Recently I’ve been seeing more and more people watching One Seg television broadcasts (digital terrestrial television) on their cell phones, particularly in trains. Whether this apparent increase in popularity is due to more One Seg-ready phones being sold, or whether it is a function of people now feeling comfortable watching television on the train, I don’t really know. To learn more about what the average person thinks regarding this matter, MyVoice conducted a survey on this topic of mobile phone One Seg functions.
Demographics
Over the first five days of August 2007 12,404 members of the MyVoice online community successfully completed an online survey. 54% of the sample was female, 2% in their teens, 17% in their twenties, 39% in their thirties, 28% in their forties, and 14% in their fifties.
As mentioned in the introduction, I see more people watching their phones, so I am beginning to want to do the same myself, not because I find Japanese television that interesting most of the time, it’s just that I feel somewhat left out these days! My next phone upgrade isn’t due until perhaps next Spring, and if I can’t get a suitable handset under 10,000 yen I’ll just not bother!
Japan could do with more slow lifestyles and slow food, as the impression I get in my working life is that I myself barely get any time to breath, so I don’t know how my colleagues who are in the office far longer than I cope. To find out how the average person felt about their leisure or lack thereof, MyVoice performed a survey about lifestyles.
Demographics
Over the first five days of August 2007 12,308 members of the MyVoice online community successfully completed an online survey. 54% of the sample was female, 2% in their teens, 17% in their twenties, 39% in their thirties, 27% in their forties, and 15% in their fifties.
For the sake of this survey, Slow Life was explained as “even if it is inconvenient, live the natural life for yourself surrounded by nature”; Fast Life was “even if it takes money, live a luxurious and convenient life with all the city benefits in a gadget-rich environment”.
I’d love to see the breakdown of the answers in Q2 by type of employment. I feel I have little room to spare for me alone (although we have enough time as a couple) but I don’t know how my colleagues feel. I suspect (or worry) that they are resigned to week-days being written off, and the image of Japanese salarymen is that at weekends they more often than not do their own thing golfing, fishing, gambling or whatever. Read the rest of this entry »
Ahh, coffee! I really love a good cup of coffee, but if I drink more than one cup a day the caffeine affects my sleep patterns. I can get away with many cups of tea, though; it’s just coffee’s (and dark chocolate’s, and gyokuro green tea’s) caffeine that does me in. Anyway, MyVoice took a look at the role of coffee in everyday life to see what the average Japanese thinks.
Demographics
Over the first five days of August 2007 12,126 members of the MyVoice online community successfully completed an online survey. 54% of the sample was female, 2% in their teens, 17% in their twenties, 39% in their thirties, 28% in their forties, and 14% in their fifties.
I’ve looked at coffee consumption before, but hopefully this survey sheds some new light on the subject. Note that Q1 describes the most often drunk type, so perhaps those who drink canned coffee on the way to work, for instance, also down instant or filter coffee at the office, thus resulting in the poor showing for canned coffee in the results?
There’s a new advertisement out for Wonda Morning Shot canned coffee out now, so I tried my hand at uploading it to YouTube, so hopefully this works for you all. It features the famous director Akira Kurosawa, mounted samurai hordes, and a rush-hour train.
Second Life from Linden Labs, a virtual world that is gaining a lot of support from major companies in Japan but is still to actually officially launch in the country has been getting a lot of press coverage recently. To find out how it was affecting the average consumer, MyVoice performed a survey about using Second Life.
Demographics
Over the first five days of August 2007 12,386 members of the MyVoice online community successfully completed an online survey. 54% of the sample was female, 2% in their teens, 18% in their twenties, 38% in their thirties, 28% in their forties, and 14% in their fifties.
I’m not sure what the correct verb to use for being in Second Life is. “Play” seems too trivial and “be” sounds pompous, so I’ll just stick with the neutral but dull “use”, which is actually the direct translation of the Japanese verb used by MyVoice.
I’m sure one could draw conclusions from Q2, where the image of being unable to communicate with foreigners was stronger than that of being able to communicate with them! Read the rest of this entry »
Between the 1st and 5th of July 2007 14,119 members of the MyVoice internet community answered a private internet-based questionnaire. 57% of the sample was female, 2% in their teens, 18% in their twenties, 39% in their thirties, 27% in their forties, and 14% in their fifties.
The top-rated foodstuff, Calorie Mate, is also just about the most heavily advertised, notable for the use of Kiefer Sutherland (Jack Bauer) in “24″-like situations.
I hate my mobile phone answering service! I’ve set mine up in English, which is useful, but after I play back the message, there is a prompt saying “Press 2 to save the message.” I do that but it always gets deleted! Is the save only a session save, not a save forever? Is this just DoCoMo’s easy way of avoiding users storing too many voice mail messages? In addition, I find the handset’s built in service is worse than useless. To discover what the average Japanese person thinks, MyVoice surveyed its internet community to find out what they thought about mobile phone answering services.
Demographics
Between the 1st and 5th of July 2007 13,191 members of the MyVoice internet community answered a private internet-based questionnaire. 54% of the sample was female, 2% in their teens, 18% in their twenties, 39% in their thirties, 27% in their forties, and 14% in their fifties.
Most people seem to have some degree of satisfaction with their network-based voice mail, but perhaps this is just people thinking it’s better than just the handset voice mail? Then again, most people are also satisified with the built-in voice mail. Note that DoCoMo charge 300 yen per month for the use of the network answering machine, and the other carriers have similar charges.
I once met someone who got chucked out of a department store for eating whole platefoods of the sample food, but if you play by the rules in Japanese food courts you can get to try a decent amount of free food. To see what the average Japanese person gets up to, MyVoice recently surveyed its online community to see what they thought about free samples.
Demographics
Over the first five days of July 2007 12,654 members of the MyVoice internet community completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 54% of the sample was male, 2% in their teens, 18% in their twenties, 39% in their thirties, 27% in their forties, and 14% aged fifty or older.
My favourite free sample is always food, and I find Hanshin department store in Umeda, Osaka a good place to try before I have no intention of buying. Other than that, I don’t really collect much else, although wifey saves up free cosmetic samples for use on holidays, and she quite often ends up buying the food we sample.
Note that paper tissues are exempt from this survey. Oh, and talking of free samples, all of you in Japan did try to get a free cream puff, I hope! The offer is still open, just in case you missed it the first time. Read the rest of this entry »
As I value my eardrums and my lungs, I’ve never ventured into the smoke-filled clamour of a pachinko parlour, although I did once enter a Kyotei boat racing stadium due to getting off the train to Miyajima in Hiroshima one stop early! Recently, MyVoice looked in detail at this, gambling in Japan.
Demographics
Over the first five days of July 2007 13,236 members of the MyVoice internet community completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 54% of the sample was male, 2% in their teens, 18% in their twenties, 40% in their thirties, 27% in their forties, and 13% aged fifty or older.
With everyone’s favourite politician, the governer of Tokyo, Shintaro Ishihara, talking about bringing casinos to Japan it is interesting to see in Q6 that people support this by about two to one, although half the population is still to decide. Personally, if done right I would bascially support the moves, but I fear the chances of it being anything other than a haven for dodgy Yakuza operations are rather slim.
Note that as pachinko and gambling in general seems to have a lower class image but the MyVoice community seems to have a slight bias towards the higher end of the class scale, I would suspect that the figures are if anything an underestimation. Earlier this year I reported on another survey on gambling, this time by Central Research Services. Read the rest of this entry »
With the rainy season over for all of Japan and the worst of the stifling humidity almost past, let’s take a look with MyVoice at a recent survey on what people think about household damp.
Demographics
Over the first five days of July 2007 13,139 members of the MyVoice internet community completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 54% of the sample was male, 2% in their teens, 18% in their twenties, 39% in their thirties, 27% in their forties, and 14% aged fifty or older.
Luckily, we have a fancy bathroom that includes a drying feature, but my main concern about dampness is a stickiness on the veneer flooring. The moisture removing feature of our air conditioners keep the air clear, but the unpleasant feeling underfoot is much more difficult, if not impossible, to get rid of.
Our last flat, however, was a real moisture magnet, and especially in the bedroom during the winter moisture would accumulate really easily, and no amount of water-repelling spray or other devices could get around that problem. Read the rest of this entry »
Ahh, stress in Japan, I could write a book on it, but look, I’ve just got far too many things on my plate piling up already and I just can’t take my attention away from them and will you stop asking me to write more on it as I am planning on getting round to it but it’s rather difficult finding the time and I love my family more than my blogging; is that a crime? as you seem to be suggesting but then MyVoice published the results of a survey on stress.
Demographics
Over the first five days of July 2007 13,030 members of the MyVoice internet community completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 54% of the sample was male, 2% in their teens, 18% in their twenties, 39% in their thirties, 27% in their forties, and 14% aged fifty or older.
One cold shower and two cold beers later: stress, and its darker cousin depression, is a serious problem in Japan, I feel, but not one that is very well understood. For example, a health-related magazine I read had a wee depression comic strip: guy transfers to a new devision as a team leader, gets under pressure and tries to live up to unreasonable expectations, working all hours, getting irritated and other classic symptoms. He goes to to talk to his old boss (over reasonable quantities of sake, of course) who tells him to not be so diligent and learn to delegate. And they all lived happily ever after. Ooh, and don’t get me started on reading advice from someone who should know better that ciggies and booze can relieve some stress.
I also wonder how much stress affects men in the trouser department, an unasked question below, as I suspect working on stress reduction (and fatigue reduction too) by for instance rationalising working hours could have a noticeable positive effect on the birth rate. Of course, I realise that changing the current working system is effectively impossible, but we have to have our dreams. Read the rest of this entry »
Recently I’ve been seeing more and more people watching One Seg television broadcasts (digital terrestrial television) on their cell phones, particularly in trains. Whether this apparent increase in popularity is due to more One Seg-ready phones being sold, or whether it is a function of people now feeling comfortable watching television on the train, I don’t really know. To learn more about what the average person thinks regarding this matter, MyVoice conducted a survey on this topic of mobile phone One Seg functions.
Japan could do with more slow lifestyles and slow food, as the impression I get in my working life is that I myself barely get any time to breath, so I don’t know how my colleagues who are in the office far longer than I cope. To find out how the average person felt about their leisure or lack thereof, MyVoice performed a survey about 
Second Life from Linden Labs, a virtual world that is gaining a lot of support from major companies in Japan but is still to actually officially launch in the country has been getting a lot of press coverage recently. To find out how it was affecting the average consumer, MyVoice performed a survey about 
I hate my mobile phone answering service! I’ve set mine up in English, which is useful, but after I play back the message, there is a prompt saying “Press 2 to save the message.” I do that but it always gets deleted! Is the save only a session save, not a save forever? Is this just DoCoMo’s easy way of avoiding users storing too many voice mail messages? In addition, I find the handset’s built in service is worse than useless. To discover what the average Japanese person thinks, MyVoice surveyed its internet community to find out what they thought about 
I once met someone who got chucked out of a department store for eating whole platefoods of the sample food, but if you play by the rules in Japanese food courts you can get to try a decent amount of free food. To see what the average Japanese person gets up to, MyVoice recently surveyed its online community to see what they thought about 
As I value my eardrums and my lungs, I’ve never ventured into the smoke-filled clamour of a pachinko parlour, although I did once enter a Kyotei boat racing stadium due to getting off the train to Miyajima in Hiroshima one stop early! Recently, MyVoice looked in detail at this, 
Ahh, stress in Japan, I could write a book on it, but look, I’ve just got far too many things on my plate piling up already and I just can’t take my attention away from them and will you stop asking me to write more on it as I am planning on getting round to it but it’s rather difficult finding the time and I love my family more than my blogging; is that a crime? as you seem to be suggesting but then MyVoice published the results of a survey on 
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