世論 What Japan Thinks

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Macromill published their annual survey on new adults, looking at how the latest batch of twenty year olds look at themselves and their future

Demographics

Over the 21st and 22nd of December 2009 516 members of the Macromill monitor group who have recently or will soon be turning twenty thus eligible to attend a Coming of Age ceremony this weekend completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was exactly 50:50 male and female.

The stereotypes of the herbivore boy and the carnivore girl make an appearance towards the end of this survey! In Q11, considering that most of the respondents are probably university students, under 20% being active in the pursuit of the opposite sex, especially given the commonly-held view that Japanese universities are not exactly the most taxing of institutions study-wise, does seem a rather low figure to me!
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[part 1][part 2]

Macromill published their annual survey on new adults, looking at how the latest batch of twenty year olds look at themselves and their future

Demographics

Over the 21st and 22nd of December 2009 516 members of the Macromill monitor group who have recently or will soon be turning twenty thus eligible to attend a Coming of Age ceremony this weekend completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was exactly 50:50 male and female.

Most foreigners in Japan are more interested in photographing the kimono on display, not that I can blame them for that, but I think that looking past the stereotypes of partying with Mickey Mouse and drunken neds starting fights at the ceremonies is much more intellectually interesting and much less predictable than the usual coverage.
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It’s getting towards the end of the year, so let’s have a look back at the top news and items from 2009 in this survey from Marcomill Inc.

Demographics

Over the 4th and 5th of December 2009 1,000 members of the Macromill monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sexes were split exactly 50:50, and 25.0% were in their twenties, 25.0% in their thirties, 25.0% in their forties, and 25.0% between 50 and 69 years old.

My top news would be the DPJ’s victory, the arrest of Ichihashi, and the press reaction to the Noriko Sakai drugs bust. Top topical items would be the iPhone 3GS (I’m surprised it didn’t make it), the 1,000 yen toll road traffic jams, and the Odaiba Gundam. What’s yours?
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It’s getting to that time of year when we need to getting our New Year greetings prepared; this recent survey from Macromill Inc on this topic looked at not just the traditional postcards, but also electronic greetings.

Demographics

Between the 20th and 24th of November 2009 500 members of the Macromill monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was exactly 50:50 male and female, although not quite 50:50 throughout each age band. 7.2% were in their teens (between 15 and 19 years old), 17.2% in their twenties, 20.2% in their thirties, 17.2% in their forties, 20.8% in their fifties, and 17.4% in their sixties.

It’s probably just my stinginess, but I’m extremely surprised that in Q1SQ3 there was no answer about “because it’s free” as the reason for sending electronic greetings!

Oh, and my New Year postcards got delivered today. My wife went a bit crazy ordering the cards, so we have Rilakkuma, two styles of Pooh, and Hello Kitty designs…
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With tickets having gone on sale last week, with the usual flock of idiots punters buying tickets by the metre, let’s have a look with Macromill Inc at the 2009 Year-end Jumbo Lottery.

Demographics

Over the 10th and 11th of November 2009 1,000 members of the Macromill monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was exactly 50:50 male and female, and 25.0% in their twenties, 25.0% in their thirties, 25.0% in their forties, and 25.0% aged fifty or older.

Having a superstition for buying the tickets at a shop that sells a lot of them is utterly pointless, as they sell a lot of winners because a lot of people buy! I’d love to see official statistics showing that the ratio of winners to sales is similar regardless of volume, rather than that star signs nonsense from the link above.

In Q7SQ5, I’m sure I heard somewhere why people put tickets in the fridge, but I cannot for the life of me remember what it was! Can anyone help me out?
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[part 1][part 2]

With tickets having gone on sale last week, with the usual flock of idiots punters buying tickets by the metre, let’s have a look with Macromill Inc at the 2009 Year-end Jumbo Lottery.

Demographics

Over the 10th and 11th of November 2009 1,000 members of the Macromill monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was exactly 50:50 male and female, and 25.0% in their twenties, 25.0% in their thirties, 25.0% in their forties, and 25.0% aged fifty or older.

Note that the Japanese Year-end Jumbo Lottery, and all the other major lotteries would be more accurately called raffles. There are a limited number of tickets on sale, and the draw ensures that only a certain number of winners come out, and for whatever reason they have decided that making 210 jackpots between 100 and 300 million yen is better than twenty or so yen billionaires.

In Q6, buying on average 22 tickets per person is quite stunning!
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The following survey from Macromill was very superficially summarised in the press, focusing on just a single question when a lot more interesting data was available regarding mobile phone use of mothers bringing up children.

Demographics

Over the 5th and 6th of November 2009 500 married mothers from the Macromill monitor group completed a private mobile phone-based questionnaire. All the sample was female, of course, and 25.0% were between 20 and 24, 25.0% between 25 and 29, 25.0% between 30 and 34, and 25.0% between 35 and 39 years old.

Some of the figures are very surprising to me (mainly because I’m not a young mother) such as just over half the youngest age group writing a Mommy blog and over a quarter shopping or bidding in auctions at least once a week, although I did expect the number of emails exchanged to be higher!
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Recently there has been a lot of moral panic (some justified, some unjustified) about schoolkids and their mobile phone usage in Japan, with a number of schools introducing various bans on usage. To find out what kids are up to these days, MacroMill Inc looked at high school students and mobile phones.

Demographics

Between the 15th and 17th of September 2009 300 high school students (therefore aged between 15 and 18) completed a private mobile phone-based questionnaire. The sample was exactly 50:50 male and female. Note that the sample will be over-represented by heavier mobile phone users, so perhaps the figures here for usage of mobile phones in class, for instance, are higher than they are in reality, or at least I hope that is the case.

As I know there are a few people who teach in Japanese schools amongst my readership, I’d love to hear from you on how the results of this survey fit with your experiences at the chalkface.

I find it quite amazing that more students use their phones in the bath than in class! However, the fact that almost one in six admit to using them regularly in class is a pretty depressing statistic.
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It’s coming up to that time of the year in Japan where the women may express their love and have to express their gratitute, so Macromill Inc looked at women and Valentine’s Day.

Demographics

Over the 21st and 22nd of January 2009 515 female members of the Macromill monitor group aged between twenty and thirty-nine completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 54 were aged between 20 and 24, 155 between 25 and 29, 174 between 30 and 34, and 132 between 35 and 39.

In Japan there are two different types of chocolate that women must buy for Valentine’s Day. The first kind is “true” (本命, honmei) chocolates, the other “obligatory” (義理, giri); the first goes to your true love (or object of infatuation, etc), the second male colleagues at work. As you may guess, the amount of effort and expense gone to for each type varies greatly!

Note that “traditionally” it is the women who give men presents on Valentine’s Day, and they hope for something in return on White Day, the 14th of March. However, from this year some of the chocolate makers have been promoting 逆チョコ, gyaku choko, reverse chocolates, which come in a mirror imaged box.

Two years ago I translated a similar Macromill Valentine survey that you may want to cross-reference.
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Christmas is coming, so let’s see what the Japanese are planning on doing with this survey from Macromill Inc looking at Christmas.

Demographics

Over the 2nd and 3rd of December 2008 516 members of the Macromill Monitor group resident in Tokyo and the three surrounding prefectures completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was 50:50 male and female, and 25.0% were in their twenties, 25.0% in their thirties, 25.0% in their forties, and 25.0% in their fifties.

Wham! fits in well with a recent post over at Rocking in Hakata as Deas mentions that a Japanese cover of Last Christmas has been released. Indeed, I just heard the song for the first time tonight, and sadly but not surprisingly the English grates, sufficient to make me want to hear the original.

Note that in this survey Christmas is actually Christmas Eve. All the carry-on happens on that night, and come Christmas Day (just another day in the office) everything is tidied up for another year and replaced by the New Year decorations.
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