世論 What Japan Thinks

The winners of the 2010 New Year Postcard lottery for the Year of the Tiger have been announced, and the winning numbers and prizes are as follows. The number to check is the six digit number at the bottom right of the card. Note that some cards do not actually have numbers, which means they are not eligible…

First prize: 975424

Choose any one from a 32 inch Sharp Aquos LCD televison, a JTB holiday, either three nights in Hawaii or Hong Kong, 2 nights in Korea, or one night in one of 58 domestic hot springs resorts, Toshiba dynabook EX notebook plus Casio EXILIM EX-Z450GD digital camera plus Canon PIXUS MP560 printer, Canon iVIS HF21 video camera, or 200,000 yen’s worth of office furniture from an ASKUL catalogue.

Second prize: 630838, 446722, or 259668

Choose any one from a Nintendo Wii plus Wii Sports Resort, Canon XY DIGITAL 220 IS digital camera, Toshia portable DVD player SD-P73DTW, Sharp Plamsa Cluster air purifier KC-Y45-W, or 30 kilogrammes of rice.

Third prize: last four digits 0977

Choose any one food item from 38 different ones on offer, from a tea blend for the Imperial Hotel to canned crab soup.

Fourth prize: last two digits 52 or 00

Otoshidama stamp set - a fifty yen and an eighty yen stamp, pictured above.

C Gumi Special prize: 27520

50,000 yen’s worth of JTB holiday vouchers. The “C Gumi” is apparently something to do with carbon offest New Year Postcards.

If you have matched any of these, go to your nearest post office before the 26th of July 2010 and either collect the stamps while you wait, or apply for any of the bigger prizes. The full prize line-up can be seen here. I’ve just checked mine and I’ve won two sheets of the stamps above.

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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The numbers were announced a few days ago, but I don’t know if anyone’s got round to posting them yet in English, so here goes:

The winners of the 2009 New Year Postcard lottery for the Year of the Ox have been announced, and the winning numbers and prizes are as follows. The number to check is the six digit number at the bottom right of the card. Note that some cards do not actually have numbers…

First prize: 345898

Choose any one from a 32 inch Hi-Vision Sharp AQUOS LCD television with Blu-ray recorder, a Panasonic massage chair, a JTB one-night stay voucher at a high-class inn or hotel, a Toshiba pressure cooker rice cooker and high-quality rice, a Canon digital SLR EOS Digital with PIXUS printer and tripod, or a selection of office furniture from Askul. There are 4,155 winning cards.

Second prize: 663829, 908796, or 028962

Choose any one from a Nintendo Wii plus Wii Fit, Omron Karada Scan body monitoring scales with PC link, Casio EX-word electronic dictionary, Canon IXY Digital compact camera, JTB day trip to a hot springs plus meal, or DeLonghi Coffee and Espresso Maker. There are 12,465 winning cards.

Third prize: last four digits 5070

Choose any one from Asakua Nakamuraya rice crackers, Ginza West dry cake, Imperial Hotel baked cake set, Asakusa La Pomme fruit crystal jelly, Dalloyau Four-Secs Demi-Secs cakes, Nakata Foods Kii pickled plums, Asakusa Imahan boiled beef selection, Nissui shark fin and crab canned soup, Hotel New Otani soup set, Shizuoka Green Tea Centre 100 tea bag set, Twinning quality tea bag collection, or Brooke’s 105 coffee filter set. There are 415,420 winning cards.

Fourth prize: last two digits 94 or 46

Otoshidama stamp set - a fifty yen and an eighty yen stamp, pictured above. There are 83,083,880 winning cards.

C Gumi Special prize: 882347 or 223109

Choose any one from Panasonic kitchen rubbish compactor, Bridgestone folding bicycle, or Coleman’s camping set. The “C Gumi” is apparently something to do with carbon offest New Year Postcards.

If you have matched any of these, go to your nearest post office before the 27th of July 2009 and either collect the stamps while you wait, or apply for any of the bigger prizes. The full prize line-up can be seen here. I haven’t checked my cards yet, but how did you get on?

But wait…

As a separate promotion, Megane Ichiba is offering their own lottery for money off a pair of specs. Top prize is for 018900, 5 yen for a pair of glasses up to the value of 18,900 yen. The last five digits of 39189 gives you 10,000 yen off, the last four digits of 0801 gives you 5,000 yen off, last two digits of 33 or 77 gives you 1,500 yen off, and a last digit of 2, 5, 6, or 8 gives you 1,000 yen off! Only one card per pair of glasses, though, may be used.

Hi everyone, my apologies for a second time for the interruption to What Japan Thinks, thanks to a sequence of events that I’ll blog about in detail later.

In the meantime, all comments seem to have evaporated into the ether. I will try tonight to reinstate them, but they may not return…

Hopefully WJT will be self-destruct free for 2009!

Happy New Year and あけましておめでとうございます for the Year of the Ox.

PS: Let me know if you find anything funny, and if one or two of you could try a comment on this thread I would be most grateful!

The winners of the 2008 New Year Postcard lottery for the Year of the Rat have been announced, and the winning numbers and prizes are as follows. The number to check is the six digit number at the bottom right of the card. Note that some cards do not actually have numbers…

First prize: 574578

Choose any one from a 37 inch Sharp AQUOS LCD television, a Sharp water oven, a MacBook plus iPod classic, or a foreign holiday from HIS.

Second prize: 957358, 769466, or 397940

Choose any one from an iPod nano, a Nintendo Wii, a Canon IXY DIGITAL 10 camera, a Sanyo air filter, or a Le Creuset cast iron pan.

Third prize: last four digits 9660

Choose any one from a pasta sauce set, filter coffee, Marrons Glaces (Crystallized Chestnuts), some Asakusa boiled beef, a Queen Alice beef stew set, Dalloyau French sweets, some Imperial Hotel canned soup, Yoku Moku sweets, Nadaman restaurant gift set, or Orbis Collagen beauty drink.

Fourth prize: last two digits 37 or 64

Otoshidama stamp set - a fifty yen and an eighty yen stamp, pictured above.

C Gumi Special prize: 812751 or 561101

Choose any one from cardboard furniture set, commuter bicycle set, or a garden decoration set. The “C Gumi” is apparently something to do with carbon offest New Year Postcards.

New Year Greeting Original Prize: 935473, 588104, 520056 or 700871

New Year Greeting Original Ninetendo DS Lite.

If you have matched any of these, go to your nearest post office before the 28th of July 2008 and either collect the stamps while you wait, or apply for any of the bigger prizes. The full prize line-up can be seen here. I haven’t checked my cards yet, but how did you get on?

With the New Year soon to be upon us, japan.internet.com reported on a survey conducted by JR Tokai Express Research Inc into year end and new year holidays.

Demographics

On the 5th of December 2007 331 members of the JR Tokai Express Research monitor panel employed in the public or private sector successfully completed an online questionnaire. 81.3% of the sample was male, 8.2% in their twenties, 37.2% in their thirties, 40.2% in their forties, 11.8% in their fifties, and 2.7% in their sixties.

My plans are sleeping, some housework, visiting the parents-in-law, and going to the cinema; we have tickets for Cha-cha. I think we also have a musical fitted into the schedule somewhere that might or might not be Rent. I have 10 days continuous holidays, from Friday the28th to Sunday the 6th inclusive.
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It’s coming up to the new year, so naturally there are a number of New Year Postcard surveys coming out. This time it is japan.internet.com reporting on one by goo Research into nengajo, New Year Postcards - hey, wasn’t the last one also by goo Research?

Demographics

Over the 22nd and 23rd of November 2007 1,093 members of the goo Research online monitor panel successfully completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.9% were male, 16.3% in their teens, 18.0% in their twenties, 21.9% in their thirties, 16.1% in their forties, 15.7% in their fifties, and 12.0% aged sixty or older.

I ordered the first half of my New Year Cards last night, featuring Hello Kitty in a rat costume, of course. We bought from FujiFilm; if you are still to order, I’ve found an Amazon coupon for a discount on the basic price, free delivery and a 1,000 yen discount off your next order - we used a Cecile coupon, but it wasn’t as good value. Tonight we tried the second half using Kodak, but the web site is pretty useless and we found it impossible to check out and buy the cards!

Instead of the usual graph pictured at the top of the article I’ve got a picture of a mobile phone strap featuring a commemorative Year of the Rat Cat, Kitty chan herself. This can be ordered and delivered all around the world in time for the New Year from the internet’s finest vendor of… ack, you probably all know the sales pitch by heart by now; it’s just 420 yen from Strapya.

Finally, the kanji for the Year of Rat is 子, read as ko.
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With just a few days to go before the end of November, which means that for residents of Japan planning to send 年賀状, nengajou, New Year Cards for the Year of the Rat, this weekend is your last chance to get a discount for early orders. To see what the Japanese are planning to do this year, goo Research, in conjunction with the Yomiuri Shimbun, performed a survey on New Year Postcards. It may be instructive to look at last year’s survey on New Year Postcards to see how opinions have changed over the last year.

Demographics

Unfortunately little demographic information was reported, bar that the fieldwork was conducted towards the end of October, with 1,082 successful responses received.

For those of you in the USA, or in fact Japan, as they do ship internationally, wanting your own custom New Year cards (or Christmas cards, or any other occasion, may I recommend TinyPrints as a high-quality supplier of personalised stationery, with many card designs starting from just over a dollar per card. Note if you choose to order, enter the code WINTER07 for a 5% discount, expiring on the first of February 2008.

We’ll personally be ordering about 80 cards from 55 station this weekend, and even though the coming year is the Year of the Rat we’ll give Mickey Mouse a miss, instead getting a mix of Hello Kitty and Rilakkuma photo cards. Printing the address on the back of the cards will however be done ourselves at home. Although ordering cards seems expensive up front compared to home printing, once you budget for printer ink, losses due to paper jams, and other required user effort, it’s actually quite reasonable, and the print quality is considerably higher than a standard home ink jet.

Note that in Q1SQ1, the 8% who said they won’t print their New Year Postcards includes those buying pre-printed cards and writing addresses by hand, and those who handmake their own cards.
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NOTE: The results of the 2008 New Year Postcard lottery are now available.

If you haven’t thrown away all your New Year postcards from this year, dig them out and check the serial number on the bottom right of the cards.

If the six digits are 157788 or 457190, then you’ve won top prize, and can choose from a holiday in Hawai’i, a holiday within Japan, notebook personal computer, DVD recorder and home theatre kit, or a digital SLR camera.

If the last four digits are 5161, 7093, 7485, or 9614, then you’ve won second prize, a choice of local delicacies.

If the last two digits are either 64 or 79, you’ve won the third prize, two inoshishi (wild boar)-themed stamps, which can be picked up by presenting your winning postcards at any post office.

I seem to have won nothing.

The above phrase may often be heard throughout Western homes a couple of days into the New Year as everyone has had their fill of left-over turkey, but what about in Japan? goo Ranking decided to find out what people fancied eating when they got fed up with お節, osechi, the traditional Japanese New Year cuisine. As usual, there’s no demographic information, and the survey was unseasonably carried out at the end of November.

This site described the posh shop-bought osechi, but most often it is home-made, and in our case consists of miso soup with mizuna and mochi. I fortunately managed to break the monotony with a 10-pack of Mister Donuts (twice!), but I could fair go a pizza myself!
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