世論 What Japan Thinks

This interesting recent report from Nippon Research Council, conducted in conjunction with Gallop Korea, looked into the degree of interest in environmental issues in South Korea and Japan.

Demographics

For Japan, between the 7th and 19th of November 2007 1,200 people were selected at random, weighted by region, from a database of households, and were interviewed both face to face and had questionnaires left to fill in. 50.4% of the sample were female, and the ages were distributed between 15 and 79 years old. For South Korea, between the 12th and 26th of June 2008 1,510 people were selected at random, weighted by region, sex and age, and were interviewed face to face. 50.6% of the sample were female, and the ages of those sampled were 19 or older.

I wish I knew more about South Korea to know how best to interpret the results. For instance, in Q2 only 5% of Koreans recycling their bathwater for use by their washing machines, but is this due to showering being more popular in Korea? Similarly, in Q1SQ Koreans are much more aware of fresh water pollution. Why?
Read the rest of this entry »

Let’s look again at one of the more popular themes for surveys, health awareness and special metabo examinations. This time it is Nippon Research Council looking at the topic.

Demographics

Between the 4th and 16th of June 2008 1,200 citizens between 15 and 79 years of age were randomly selected from all over the country, weighted based on data from the 2005 national census. The questionnaires were taken by a combination of face-to-face interviews and self-completed questionnaires. There is no information about how refusals to take part or other failures to collect data were dealt with. 50.4% of the sample were female, 6.2% in their teens, 15.1% in their twenties, 17.9% in their thirties, 15.3% in their forties, 18.3% in their fifties, 13.2% in their sixties, and 11.3% in their seventies.

Following on from recent western press coverage on the topic, I was wondering if metabo, the Japanese abbreviation for the English metabolic syndrome might get re-imported back into English. I can think only of anime as a precedent, but in English anime usually only refers to Japanese animation, not all kinds.

Perhaps related, one in four British fatties refuse to admit it.
Read the rest of this entry »

First, a quick apology for no post yesterday, but I was in transit and away from a free internet connection, and on top of that the site seemed to have crashed… Hopefully I can post to my usual schedule for the rest of the week.

Since I didn’t have a decent internet connection, this is a survey from a couple of weeks ago conducted by the Nippon Research Council into olympic sponsorship and olympic viewing intentions.

Demographics

Between the 30th of May and the 4th of June 2008 1,200 members of the NRC monitor panel resident in the Tokyo city area (Tokyo city, Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa) and the Keihanshin area of Kansai (Kyoto city, Osaka city and Hyogo) completed a private internet-based questionnaire. Sex and age breakdown was not noted.

Note that Panasonic and National are both brands of Matsushita Electric Industrial, but at the AGM of shareholders on Friday the 20th of June 2008 the board got a motion officially approved to change the company name to Panasonic and to kill off the National brand (used mostly for domestic appliances and other white goods), unifying everything worldwide under the Panasonic banner.

It’s all a bit depressing that the two best-known sponsors are suppliers of highly-sugared empty calories and fat-laden burgers, hardly the image of the ultimate in human physical achievement.
Read the rest of this entry »