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.
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. Read the rest of this entry »
I hope most of my fellow readers resident in Japan have got their New Year greeting (nengajou) postcards ready, as time’s running out! To see how you should be approaching what I think is an important (in some aspects) custom, this detailed survey from MacroMill Inc looked at 2009 New Year Greetings.
Demographics
Over the 25th and 26th of November 2008 624 members of the MacroMill monitor group completed an internet-based private questionnaire. The group was split exactly 50:50 male and female overall and in each age group, and 16.7% in each of these age groups, 15 to 19 years old, twenties, thirties, forties, fifties, and sixty or older.
I’m nearly ready to go; I still have to import the addresses from my old postcard software to the new one, which involves a wee bit of Excel CSV file massage, but barring accidents I’ll be printing them out at the weekend. As for electronic greetings, I think it feels cheap to me, and unless I know it’s someone sending it in addition to a postcard, I feel hard done by.
In Q5, I’m surprised that what I thought would be the main reason for sending electronic greetings, saving money, didn’t feature as a distinct answer, and neither did some ecology-related reason. Read the rest of this entry »
Just a quick note that Danny Choo recently posted on cooking habits of Japanese men as reported on by Macromill via the Nikkei Shimbun.
I may translate this survey in full in the near future as I do find the reported 50% who cook every week quite a bit higher than what I would expect, so I want to see how the figures were derived.
With the Olympics over for another four years and with Japan getting a reasonable haul of medals, Macromill performed a survey into post-Olympic views.
Demographics
Over the 25th and 26th of August 2008 516 members of the Macromill Monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was exactly 50:50 male and female in each age group; 24.8% were in their twenties, 25.2% in their thirties, 25.2% in their forties, and 24.8% in their fifties.
I didn’t watch much of the Olympics, but for me the most moving moments were Usian Bolt winning his two individual medals; celebrating the 100 metres win 10 metres before the finish line, then pulling out all the stops on the 200 metres to win by the proverbial mile.
Also, just today I read that Kosuke Kitajima, the double-double gold medal swimmer, was voted best beerist for knocking back a pint or two in celebration! Read the rest of this entry »
With Coming of Age ceremonies being held mainly on the 14th of January this year, it is timely to look at a recent survey of these soon-to-be adults conducted by MacroMill Inc on the topic of new adults, specifically how they see their future.
Demographics
Over the 20th and 21st of December 2007 516 members of the Macromill monitors who will be attending a Coming of Age ceremony in 2008 completed a private online questionnaire. The sample was split 50:50 male and female, and of course all were either 19 or 20 years old.
Freeterism seems accetable in certain circumstances to a majority of people in Q7, which was a surprise to me. Freeter is the Japanese word mashed-up from freelance and arbeiter, which is from Arbeit, the German for part time work. It basically means casual labour, flitting between jobs as frequently as from day-to-day; working for a bit, taking time off for a bit.
In Q9, with just a slender majority happy to be able to drink might indicate a significant group of under-age drinkers, and as for smoking, I think it is safe to say that there must be a lot of kids who are already nicotine addicts! Read the rest of this entry »
With Coming of Age ceremonies being held mainly on the 14th of January this year, it is timely to look at a recent survey of these soon-to-be adults conducted by MacroMill Inc on the topic of new adults, specifically how they see their future.
Demographics
Over the 20th and 21st of December 2007 516 members of the Macromill monitors who will be attending a Coming of Age ceremony in 2008 completed a private online questionnaire. The sample was split 50:50 male and female, and of course all were either 19 or 20 years old.
One thing that always puzzles and suprises a lot of foreigners about Coming of Age is that ceremonies are held in Disneyland, and many people target getting a photo taken with Mickey Mouse. One would think that becoming an adult would mean throwing away the trappings of youth, and one gets the feeling that they are not saying goodbye to Mickey et al, but see you later; now as wage earners, they can visit the mouse at home under their own steam.
Although many seem to be quite positive regarding their own future, the number seeing Japan in a positive light in Q3 is depressing, and that is an issue I’d love to see explored further some time. I wonder how much is due to pensions, given Q5, but since there seems a high degree of interest in politics and elections in Q6, do these new adults view it as something they cannot change? Read the rest of this entry »
The stereotypical Christmas feast in Japan is a bucket of fried chicken from Colonel Claus with a strawberry sponge for afters, but what is the real situation? In particular, Christmas Eve is a holiday this year due to the Emporer’s birthday falling on a Sunday, so the day off has been moved forward a day to the 24th of December, and it is Christmas Eve that gets celebrated rather than Christmas Day. To find out what people’s plans were, Macromill Inc reported on a survey it conducted into Christmas 2007.
Demographics
Over the 5th and 6th of December 2007 516 members of Macromill’s online monitor group resident within either Tokyo or the three surrounding prefectures of Chiba, Saitama or Kanagawa successfully completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The group was split exactly 50:50 male and female, and 24.8% were in thier twenties, 25.2% in their thirties, 25.3% in their forties, and 24.8% in their fifties.
Note that when asked how people plan to spend Christmas, as noted above this refers to Christmas Eve, by chance a public holiday this year, not Christmas Day, a normal workday this and every other year.
The other Japanese Christmas tradition is for couples to go on a date, often ending up with an overnight stay at a hotel, usually a posh one. Read the rest of this entry »
With the Winter bonus season upon us (I get mine tomorrow!) here is a timely survey from MacroMill Inc on this very subject, the Winter 2007 bonus.
Demographics
Over the 14th and 15th of November 2007 1,032 members of the MacroMill internet monitor group employed in either the public or private sector successfully completed a private online questionnaire. 20.0% of the sample were in their twenties, 20.0% in their thirties, 20.0% in their forties, and 20.0% in their fifties. The sex ratio was not reported, however, although when JR Tokai Express Research use a similar sample base, over 80% are male. However, MacroMill tends to use a 50:50 split for their surveys, but this cannot be the case here as in Q4B, for instance, 534 men report getting a bonus, over half the sample size.
Half of my winter bonus has to go to paying my home loan, and the majority of the remained will end up replenishing funds in the bank to be spent on just normal living expenses, sadly. If I manage to get any discretionary spending, I think a DS and a Wii plus Wii Fit (saw it on the telly this morning – it looks great!) will be in order. Read the rest of this entry »
With prices of many staples having risen or threatening to rise for the first time for a good number of years, Macromill Inc decided to investigate what the average consumer thought about instant ramen and other instant noodles.
Demographics
Over the 10th and 11th of October 2007 516 members of the Macromill Monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was split 50:50 male and female in each age group, with 25.0% in their twenties, 25.0% in their thirties, 25.0% in their forties, and 25.0% in the fifties.
As there are no particularly good statistics to graph from this half of the survey, instead here’s a video of the Nissen Cup Noodle advertisements, done in an anime style with music by Hikari Utada:
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.
Christmas is coming, so let’s see what the Japanese are planning on doing with this survey from Macromill Inc looking at 
I hope most of my fellow readers resident in Japan have got their New Year greeting (nengajou) postcards ready, as time’s running out! To see how you should be approaching what I think is an important (in some aspects) custom, this detailed survey from MacroMill Inc looked at 
With the Olympics over for another four years and with Japan getting a reasonable haul of medals, Macromill performed a survey into 
With Coming of Age ceremonies being held mainly on the 14th of January this year, it is timely to look at a recent survey of these soon-to-be adults conducted by MacroMill Inc on the topic of 
With Coming of Age ceremonies being held mainly on the 14th of January this year, it is timely to look at a recent survey of these soon-to-be adults conducted by MacroMill Inc on the topic of 
The stereotypical Christmas feast in Japan is a bucket of fried chicken from Colonel Claus with a strawberry sponge for afters, but what is the real situation? In particular, Christmas Eve is a holiday this year due to the Emporer’s birthday falling on a Sunday, so the day off has been moved forward a day to the 24th of December, and it is Christmas Eve that gets celebrated rather than Christmas Day. To find out what people’s plans were, Macromill Inc reported on a survey it conducted into 
With the Winter bonus season upon us (I get mine tomorrow!) here is a timely survey from MacroMill Inc on this very subject, the 
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