世論 What Japan Thinks

The Yomiuri Shimbun (Osaka only?) recently published the results of an opinion poll conducted in conjunction with goo Research to find out what users of Hankyu and Hanshin think about the takeover plans by Hankyu. Over four days at the end of June they got 1,065 members of the goo Research monitor group who were resident in the Kinki area to respond successfully to their internet-based questionnaire. 2% of the sample were under twenty years old (actually just 18 or 19 years old), 20% in their twenties, 41% in their thirties, 25% in their forties, 9% in their fifties, and 3% sixty or older. 58% of the sample was female. Note that sample sizes for the various sub-groups are not described.

For those of you not familiar with the Osaka private railway situation, both Hankyu and Hanshin run between Osaka and Kobe, along with a few other lines, of course. Although price-wise both services are much the same, Hankyu are nominally the first-class service, Hanshin third-class. (The ex-state-owned JR is second-class.) Hankyu has plush green seats with wood-panel effect walls in the carriages, and their line runs at a higher elevation between the two cities; the line, in fact, when passing through some of the posher areas like Shukugawa, Ashiya and Mikage defines the land prices to some extent; the hill side is more pricey than the sea side. Hanshin on the other hand passes through a lot of council housing estates, industrial areas, and the like, and while their trains are kept in tip-top nick, like almost all trains in Japan, of course, they are built to a much more basic design and finish.

The other business area where the contrast between the two companies could not be clearer is in their most famous subsidiaries; the manly and sweaty Hanshin Tigers baseball team versus the trying-to-be-manly-but-not-succeeding and definitely not showing any sweat Takarazuka Revue, the all-female song-and-dance theatre.

Finally, just as a bit of trivia, the name 阪神, hanshin, is just an abbreviation of the kanji for Osaka and Kobe, whilst 阪急, hankyu, is a contraction of Osaka Express.
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NTV did a survey on a number of hot topics in the news right now – a lot of questions, but not much detail, so the exact meaning of some of the answers is up for debate. They carries out the survey from the 14th to 16th of this month, asking 1000 people but only getting 479 sets of replies, so it’s a bit of a small sample.

Q11: The Food Safety Commission presented a report that USA beef imports were basically safe, and would want to see imports restarted. Do you support resuming USA beef imports?

Support	43.0%
Don’t support	49.3%
Don’t know, no answer	7.7%

Q12: Rakuten has been buying TBS shares, and has proposed management integration. What do you think about TBS and Rakuten’s management integration?

By combining broadcast and (internet-based) transmission, I have expectations of new growth	20.5%
TBS’s side says it’s sudden, but I want to see change in the future	28.4%
I worry whether public (free-to-air?) broadcast will continue	28.8%
Others	4.6%
Don’t know, no answer	17.8%

Q13: Yoshiaki Murakami, against the wishes of the Hanshin Railways management ranks, in order to raise the company valuation, has proposed to float the subsiduary Hanshin Tigers baseball team on the stock market. Do you support this proposal?

Support	21.7%
Oppose	55.3%
Don’t know, no answer	23.0%

This is a question that frurstrates me a bit – I know the majority seem opposed to the idea, but why? Is there a general opposition to the idea of floating sports teams on the stock market, or is there opposition to Murakami personally, or is it just reluctance in the face of rapid change?

Q14: Tatsunori Hara has been appointed the new manager of the Giants baseball team. Do you think baseball will become interesting next year?

I think it will become interesting	49.7%
I don’t think it will become interesting	34.2%
Don’t know, no answer	16.1%

There seems an implication in this question that this year’s weak Giants automatically made the season dull. Although they are the top team in terms of support in Japan, the question seems loaded to me.

Q15: Do you think the Japanese economy will continue to improve?

I think so	36.5%
I don’t think so	55.7%
Don’t know, no answer	7.7%

Finished! A bit of a mixed bag there, but interesting opinions on quite a few of the burning issues. Thanks for reading all the way through.

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Read more on: baseball,beef,economy,merger,ntv