世論 What Japan Thinks

Although all electronic book readers in Japan have died a death since the very first one in 1990, with even big manufacturer-backed models like Panasonic’s Sigma Book and Sony’s Librie failing, Amazon’s Kindle and even Sony’s western models are flying off the shelves. To see if there are any signs of life in the Japan market, iBridge Research Plus looked at electronic book readers in a report published on japan.internet.com.

Demographics

On the 28th of December 2009 300 members of the iBridge monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.0% of the sample were male, 11.7% in their twenties, 31.3% in their thirties, 31.0% in their forties, 16.7% in their fifties, and 9.3% in their sixties.

For me too the current price of around 20,000 to 30,000 yen for the average reader is a bit much, especially as most companies haven’t got the interface quite right yet, judging from the reviews. As to why people are setting their price tag so low, perhaps it has something to do with the already-established user-base for mobile phone-based reading material?
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iBridge Research Plus’s love affair with young Japanese women and their internet habits continues with them looking at web email forwarding functions, as reported on by japan.internet.com.

Demographcis

On the 7th of December 2009 300 members of the iBridge Research Plus monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. All 300 were female, 18.7% were in their twenties, 43.0% in their thirties, and 38.3% in their forties.

iBridge Research Plus last looked at young women just last month, where they examined their use of Gmail.

I’m quite surprised at the number who know that their web email can be forwarded! I can’t tell you about Gmail, as I usually use the POP3 interface instead. However, my iShare surveys use the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service as their base demographic and have pretty balanced gender split, so perhaps the figure is representative of the average mobile phone user. I’d also have liked to have seen a reason why people use the forwarding services.
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This is the first I’ve heard of such a thing as social lending, cash loans between individuals, but I consider myself educated after reading this survey on the matter conducted by iBridge Research Plus and reported on by japan.internet.com.

Demographics

On the 30th of November 2009 300 members of the iBridge monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was exactly 50:50 male and female, 9% in their twenties, 31.7% in their thirties, 38.7% in their forties, 14.7% in their fifties, and 6.0% in their sixties.

There are apparently two main types of social lending; auction style (maneo being one example) and market style with AQUSH being one of this style.

I don’t think I’d touch any of these services with a barge pole – I would fear that they would be even more scammer-riddled than the average auction site!
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iBridge Research Plus recently did one of their demographically narrow surveys, this time looking at Gmail. The survey was reported on as usual by japan.internet.com.

Demographics

On the 24th of November 2009 300 young women members of the iBridge research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. All of the sample were women, 22.3% of them in their twenties, 42.0% in their thirties, and 35.7% in their forties.

In October of this year, a survey of web mail usage amongst the same demographic found Yahoo! mail first, Hotmail second, local providers goo and infoseek third and fourth, then Gmail fifth.

The text suggests that the reason prize draws and online shopping are popular is the strength of Gmail’s spam filters, although I’ve never tried them out with Japanese spam myself.

I use Gmail for none of the below reasons – one is to manage blog email, the second is for a travel address, and the third is that it became necessary to register one in order to access other Google services.
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Here’s an interesting little survey from iBridge Research Plus as reported on by japan.internet.com into the internet and habits.

Demographics

On the 26th of October 2009 exactly 300 members of the iBridge monitor group who were either in employment or students completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 76.0% of the sample were male, 9.0% were in their twenties, 31.7% in their thirties, 38.0% in their forties, 17.0% in their fifties, and 4.3% in their sixties.

I don’t switch on my home PC before leaving for work as (a) I don’t have time, and (b) if I did, I’d keep fiddling with it and be even later. However, just last week I have started enacting my latest cunning plan that may (or may not) see me firing up a PC on the train to work.

Oh, and today I was pleased to see that this doctor has an open wireless point in his office, although I don’t know if he is actually aware he is providing it…
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A recent survey from iBridge Research Plus and reported on by japan.internet.com into the topic of web-based email amongst a young female demographic found almost a majority had a Yahoo! email account.

Demographics

On the 28th of September 2009 300 female members of the iBridge Research Plus monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 24.3% of the sample were in their twenties, 46.3% in their thirties, and 29.3% in their forties,

I did once try to recommend Gmail to my wife by sending her an invitation, but she never took me up, despite telling her about its excellent support for emoji!
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There’s no shortage of free papers around town, even though it wasn’t until 2002 that the first one appeared in Japan. These free sheets were the focus of this recent survey from iBridge Research Plus, as reported by japan.internet.com.

Demographics

On the 14th of September 2009 300 members of the iBridge Research Plus monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 57.7% of the sample were female, 12.0% in their twenties, 30.3% in their thirties, 29.3% in their forties, 22.0% in their fifties, and 6.3% in their sixties.

I’m not sure exactly what that 2002 date for the launch of free papers means, as when I came to Japan in 1998 there was already three or four free weekly or monthly freesheets and magazines targetted at the foreign market; indeed I met my wife through a free paper advertisement.
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It’s been a while since I’ve seen a survey on RSS feed reading habits, but looking at the data in this survey by iBridge Research Plus and reported on by japan.internet.net perhaps the reason is a lack of interest.

Demographics

On the 17th of August 2009 300 members of the iBridge Research Plus monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.7% of the sample were male, 17.7% in their twenties, 31.7% in their thirties, 30.7% in their forties, 15.7% in their fifties, and 4.3% in their sixties.

I’d be lost without my reader, Google Reader. I actually get just about the same number of feed readers as web site visitors per day, and if I exclude feed readers who click through, my RSS feed is most probably the more popular way of reading What Japan Thinks. If you’re not already subscribed, check out the links on the top left to see what I’m on about!

For the benefit of my Mum, using an RSS reader means you don’t need to set mine or my brother’s site as your home page!
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A recent report from japan.internet.com on a survey conducted by iBridge Research Plus stuck together two slightly disjoint topics: the first, the focus of the survey, was noises from electrical items, the second being robocalls, prerecorded calls being blasted to your telephone or mobile phone.

Demographics

On the 24th of August 2009 300 members of the iBridge Research Plus monitor group succesfully completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.0% of the sample were male, 18.0% in their twenties, 40.3% in their thirties, 36.0% in their forties, 5.0% in their fifties, and 0.7% in their sixties.

The noise is not electromagnetic hum – which would be an interesting topic in itself – but alert tones and tunes such as the wee ditties that my rice cooker and washing machine play on completion, or the automatic bath filler shouting “Your bath is drawn!” when it finishes. I think simple confirmation beeps when using buttons or remote controls are excluded from the survey, given that only 69.0% said they had noisy electricals.

Research results

Q1: Are you bothered by electronic noises from home electrical items? (Sample size=300)

All of it bothers me	3.7%
Some bothers me	29.3%
None bother me	36.0%
Don’t have any noisy electricals	31.0%

Q2: Have you ever had a robocall on your fixed line or mobile phone? (Sample size=300)

Yes (to SQ)	16.3%
No	66.0%
Don’t know	17.7%

Q2SQ: Did you feel uncomfortable when you got a robocall? (Sample size=49)

Yes	53.1%
No	42.9%
Don’t know	4.1%

Putting the two together we get:

Q2+Q2SQ: Has a robocall ever made you feel uncomfortable? (Sample size=300)

Yes	8.7%
No	7.0%
Don’t know	0.7%
Never had a robocall	66.0%
Don’t know if I’ve had a robocall	17.7%

Here’s a curious look at iBridge Research Plus and reported on by japan.internet.com into wristwatches.

Demographics

On the 4th of August 2009 300 members of the iBridge Research Plus monitor group who were currently employed or students completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 73.7% of the sample were male, 15.7% in their twenties, 33.0% in their thirties, 30.7% in their forties, 19.0% in their fifties, and 1.7% in their sixties.

I have a watch, but only wear it at weekends, as during weekdays at work there are more than enough clocks in the office or the railway station, so why bother? It’s also a watch I got free for Air Miles that has had all its rhinestones fall out and its sky-blue fake leather strap is not really fitting for the business environment, and anyway it gets in the way when I type.
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