世論 What Japan Thinks

Having looked earlier in the week at how people use their PCs in the morning, this time we look with RealWorld RealResearch and japan.internet.com at web site viewing habits at home.

Demographics

Over the 27th and 28th of October 2009 1,012 members of the RealWorld RealResearch monitor group successfully completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 64.0% of the sample were male, 6.0% in their teens, 9.5% in their twenties, 10.3% in their thirties, 40.9% in their forties, 18.5% in their fifties, and 14.8% aged sixty or older. That does seem a bit of curiously top-heavy demographic.

When I start up my PC the first thing I do is launch my mail clients (yes, I run two clients to keep my blogging world separate from my family) and my browser, hit the mail check buttons then minimise the mail clients, so end up viewing the browser first, which starts up with the Opera speed dial page, technically, I suppose, a blank page.

I don’t bookmark many sites, but my wife has hundreds of the things which slow down Internet Explorer something rotten, taking over 10 seconds to open a page. I should teach her about sub-folders for bookmarks, but I really haven’t got the energy.
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Recently japan.internet.com published the results of a survey conducted by RealWorld RealResearch into Q&A site usage, a field which has seen two moderate-sized players, one of them being Microsoft, shut down their services this year.

Demographics

Over the 1st and 2nd of September 2009 1,013 members of the RealWorld RealResearch monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 61.2% of the sample were male, 8.1% in their teens, 8.6% in their twenties, 11.1% in their thirties, 41.1% in their forties, 19.1% in their fifties, and 12.1% aged sixty or older.

I’ve used an English-language Q&A site, and although I did find that the majority of answers were reasonably correct, with the public voting it was a bit too easy for wrong but playing to the crowd answers to do better than an unpopular but more correct opinion. I’ve since stopped visiting after realising how much time I was wasting, as they are quite addictive places!

The article also mentions that on the 9th of September 2009 Yahoo! Chiebukuro had surpassed 30 million questions and 80 million answers!
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2ch is an enormous (the largest in the world, in fact) bulletin board system with an interface that looks as it hasn’t changed since dial-up BBSes were all the rage. This survey from RealWorld RealResearch and reported on by japan.internet.com looked at 2ch, with a particular focus on tools for reading 2ch a bit more efficiently.

Demographics

Over the 22nd and 23rd of July 2009 1,014 members of the RealWorld RealResearch monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 56.1% of the sample were male, 8.5% in their teens, 7.7% in their twenties, 11.4% in their thirties, 37.5% in their forties, 19.5% in their fifties, and 15.4% aged sixty or older.

Amongst the English-speaking foreigner community, it is perhaps the more seedy and rabidly right-wing corners of 2ch that are best-known, although whenever someone mentions this there’s usually someone else who pops up to tell us of the wonders of the other portions of the site. I occassionally try to find these parts, but I’m afraid the ugliness of the site defeats me every time!
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Skype, a mostly free internet telephony application, is one of these internet utilities that I feel not enough people know about, so I’m glad to have this opportunity to translate a survey from RealWorld RealResearch and reported on by japan.internet.com looking at Skype, of course.

Demographics

Over the 8th and 9th of July 2009 1,016 members of the RealWorld RealResearch monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 63.5% of the sample were male, 8.1% in their teens, 17.5% in their twenties, 12.8% in their thirties, 28.8% in their forties, 19.5% in their fifties, and 13.3% aged sixty or older.

One handy feature for people in Japan is that US and UK freephone numbers can be called for free, a feature I’ve made use of a few times.

I’d have liked to have seen in Q2 a breakdown between free and paid usage of voice calling in Skype, but perhaps if one pays for the full survey results one could see a more detailed answer.

Note that outside of smartphones none (as far as I am aware) of the Japanese-manufactured mobile phones support Skype.
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One of the top two complaints I hear from other foreigners in Japan is the rather high 1,800 yen (US$19 or UK¤12 or so) per seat, but this survey from RealWorld RealResearch and reported on by japan.internet.com into movies found few taking advantage of discounts.

Demographics

Over the 25th and 26th of June 2009 1,017 members of the RealWorld RealResearch (I never tire of typing the company’s name!) monitor group completed a private online questionnaire. 57.9% of the sample were male, 11.5% in their teens, 12.9% in their twenties, 26.5% in their thirties, 15.9% in their forties, 12.3% in their fifties, and 20.8% aged sixty or above.

When I say most people pay full price, the full price is not necessarily 1,800 yen. The first of the month is usually 1,000 yen, one day a week is Ladies’ Day with 1,000 yen for females, and late shows (from 9 pm usually) are often discounted by 300 or 500 yen. However, I usually buy advance tickets; these are normally 1,300 yen, and if you buy from the cinema or convenience stores they often come with a free gift. The third party ticket shops mentioned below usually stock unsold advance tickets or cheap daytime passes, but I find them not worth the bother.

If you go to Toho group cinemas frequently, I also strongly recommend the Toho Cine Mileage card; their credit card version is free, and for every six movies you see you get one free!
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A recent survey conducted by RealWorld RealResearch (I love that name!) and reported on by japan.internet.com into piracy revealed some very curious results on what pirate booty people parted with money for.

Demographics

Over the 12th and 13th of May 2009 1,015 members of the RealWorld RealResearch monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 56.7% of the sample were male, 3.8% in their teens, 10.7% in their twenties, 21.5% in their thirties, 16.9% in their forties, 22.3% in their fifties, and 24.7% aged sixty or older. (That’s a bit of an unusual age profile!)

In case you’re wondering, the Japanese for pirate and piracy is, as in English, also the term for sea-based robbers.

Many years ago back in Scotland I used very regularly buy pirate stuff at the Barras in Glasgow, back when the internet meant Prestel and a 12/75 modem, so hopping on my bike for a thrash up to Glasgow at the weekends for a visit to the friendly dealers was always a pleasant way to pass the time.
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It’s been a while since I’ve looked at the console market in Japan, so I’m glad to have the chance to present the rather surprising results of a survey conducted by RealWorld RealResearch and reported on by japan.internet.com into home gaming consoles, a survey explicitly excluding portable devices.

Demographics

Over the 4th and 5th of March 2009 1,040 members of the RealWorld RealResearch monitor pool completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 54.9% of the sample were male, 5.1% in their teens, 17.9% in their twenties, 22.3% in their thirties, 22.7% in their forties, 16.3% in their fifties, and 15.7% aged sixty or older.

I keep saying “I have to get a Wii!” every time I cover consoles, yet I never get round to actually parting with the cash, so without any further ado:

I have to get a Wii!

It feels a bit odd to refer to the Wii, Playstation 3 and Xbox360 as “next generation” even after about two years on the market, but that’s what the survey uses so I’ll use it too.
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Widgets are now even finding their way onto mobile phones (now that would be an interesting survey!), but this survey from RealWorld RealResearch and reported on by japan.internet.com looked at widgets (or gadgets) on computer desktops.

Demographics

Over the 21st and 22nd of January 2009 1,020 members of the RealResearch monitor pool completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 51.6% of the sample were male, 7.3% in their teens, 27.4% in their twenties, 30.9% in their thirties, 25.4% in their forties, 7.5% in their fifties, and 1.6% aged sixty or older.

I looked a while ago at widgets according to MyVoice, which might be a useful cross-reference for this survey.

I don’t use widgets as they clutter up the desktop; I keep all my add-ons under control in toolbars. Perhaps if I invested in a wide-screen monitor I could afford to reserve some space, but then again I cannot think of any widgets I actually want to use! However, at work around half my colleagues run a desktop calendar widget, however as far as I can determine it doesn’t feature (or nobody uses) any schedule reminder functions.

In Q2, you’ll note it interesting that an RSS reading widget did not appear explicitly on the list. Although RSS is not that popular in Japan, I would have thought it merited its own category rather than, perhaps, being lumped into the “site or service latest information” category. I’d also have thought music players would be more popular.
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In Japan too the New Year brings sales, so this survey from the curiously-named RealWorld RealResearch and reported on by japan.internet.com looked at New Year digital home electrics purchases.

Demographics

On the 4th of January 2009 1,201 members of the RealWorld RealResearch monitor panel completed presumably a private internet-based questionnaire. 59.1% of the sample were male, 8.7% in their teens, 7.4% in their twenties, 20.8% in their thirties, 12.8% in their forties, 27.6% in their fifties, and 22.6% aged sixty or older. (That’s a rather unusual age distribution!)

I didn’t buy any digital electronics, although I did get a room humidifier and some blank DVDs. Most of the items I need to buy are very digital on the inside but boring old white goods on the outside, such as a rice cooker as our current one’s non-stick is coming unstuck, and no doubt very soon I’ll also need a new washing machine as it’s on its last legs.
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A new-to-me research company called realworld realresearch, which from a quick look at their site seems to be more in the business of being a shopping and stuff portal than a research agency, recently performed a survey into local authorities and IT, as reported by japan.internet.com.

Demographics

On the 13th of October 2008 1,199 people selected by some undescribed means completed a presumably online questionnaire. 52.0% of the sample were female, 15.0% were in their twenties, 16.0% in their thirties, 18.0% in their forties, 21.0% in their fifties, and 30.0% in their sixties. Given the round percentages, don’t ask why they couldn’t find one more person to round the sample up to 1,200! It’s also a curiously top-heavy sample, with the majority of the sample being over fifty.

I’m surprised that (as far as I know) no local authority has tried moving more services online, as one still needs to get a paper print-out of one’s residency certificate for such things as mortgages and other large loans, or at least why there cannot be vending machines that will spew out the documents 24-7 instead of requiring people to attend during working hours.

Here’s my town’s application form download service.
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