世論 What Japan Thinks

japan.internet.com, in conjunction with JR Tokai Express Research, at the start of June looked at what engineers thought about changing to Linux. They interviewed 330 engineers (not just software, I don’t think), with 90.6% male (a sad reflection on women in the workplace), with 12.7% in their twenties, 43.9% in their thirtiees, 37.6% in their forties, 5.5% in their fifties, and just one person, or 0.3% of the sample, aged sixty or over.

The reasons for people refusing to use Linux on their primary desktop seem interesting (just for the record, I would probably put myself in this category); the top answer, the lack of usable applications, doesn’t mention what sort of stuff people feel is missing. Next, Windows (Microsoft Office, I suppose) document compatibility; if my workplace is anything to go by, there are a number of (needlessly, IMO) complex macro-based documents that we use, which, I hear, causes major problems for the free software alternatives. The third reason, difficulty in set up and settings is mostly untrue, although there are problems if you have an unsupported device that needs a manual install. Other applications often don’t stick a nice friendly icon on your menus when they finish, which is a genuine problem.
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japan.internet.com, in conjunction with JR Tokai Express Research, recently carried out some research to find out how people used webcams. They interviewed 334 people from all over the country; 71.6% were male, 18.0% in their twenties, 37.7% in their thirties, 30.2% in their forties, 12.6% in their fifties, and 1.5% in their sixtiees.

Unfortunately, this report of the survey results does not give any information about the frequency of use of these web cameras. I would not be surprised, however, if the average user uses it just once or twice then the novelty wears off, but perhaps I’m just biased as I have a dislike of appearing on camera, both still and moving!
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japan.internet.com, in conjunction with JR Tokai Express Research, looked at what people did regarding their mobile phone batteries. They interviewed 337 mobile phone users from their internet monitor group by means of a private internet survey. 79.5% of the sample was male, with 14.8% in their twenties, 35.0% in their thirties, 33.8% in their forties, 13.9% in their fifties, and 2.4% in their sixties.
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Having yesterday looked at what the workers think of being asked to do stuff for their boss regarding computers, today japan.internet.com, in conjuction with JR Tokai Express Research, looked into how bosses asked their underlings for help with computer-related tasks. They interviewed 331 people in management positions in private companies, but the male to female ratio was not specified, although it might have been a depressing figure. 68.3% were in their forties, 28.1% in their fifties, and 3.6% in their sixties.

Note that since this survey was an internet-based one there will be a bias towards more technically-competent bosses, so the figures should show the bosses in a better light than yesterday’s survey did! In addition, one would expect the workers to be more negative about their bosses and the bosses to be more positive about their own skills.
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japan.internet.com, in conjuction with JR Tokai Express Research, looked into how workers helped out their bosses with computer-related tasks. There is the promise of them reporting later on how bosses view their subordinates’ use of computers, which I eagerly await! They interviewed 330 people in non-management positions in private companies, 79.1% male. 17.6% were in their twenties, 48.8% in their thirties, and 33.6% in their forties.

Rather than the typical Dilbert image of the Pointy-Haired Boss (hmm, I can’t find that cartoon strip on the internet!), I’ve chosen the Japanese equivalent for the title, the Bar Code-Haired Boss. The boss here refers, I believe, to anyone in management that is above the respondent in the office hierarchy, rather than just the direct boss.

I don’t have much direct contact with management, but do I see a lot of the effects of a lack of skill. My biggest gripe is the inappropriate use of tools; Excel seems the tool of choice for memos, diagramming, etc; and PowerPoint rather than Word for specifications and other technical documentation.
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japan.internet.com, in conjuction with JR Tokai Express Research, looked at the use of affiliate schemes by bloggers and web page maintainers. They surveyed 330 people employed in public or private businesses; 86.1% of the sample was male, 10.6% were in their twenties, 33.3% in their thirties, 38.2% in their forties, 15.2% in their fifties, and 2.7% in their sixties. Note that perhaps people who are ranking in vast sums of money from blogging wouldn’t be wasting their time filling in surveys for the chance of a few yen off a Green Car seat!

The survey did not mention how “affiliate” was defined; obviously sponsored links like with Amazon Associates would fall under this category, but as to whether AdSense (click that button on the left to find out more!) is also included, this survey does not clarify. Just for the sake of disclosure, at the rate I’m going at, my target for the year is in the 5,000 to 10,000 yen range (yes, just one hundred bucks!) although I had a bumper month last month where I managed to raise more than my hosting fee!
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Following my recent article on the Japanese view of April Fools (which, incidentally, has had rather a lot of hits mainly due to people reading the title as being about a certain Ms April fooling around in Japan), I discovered a survey reported by japan.internet.com, performed in conjuction with JR Tokai Express Research, on what people thought about April Fools. They interviewed 331 people in public or private employment by means of an internet questionnaire. The group was 81.6% male, and the participants were 15.7% in their twenties, 39.9% in their thirties, 36.9% in their forties, 6.9% in their fifties, and just 0.6% aged sixty or older.

Apparently there is an organisation called JIAFA, or the Japan Internet April Fool Association, that has, well, I haven’t read it yet, so I don’t know!

This article finished with a wee opinion bit that said that the reason for the decrease may be either just a loss of interest, or that since news spreads like wildfire on the internet, publishing even just one wee white lie may be becoming dangerous.
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With Mother’s Day fast approaching – 14th of May this year – japan.internet.com, in conjunction with JR Tokai Express Research, performed a timely investigation of what people thought about Mother’s Day presents. They surveyed 331 public and private company employees, 81.9% male, by means of an internet questionnaire. The age breakdown was 13.3% in their twenties, 42.3% in their thirties, 37.2% in their forties, 6.9% in their fifties, and just 0.3%, or one person, aged 60 or older. Everybody in the survey had a living mother, apparently, or if not they passed a present to their spouse’s mother or some other maternal figure.

Personally, I’ve only the once ever sent my mother a present, as she doesn’t believe in all the stupid commercialisation of it. That present was in fact a prize I won in a competition in a supermarket!
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Following on from a recent survey regarding phone email handedness and voice earedness, japan.internet.com in conjunction with JR Tokai Express Research carried out a survey on which hand people usually use with their mouse. They surveyed 330 working people by means of an internet questionnaire. 76.7% of the sample was male, with 15.8% in their twenties, 45.8% in their thirties, 30.3% in their forties, 7.6% in their fifties, and just 0.6% (two people) over the age of sixty.

In the first question you may notice a rather high percentage of lefties who got converted to right-handedness. This treatment of sinister characters is not unique to Japan, but it does perhaps appear to be rather strong within schools, looking at the figures here. Also, since most of the survey here is in their thirties, we are only seeing a snapshot of schooling 20 years ago or so; searching the web reveals that there is an oft-quoted survey that says only 0.7% of Japanese schoolchildren are left-handed, but I could not discover details of what the original survey was or when it was conducted.

Q1: Are you left-handed or right-handed? (Sample size=330)

Originally left-handed, but school or parents “corrected” me	4.8%
Ambidextrous (to Q2)	2.1%
Always right-handed	87.0%
Always left-handed	6.1%

Q2: Currently, with which hand do you use your mouse? (Sample size=43, ambidextrous users)

Left hand	7%
Right hand	84%
Both hands (to Q3)	9%
Use other pointing device	0%

Q3: Do you know that by using the control panel or other software you can change a mouse to left-handed use? (Sample size=36, ambidextrous right-hand mousers)

Yes	39%
No	61%

japan.internet.com, in conjection with JR Tokai Express Research, conducted a survey on the awareness of the Google brand in Japan. They interviewed by means of an internet-based survey 331 people, 70.4% male, all of whom worked in either the public or the private sector. 39.3% were in their twenties, 36.0% in their thirties, 23.9% in their forties, no-one in their fifties, and just 0.9% aged sixty or older. The sample was drawn from all over the country.

I’m not surprised at Blogger’s usage being so low, since I do not believe it has a Japanese interface, and anyway a previous survey has shown a preference for Japan-based blogging services. However, the large number of Google earth users really surprised me! Whether the respondents were confusing it with Google Maps, or if people just used it once or twice to find their house, I do not know.
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