世論 What Japan Thinks

japan.internet.com recently reported on a survey conducted by JR Tokai Express Research into the matter of the use of open source software in the public sector.

Demographics

On the 9th of April 2007, 332 members of JR Tokai Express Research’s online monitor panel successfully completed a private internet-based questionnaire. All of the respondents worked in the public sector. 82.5% were male, 7.5% in their twenties, 38.3% in their thirties, 42.2% in their forties, 9.6% in their fifties, and 2.4% in their sixties.

A number of years ago an initiative to promot the use of Linux within local goverment and other public sector locations was started, with many local authorities and the IPA, Information-technology Promotion Agency, carrying out open source software trials, but this survey suggests that the penetration at the client side has been minimal.

Note that a previous survey covering both the private and public sectors also found there was an overwhelming majority of Windows users.
Read the rest of this entry »

With the Japanese version of the SOX, or Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which provides a framework for corporate governance, due to be introduced on the first of April 2008, japan.internet.com, in conjuction with JR Tokai Express Research, looked at J-SOX and compliance issues surrounding the law. Their full report, which may be purchased through this link (Japanese only), goes into much more detail on the subject. This article just touches awareness issues.

Demographics

On the 10th of April 2007 330 people from JR Tokai Express Research’s monitor panel and employed in public listed companies completed a private online questionnaire. 80.0% of the sample was male, 13.3% in their twenties, 52.4% in their thirties, 27.9% in their forties, 5.2% in their fifties, and 1.2% in their sixties.

I have only heard about J-SOX compliance from work in respect to password policy for our intranet, and perhaps interestingly enough, searching my employer’s Japanese web site turns up about 26 hits for SOX (once I eliminate pages on NOx and SOx pollutants), but our US web site has just seven hits.

The Japanese term is SOX 法, SOX hou, merely SOX law in English. However, a frequently-heard complaint from the poll-takers was that SOX law or J-SOX does not really mean anything (confusion with Dice-K at the Boston Red Sox, perhaps!) so they wish there was a more Japanese name for it.
Read the rest of this entry »

Well, not literally (although I’m sure some are) but garbage collection and recycling is the most common thing looked up, according to a survey reported on japan.internet.com, conducted by JR Tokai Express Research into the use of local government web sites.

Demographics

On the 3rd of April 330 members of JR Tokai Express Research’s online monitor panel successfully completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.7% of the sample was female, 23.3% in their twenties, 35.5% in their thirties, 22.1% in their forties, 11.8% in their fifties, and 7.3% in their sixties.

One “other” from Q1SQ2 that I had need of was to look up what to do about a bees’ nest, as a new family of wasps decided to move in along with us a couple of years back. Most, if not all, councils will send someone round for free if it is not too big a nest, apparently, and not located in a difficult-to-reach location
Read the rest of this entry »

japan.internet.com reported on a survey conducted by JR Tokai Express Research into computers in the classrooms of elementary and middle schools.

Demographics

On the 16th of March 330 members of JR Tokai Express Research’s monitor panel working in the education field completed a private internet-based survey. 83.0% were male, 7.9% in their twenties, 29.4% in their thirties, 40.0% in their forties, 19.4% in their fifties, and 3.3% in their sixties. 19, or 5.8%, worked in elementary schools, 6.4% (21 people) in middle schools, 11.8% (39 people) in high schools or vocational schools, 193 people (58.5%) in universities, 1.8% (or just 6 people) in technical colleges, 2.4% (8 people) in cram schools, and 18 people, or 5.5%, had other education-related rolls. 25 people actually had other jobs, and one was currently unemployed. The questions below were then asked only to the 40 elementary and middle school teachers.

It’s interesting that over half the sample consisted of university lecturers and the like. Perhaps this suggests something about the relatively light workload that allows that group to spend time completing online surveys?

For the questions presented below, the sample size is probably far too small to be any use, but I present the data regardless.
Read the rest of this entry »

japan.internet.com reported that on the 15th of March 330 members of JR Tokai Express Research’s online monitor group completed a survey on the topic of Social Networking Services (SNS).

Demographics

All of the 330 people were employed by public or private enterprises. 75.5% of the sample was male, 17.6% in their twenties, 48.5% in their thirties, 27.9% in their forties, 5.5% in their fifties, and 0.6% in their sixties.

As I bemoan every time I do a survey on SNS, I’m too busy to even start. Well, not quite true; I’m not prepared to commit the time I believe is necessary in order to participate productively in an SNS.
Read the rest of this entry »

Recently, japan.internet.com reported on some research conducted by JR Tokai Express Research regard mobile phones with Global Positioning System (GPS) features. The research was conducted between the 20th and 22nd of March amongst their online monitor community.

Demographics

330 people successfully completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 51.2% of the sample was male, 22.1% in their twenties, 43.0% in their thirties, 23.6% in their forties, 7.9% in their fifties, and 3.3% in their sixties.

Note that in the current model line-ups, all of the top-end DoCoMo’s (the 903i series) have GPS, as do most of the au models, and according to the SoftBank web site, the following models have GPS: Toshiba’s 911T, 910T, 904T, 813T, 812T, 811T, and 810T and Sharp’s 904SH. Checking a previous survey on the Spring 2007 model line-up, only two of the Toshiba phones above are new models. According to a directive from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, from April of this year all new 3G phone models must have GPS capability built-in, so it seems that SoftBank has quite a lot of work to do.

Also note that the “Anshin Navi” service mentioned in the Q1SQ2 refers to a service by au that allows parents to track their children, or more correctly, their children’s mobile phone. DoCoMo also have a similar service available through their Sanyo SA800i phone.
Read the rest of this entry »

Just recently japan.internet.com published the result of a survey conducted by JR Tokai Express Research into foreign-affiliated companies. As finance is one field I know little about, please let me know if I get some of the terminology wrong!

Demographics

On the 14th of March 331 people from JR Tokai Express Research’s monitor group employed in private industry successfully completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 77.9% of the sample was male, 16.6% in their twenties, 43.8% in their thirties, 31.1% in their forties, 7.3% in their fifties, and 1.2% in their sixties.

This topic has, I think, been in the news recently, but I can’t find anything about it. The nearest bit of English news I’ve discovered is this piece from Japan Economy News on a foreign-led shareholder revolt.
Read the rest of this entry »

japan.internet.com recently reported on a survey conducted by JR Tokai Express Research into server operating systems in small and medium-sized businesses. On the 10th of March 330 people employed in companies with less than 100 people, working in management, board-level, sales, technical or other specialist positions completed the survey. It may be worth comparing the results here with a previous survey on desktop operating systems.

Demographics

86.4% of the sample was male, 5.2% in their twenties, 39.1% in their thirties, 41.8% in their forties, 8.8% in their fifties, and 5.2% in their sixties.

Being in a large company, I don’t count for this survey, although our intranet seems to be powered by some sort of Linux-based system, I suspect. Within each team, however, file servers tend to be Windows; no-one is terribly interested in setting up anything more advanced, and in fact… ahh, perhaps I might get into company confidential information, so I’d better stop now.
Read the rest of this entry »

To coincide with the first anniversary of the release of Nintendo’s DS Lite handheld console in Japan on March 2nd 2006, japan.internet.com published the results of a survey conducted by JR Tokai Express Research into portable gaming, although this report focuses on the DS Lite only.

Demographics

330 people from JR Tokai Express Research’s online monitor group completed the survey conducted over four days between the 7th and 10th of March.52.4% of the sample was male, 24.2% in their twenties, 45.5% in their thirties, 21.8% in their forties, 6.7% in their fifties, and 1.8% in their sixties.

I still haven’t bought my DS sadly. I suppose I could use the excuse that it’s always sold out whenever I go to the shops, but the truth be told I’m a little scared to buy just in case I get addicted and start ignoring this blog!
Read the rest of this entry »

Following up on two days ago’s translated survey that showed surprisingly high penetration of Internet Explorer 7, japan.internet.com published the results of a survey conducted by JR Tokai Express Research into Windows Vista. The survey was conducted on the 28th of February, barely a month after Vista’s release in Japan, which seems not to have been much of a success. Note also the results of a previous survey conducted last year into interest in Microsoft Vista recorded one in five planning to upgrade.

Demographics

330 people from their monitor group employed in public or private enterprises replied to the private internet-based survey. 74.8% of the sample was male, 16.4% in their twenties, 43.9% in their thirties, 28.8% in their forties, 8.2% in their fifties, and 2.7% in their sixties.

I’m holding off from Vista for the moment myself; I don’t see any need to upgrade from XP, and indeed I also see many reasons not to upgrade, having used it for a time at work last Autumn when testing out the beta versions. Despite most people having Vista-ready notebook computers, I don’t know of anyone at our workplace who has tried upgrading their main PCs.
Read the rest of this entry »