reader website.

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According to a recent survey from goo Research, published by japan.internet.com, their fourth regular email usage by mobile phone users, the numbers prefering their smartphones, etc, as their main mail address is ever increasing.

Demographics

Between the 9th and 11th of April 2012 1,077 members of the goo Research mobile monitor panel completed a mobile phone and smartphone-based private questionnaire. 59.5% of the sample were female, 3.4% in their teens, 25.6% in their twenties, 38.0% in their thirties, 23.1% in their forties, and 9.8% aged fifty or older.

It would be interesting to hear (perhaps the question was asked?) what mobile email addresses people use and how they use them. Do they keep the mobile carrier’s as their main, do they use first party apps to access specific services like GMail, or third party apps to unify multiple mailboxes? What do they do with their home service provider’s mail? Read it through their PC or access it when mobile?
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japan.internet.com reported on the results of the third regular survey by goo Research into electronic books and uncovered some surprising usage patterns.

Demographics

Between the 2nd and 5h of April 2012 1,090 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.6% of the sample were male, 16.3% in their teens, 18.2% in their twenties, 21.6% in their thirties, 16.2% in their forties, and 27.7% aged fifty or older.

I’ve read bits and pieces of electronic books online from a PC, and downloaded to a PC and a PDA. I’d like to get a Kindle, although having said that I’ve still got a few paper books lying around that I haven’t got round to reading yet!
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It’s been quite a while since I’ve translated a survey looking at how Japanese spend their early mornings or similar topics, but this survey from goo Research, reported on by japan.internet.com, into this matter revealed suprising results.

Demographics

Over the 2nd and 3rd of April 2012 1,104 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.8% of the sample were male, 16.1% in their teens, 18.1% in their twenties, 21.5% in their thirties, 16.3% in their forties, 15.9% in their fifties, and 12.1% aged sixty or older.

The weekend waking times are surprising for me on two counts; first, although personally I wake at 5:30 on weekdays, at the weekend I catch up by sleeping in to 11 am to 12 am. Second, when I stayed in the company dormitory, although I was always close to last out on weekdays, leaving at 10 am on weekends I was one of the first people out. Thus, I believed what the average salaried worker would physically need to sleep in on weekends to catch up on weekday sleep depravation.
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This is the rather disappointing (from my point of view) results from a recent survey by goo Research, their third regular survey into internet advertising, reported on by japan.internet.com.

Demographics

Between the 23rd and 27th of March 2012 1,078 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, 17.8% in their twenties, 21.5% in their thirties, 16.3% in their forties, and 27.8% aged fifty or older. As a short aside, I never understand why half the goo Research demographics report the over fifties and over sixties separately, while the other half, such as this survey, report them together. The other demographic figures are very similar in every non-mobile-targeted survey, so I think one can safely assume that there about 15% in their fifties and 12% aged sixty or over in today’s sample.

Recently my advertising return has been remarkably low for AdSense – all of number of clicks, revenue per click, and CPM rates have some days been so low that it feels like I must be running some utterly inappropriate advertising. Have any of my readers noticed strange or even no adverts appearing?
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goo Research recently took a look at keeping in touch with close friends, with the surprising result in the headline reported in japan.internet.com.

Demographics

Between the 21st and 24th of March 2012 1,082 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, 17.8% in their twenties, 21.6% in their thirties, 16.1% in their forties, 15.6% in their fifties, and 12.3% aged sixty or older.

Knowing what I know about Japan, email and telephone being top are not surprising to me, but I was most taken aback by ordinary post coming in third! Thinking more closely, the mixi, Twitter and Facebook figures correlate to the penetration of these SNS within Japan, but I suspect that the old-fashioned post includes New Year postcards, where even I often exchange annual greetings with ex-colleagues who have moved to other divisions within my employer.
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goo Research recently conducted their third regular survey into mobile phone video watching, reported on by japan.internet.com, which revealed that more people are watching video on their mobiles.

Demographics

Between the 16th and 20th of March 2012 1,041 mobile phone-using (including smartphone) members of the goo Research monitor panel answered a mobile-phone based questionnaire. 57.7% of the sample were female, 2.5% in their teens, 24.0% in their twenties, 34.2% in their thirties, 28.0% in their forties, and 11.3% aged fifty or older.

Possibly or possibily not connected to this topic is a new broadcast channel for mobile phones that has been launched this month, called Not-tv. Today at the office someone had a program guide, and there was three channels available, but it seemed mostly Korean dramas, US second-tier series, and the occasional minor Hollywood film. The other 7 or 8 One Seg versions of standard television channels are free to view, but this is 420 yen per month, with, as far as I can see, just a chat channel tacked onto the broadcasts for live interaction with the viewers and listeners.
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With Japan being in the middle of the ceder pollen season, the most common pollen allergen, this survey from goo Research into hayfever, reported on by japan.internet.com, is quite timely.

Demographics

Between the 12th and 14th of March 2012 1,086 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.9% of the sample were male, 16.5% in their teens, 18.0% in their twenties, 21.6% in their thirties, 16.2% in their forties, 15.7% in their fifties, and 12.0% aged sixty or older.

I get a runny nose, and this year also quite itchy eyes, so I’ve long ago ran to the Ear Nose and Throat quack (he’s good, I recommend him) and got pills, nasal spray and eye drops. The nose spray has long since run out, but the non-drowsy pills are just managing to keep the worst symptoms away, touch any wood except ceder.
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Mobile and computer-based web site viewing, one of goo Ranking’s regular surveys, took an interesting turn in this report on japan.internet.com, where they described the result of specific questions to tablet owners. However, the sample size was tiny so the data cannot really be trusted.

Demographics

Between the 12th and 14th of March 2012 1,093 mobile phone-using members of the goo Research monitor panel completed a private mobile internet-based questionnaire. 59.3% of the sample were female, 3.5% in their teens, 26.4% in their twenties, 33.2% in their thirties, 25.8% in their forties, and 11.1% aged fifty or older. Note that the survey includes smartphone users, and would also include tablet users who had a mobile phone contract attached to theirs.

I’ve considered getting a tablet myself, and if I were to I’d probably choose the four top reasons as listed below!
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japan.internet.com recently reported on the third regular survey by goo Research into home appliances, with this report focusing on televisions.

Demographics

Between the 5th and 8th of March 2012 1,075 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.5% of the sample were male, 17.0% in their teens, 18.0% in their twenties, 20.7% in their thirties, 16.2% in their forties, and 28.2% aged fifty or older.

When I was buying my digital television, maker (or should that be my employer) was the most important consideration for me!
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