あけましておめでとうございます！ Here’s to another year of surveys from the interesting, weird, wonderful but sometimes downright boring world of Japanese surveys. Let’s kick off the New Year (I really am writintranslating this at about 1 am on New Year’s Day) with goo Rankings looking at what people didn’t quite manage to do last year but will try again to do this year.
Demographics
Over the 21st and 22nd of November 2007 1,101 members of the goo Research monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.7% of the sample was female, 6.2% in their teens, 15.4% in their twenties, 30.2% in their thirties, 27.1% in their forties, 11.0% in their fifties, and 10.3% aged sixty or older.
I’ve managed to find demographics for these ranking surveys! Between the 21st and 22nd of November 2007 1,101 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 49.3% were male, 6.2% in their teens, 15.4% in their twenties, 30.2% in their thirties, 27.1% in their forties, 11.0% in their fifties, and 10.3% aged sixty or older.
Of course, the other survey I’d love to see is what people thought their spouses had spent far too much cash on this year! Read the rest of this entry »
We’ve looked before in detail at handsomeness, but here is a slightly different take from goo Ranking; the top twenty ways Japanese fathers can retain that certain air of attractiveness, not only from their wives’ and children’s perspectives, but also from the point of view of female (and male too) colleagues and other associates. The fieldwork for the survey was conducted over the 24th and 25th of October 2007 amongst the members of the goo Research online monitor panel.
The subject for this one was a little difficult to translate; perhaps if there was a female version (and if there is one, I will definitely translate!) I could have used the expression “Yummy Mummy”, but here I was at a bit of a loss to come up with a suitable term. The Japanese expression was 父親でもモテる人, oyaji demo moteru hito. Read the rest of this entry »
With the 忘年会, bounenkai, end-of-year party season upon us and many of us perhaps having headed to our first one tonight flush with our winter bonuses, let’s take a quick look with goo Ranking at what male actions make women run a mile at drinking parties. The fieldwork for the survey was conducted over the 24th and 25th of October 2007 amongst female members of the goo Research monitor group. Note that the vast majority of activities here would result in the guy being slapped with a sexual harrassment suit in the West, and probably also in Japan, although the law is not as frequently invoked here.
Number 8 is perhaps a bit strange and culturally specific, and although thankfully I’ve not witnessed it myself, apparently after a quantity of alcohol Japanese men sometimes do remove their shirts or more. May these be the only undies you whip off for a young lady in the pub!
I’m having trouble interpreting the results of this rather interesting survey from goo Ranking on to people in which occupation would you most like to say thanks to and hand them an energy drink. The survey was conducted over the 24th and 25th of October 2007, so it was well after Shinzo Abe disappeared from his job of running the country, so it cannot be a sympathy vote for him. However, is it thanks for the present incumbent, Yasuo Fukuda, who at age 71 should be tending his garden rather than trying to run the country, or is it just a general feeling that the top politicians need all the support they can get? Read the rest of this entry »
This week’s Silly Sunday is on silly rules and customs in the office, another ranking survey from goo Ranking. The fieldwork was conducted over the 24th and 25th of October 2007, but no demographic information was given, nor was there a breakdown by sex, sadly.
At my workplace, I wish they’d quit doing 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 11, 12, 15, and 27.
For those of you who haven’t worked in Japan, perhaps a few of these options need to be explained. Number 6 and number 9 usually feature together (we actually have lunchtime meetings at my workplace); everyone gathers together, one person (rotated every day) reads the company precepts, then everyone repeats after him or her. Next, the person whose turn it is tells a story perhaps related to work, perhaps not. Other companies may also have pep talks from the boss. Actually, I do think that morning meetings are to some degree useful; ours are relatively painless, barring the company motto reading, of course, and the singing of the company song, which thankfully is not compulsory!
Number 12 is interesting – every Friday after lunch we have to vacuum the office and empty the rubbish bins. I did once ask why we did that but all I got in reply was a blank state wondering why I would question such a thing. Indeed, we even had a suggestion from someone as part of our company-wide stinginess initiative that we should also clean the corridors to save paying cleaners’ wages, an idea demonstrating blissful unawareness of the hourly rate of a cleaner versus that of an engineer.
Oh, and you don’t want to get me started on the complexity of my employer’s internal systems… Read the rest of this entry »
I’m already seeing a trickle of 2007 wrap-up surveys, so here is a good Silly Sunday one from goo Ranking on what trendy items from 2007 did people end up buying on impulse. The fieldwork for this survey was carried out on the 24th and 25th of October 2007.
Note that some items are linked to shops, so please feel free to make impulse purchases yourself! Read the rest of this entry »
I just spotted this quickie survey today and it suited my mood, so following up on a survey a few weeks ago on bad habits of spouses, here’s a look at bad habits in the office, courtesy of goo Ranking. The fieldwork for this survey was conducted between the 25th and 27th of September 2007.
My top three pet hates would be sniffing and slurping (both acceptable Japanese habits) followed by just too much chat, but since most of them are going to be in the office for 12 hours per day or so, idle chit-chat shouted across the desks helps pass the time, but still it GETS ME VERY IRRITATED!
A purely hypothetical situation, of course, but if the rest of your colleagues are sitting and standing around talking in loud voices and laughing, is writing blog posts no worse than taking part in the conversation yourself?
By the way, does anyone know about any experiments with cubicles or even private offices to see how they affect Japanese productivity? However, without changing the underlying culture, I can only see separate spaces being counterproductive. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s Sunday, so it must be Silly! This week’s oddity is from the masters of silly, goo Ranking, with a look at closet stinginess in men and women. The demographics for the survey are as vague as ever; all we know is that the data was collected between the 25th and 27th of September 2007.
If you want to be stingy in Japan yourself, may I heartily recommend Nihon Hacks as a great place to find money-saving tips.
In Japanese the word 節約, setsuyaku, means to economise, to save money, and has mostly good connotations. However, for this survey the word used was ケチ, kechi, which is a mostly negative term usually translated as stingy or penny-pinching.
Note that I would classify some of the actions as canny rather than stingy. Canny is using discount coupons, stingy is refusing to go near a shop unless you have said coupons. Oh, and if you find change in a vending machine, legally you must hand it in to the police.
For me personally, in the guy list I do just 4, 5, 7 and 15. My meanness is usually restricted to just not spending if at all possible! Read the rest of this entry »
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