世論 What Japan Thinks

A pet hate of mine is that in the UK the idea that you don’t store meats or fish over fresh vegetables is common knowledge, yet despite many television programs on the contents of people’s fridges I’ve never heard a word of warning about this in Japan. To find out what things the Japanese do, MyVoice conducted a survey into how people store food.

Demographics

Over the first five days of May 2008 14,241 members of the MyVoice internet community successfully completed a private online questionnaire. 54% of the sample were female, 2% were in their teens, 14% in their twenties, 38% in their thirties, 29% in their forties, and 17% in their fifties.

Cling film reminds me of an awful series of advertisements that would get banned in the UK, as they feature a kid of around ten years old running around with cling film, wrapping things at random, and using static electricity on the film to attract her hair.
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With the new taspo (short for tobacco passport) system gradually being introduced across Japan, this recent survey from DIMSDRIVE Research Inc into taspo sheds some light on what may be in store.

Demographics

Between the 2nd and 10th of April 2008 6,727 members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor group successfully completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 61.1% of the sample was female, 1.2% in their teens, 17.2% in their twenties, 35.9% in their thirties, 27.3% in their forties, 13.2% in their fifties, and 5.2% aged sixty or older. 59 people, or 0.9%, lived in the two trial prefectures where the taspo system has gone live, namely Miyazaki and Kagoshima.

The taspo card has two functions; one is as a proof of age card, the other is electronic cash. However, the electronic cash system is completely incompatible with all other systems, and none of the questions in this survey asked about this feature.

In Q6 you can see most people think there will be little or no effect on under-age smoking due to the introduction of the card. There’s a million and one other cheaper ways that smoking could be reduced in Japan, with forcing Japan Tobacco out of self-denial being high up on the list. As a quick translation, they say (a) that smoking is just one factor combined with environment, stress, eating habits, genetics, exercise, etc and (b) cancer only develops in mice when you attach the equivalent of thousands or tens of thousands of ciggies-worth of tar to their skin. Go to any of the privately-owned brewers’ web sites and there’s a message on the front page about under-age drinking and not drinking when pregnant or nursing. On the other hand, see if you can find the health (dis)information on JT’s Smokers Style site, without cheating and using the site map link.
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The health topic of the last couple of years in Japan has most certainly been Metabolic Syndrome, having certain characteristics associated with being fat that make you more prone to lifestyle diseases like heart disease, stroke and diabetes. Many countries have slightly different diagnostic measures; for Japan it is a waist greater than 85 cm for men, 90 cm for women; triglycerids greater than 150 mg/dL and/or HDL cholesterol of under 40 mg/dL; blood pressure greater than 130 over 85; and glucose level of 110 mg/dL or more.

With the recent introduction of mandatory screening for MetS (to use the official abbreviation), goo Research in conjunction with the Mainichi Shimbun decided to investigate what people think of these metabo examinations.

Demographics

Between the 4th and 6th of April 2008 1,088 members of the goo Research monitor group over the age of 20 completed a private internet-based questionnaire. Further demographic data was not provided. Note that the sample size for some of the questions are not given and that answers have been abbreviated.

I’ve been chosen as a guinea pig for our company screening, but I might have forgotten to attend the test. I’ve lost the bit of paper, I think, and it looked more like an excuse to try to sell me life insurance.

Note that the new screening system is not just getting diagnosed as fat, but also includes health improvement advice and instruction.
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With the main hay fever, in particular cedar fever, season nearly over, this report from japan.internet.com on a survey by goo Research Inc into hay fever is interesting to see how it has affected people this spring.

Demographics

Between the 3rd and 5th of April 2008 1,096 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.9% of the sample was male, 16.4% in their teens, 18.1% in their twenties, 21.2% in their thirties, 16.3% in their forties, 16.1% in their fifties, and 11.9% aged sixty or older.

I actually had my worst hay fever this year, when about three weeks ago my nose started running freely. I went to a local ear, nose and throat clinic and got some anti-histamines, nasal spray and eye drops. The pills knocked me for six, such that I was unable to take the prescribed two per day, just one, and I quit after three days. The nose spray did the trick, though, and although it lasted less than two weeks I’ve had almost no problems even after it finished.
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I did get as far as going to look round a sports club once, but the staff were not very friendly at all and the price was a bit high, so I gave up. I should try again somewhere else… To see how the Japanese view this topic, DIMSDRIVE Research recently performed a survey into sports clubs.

Demographics

Between the 20th and 28th of February 2008 6,016 members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 55.7% of the sample was female, 1.5% in their teens, 20.0% in their twenties, 34.5% in their thirties, 25.3% in theire forties, 17.5% in their fifties, and 1.2% aged sixty or older.

I have been just the once to a fitness club in Japan in a hotel we were staying in, as we had a package that included free use of the facilities. The walking machine was fun, and the instructor helped us out with stretching exercises and the like, but then he introduced me to the stair machine which completely killed me in under 10 seconds. After that it was off to the hot tub and swimming pool, which is much more my idea of exercise!

In Q4 there is one type of training mentioned, 加圧, kaatsu, which is quite the popular fad in Japan amongst people on television. Basically you constrict bloodflow to your arms or legs and do a normal workout, and scientific studies in Japan have shown that for certain conditions and certain people it is better than normal exercise. To me it looks pretty dangerous, quite frankly! There’s very little English language information on this, and the scientific papers I see are split between those seeing an effect and those not.
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Healthy beer is a phrase one doesn’t hear too often, but that’s basically the title of a recent survey conducted by MyVoice into health-related beer-like drinks.

Demographics

Over the first five days of March 2008 14,373 members of the MyVoice internet community successfully completed an internet-based questionnaire. 54% of the sample was female, 15% in their twenties, 39% in their thirties, 30% in their forties, and 16% in their fifties. Note that since the legal drinking age is twenty, teenagers were excluded from this survey.

I got a free can of Kirin ZERO for going to see a cross-dressing dancing General Douglas MacArthur (don’t ask!) but my wife gave it away to the father-in-law before I got a chance to sample it. I tried Tanrei Green Label and it was just as much swill as the full-sugar Tanrei!

In Q7, being good for health is an interesting answer. I suspect it is not just a poor wording (“can control calorie intake” might have been better), but I’ve seen people on television interpret “not so bad for you” as “can consume as much as I like.” One strong memory is of an actor knocking back two or more bottles of red wine a night and being shocked when the doctor told him that that was a bad thing.
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With the hay fever season upon us, and predictions of between three to five times the amount of cedar pollen flying around compared to last year, and with yellow sand from China also paying a visit, this recent survey from DIMSDRIVE Research into hay fever is quite timely.

Demographics

Between the 6th and 14th of February 2008 10,665 members of the DIMSDRIVE Monitors completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.8% of the sample was female, 1.2% in their teens, 14.9% in their twenties, 35.8% in their thirties, 29.1% in their forties, 13.3% in thei fifties, and 5.7% aged sixty or older.

Pictured above is Hello Kitty-branded Hana (nose) Celeb lotion-impregnated tissues that may or may not prevent redness after blowing one’s nose a lot while suffering from hay fever.

The thing that irritates me the most about hay fever in others is the Japanese reluctance to blow their noses in public, as it is too embarrassing compared to pulling a face as one makes sniffing noises at regular intervals. It’s almost enough to get me over my dislike of MP3 players and drown out the rest of the carriage on the ride home.

I don’t get cedar hay fever fortunately, although I do have a couple of other allergies that usually result in a runny nose and the occassional sneeze.

Last year I looked at a similar survey into hay fever by MyVoice that might be a useful cross-reference.
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The big health buzzword last year and this has been metabolic syndrome, or metabo as it is abbreviated in Japan. For Japanese people to be diagnosed as metabolic syndrome you must have at least three of the following five signs. For men, waist over 90 cm, for women over 80 cm; blood pressure greater than 130/85 mmHg, neutral fat of 150 mg/dL or more; HDL (good cholesterol) of under 40 mg/dL for men, 50 mg/dL for women; and blood sugar over 100 mg/dL. However, there appears to be slight regional variations for these measures. Anyway, DIMSDRIVE Research recently performed a survey to find out about health checks.

Demographics

Between the 23rd and 31st of January 2008 9,863 members of the DIMSDRIVE Monitor pool completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.3% of the sample was female, 1.2% in their teens, 14.8% in their twenties, 36.3% in their thirties, 29.1% in their forties, 13.0% in their fifties, and 5.6% aged sixty or older.

All Japanese companies are required to provide regular health checks for their employees; the company I work for once a year gets everyone in for eyes, ears, blood pressure, urine test, poo test and chest xray, and for older people barium meal, ECG, and blood test. In addition they have another annual test of physical strength, with grip strength measurement, bike riding, sit-ups, reaction time, blood vessel hardness and balancing on one leg.
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I used to have athlete’s foot, but Japanese over-the-counter medicines cured it pretty promptly and it has never returned, mainly due, I suspect, to living in much more hygenic conditions since I got married! To find out about festering feet in Japan and other issues, Yahoo! Japan Value Insight conducted a survey into what is known as switch OTC medicines, which means medicines with active ingredients that have switched from being prescription only to being also sold Over The Counter.

Demographics

Between the 13th and 15th December 2007 600 members of the Yahoo! Japan Value Research online monitor panel successfully completed a survey. Exactly 50.0% were male, and 33.3% were in their thirties, 33.3% in their forties, and 33.3% in their fifties. Each age group was also split 50:50 male and female. In addition exactly 50.0% had used OTC medicines for athlete’s foot within the last six months; I presume that these users were evenly distributed by sex and age.

I better have a short disclaimer just in case: I am not a health professional, and nothing within this article should be taken as medical advice, or even as accurate information. Please consult a doctor or pharmacist before taking any medicines, even over the counter ones, in order to avoid drug interactions or other problems. Mentions of any products or links to external sites does not imply a recommendation or a vouching for the quality or even safety of the products or sites.
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Now here’s a rather delicate subject to conduct a survey on! From my point of view, the three big everyday lifestyle ailments many Japanese, especially women, seem to suffer from are stiff shoulders, cold hands and feet, and constipation. I have been trying to get to the bottom of the third topic for a while, as it were, so I am pleased to be able to present to my readers the results of a survey by MyVoice into health and constipation.

Demographics

Over the first five days of November 2007 a surprisingly high number of 19,667 members of the MyVoice online community completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 54% of the sample was female, 2% were in their teens, 16% in their twenties, 38% in their thirties, 28% in their forties, and 16% in their fifties.

Just for reference, the word used for bowel movements in this survey was お通じ, otsuuji.

Human poo is not quite the same taboo subject that it is in the west, I feel; from poo hats to children’s songs about poo (sadly videos no longer available) via lucky gold poo charms.

I also like one series of advertisements for a laxative called Collac and their rakko, otters, that look suspiciously like dancing poo. Try the button in the bottom right-hand corner, then either of the two buttons at the bottom right of the next screen.
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