世論 What Japan Thinks

Here are some interesting figures from Point On Research, reported on by japan.internet.com, into the matter of the degree of dependence on mobile phones

Demographics

On the 13th of October 2009 800 mobile phone users completed a mobile phone-internet based questionnaire. The sample was exactly 50:50 male and female, 25.0% in their teens, 25.0% in their twenties, 25.0% in their thirties, and 25.0% in their forties.

One thing that’s not clear from the using it in the toilet bit is if it is one’s home toilet, a public toilet, or a toilet at work, as hiding in the toilets at the office to send furtive email is quite popular at my place of work, for instance.
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iShare definitely has some sort of toilet obsession, with this time taking a look at public toilet seat issues.

Demographics

Between the 8th and 13th of July 2009 568 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 57.4% of the sample were male, 35.7% in their twenties, 31.3% in their thirties, and 32.9% in their forties.

I don’t like using public toilets, but more from the point of view of not being being able to relax. I think I’ve only once used the paper sheet covers, but only just because I wanted to see what they actually were, rather than any worry about hygene. Wifey, on the other hand, prefers Western toilets and always carries seat cleaning sheets with her whenever she goes out.

Previous toilet-related surveys from iShare have included toilet noises, water-squirting toilets, and mobile phones in the toilet.
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If you’ve ever read any guide books to Japan you’ll no doubt have heard of the “Oto Hime”, Sound Princess, a device in toilets that plays a tune while you do the business. To find out how people use them, iShare conducted a survey into toilet noises.

Demographics

Betwen the 16th and 21st of April 2009 395 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private mobile phone internet-based questionnaire. 52.7% of the sample were male, 35.7% in their twenties, 29.1% in their thirties, and 35.2% in their forties.

I once did visit a unisex toilet that had an Oto Hime device, but I was too embarassed to press the button.

I didn’t translate the extra question, but they did ask if people tried to save water and other resources, but even those who did flushed the toilet almost as often as those who didn’t. However, a more interesting comparison might have been to whether people are constipated - if you’re straining on the pan for five minutes other people are going to be more of a concern than if you’re in and out in twenty seconds.

I only get bothered when there’s someone with a bad case of the runs splattering away.

If you enjoyed the topic of this survey, you may also enjoy when iShare looked at bum-washing toilets and at public toilets.
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Having previously looked at bum-washing toilets, iShare recently shifted their gaze towards public toilets.

Demographics

Between the 7th and 10th of January 2009 412 members of the free email forwarding service CLUB BBQ completed a private online questionnaire. 55.1% of the sample were male, 13.3% in their twenties, 46.8% in their thirties, 32.3% in their forties, and 7.5% in their teens or aged fifty or older.

Note that there is a relatively low percentage of women looking for bum-washing toilets in Q3. Whether this is due to the average women’s toilet being of a higher standard than the men’s or if this is a reflection of women being less trusting of the hygene (see the previous survey) I don’t know!

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This is a matter that I have pondered about, so it’s interesting to see BlogCh addressing the issue of hot water bum-washing toilet seat usage.

Demographics

Between the 29th and 31st of July 2008 658 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed an internet-based private questionnaire. 51.2% of the sample were male, 13.2% in their twenties, 47.0% in their thirties, 28.6% in their forties, and 11.2% in their teens or fifty or older.

I’ve used the hot water spray twice; once on a toilet with a built-in drier, and once without. Both were rather unpleasant experiences, and the lingering feeling of dampness downstairs was quite disconcerting.

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This is a genuine survey that is not really quite silly enough for a Sunday, but since it’s a Sunday I can have more fun playing with the results, as can be seen in the graph above, generated from the results of a recent survey conducted by iShare into using mobiles in the loo.

Demographics

Between the 30th of May and the 2nd of June 2008 743 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a members-only internet-based questionnaire. 56.1% of the sample were male, 25.8% in their twenties, 35.0% in their thirties, and 39.2% in their forties. All of them were pre-screened as users of personal mobile phones.

I occassionally write email in the toilet cubicles at work, and judging from the rattlings of mobile phone straps, so do quite a few of my colleagues. I’ve never quite gone as far as sneaking off explicitly to email, though. I’ve once seen someone at a urinal talking on the telephone, which I thought was just a bit much.

If you want to celebrate your furtive phone use, or protect your phone against falling down the pan (or perhaps not), the people at Strapya do a lovely line in golden poo-shaped mascots and straps.
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Despite being beaten to the punch by Japan Probe regarding a survey published by Matsushita Electrical Works (the company behind the National brand) on toilet usage, I’ll publish regardless the full details of their recent survey.

Demographics

During June 2007 1,036 married couples aged between 30 and 59 living in either the Kanto (around Tokyo) or Kansai (around Osaka) regions completed an internet-based questionnaire.

Today’s new Japanese phrase is 座りション, suwari-shon, and abbreviation of suwari-shouben, which translates as sitting pee. The usual phrase, 立小便 or 立ション, tachi-shouben or tachi-shon refers more usually to standing outside and urinating in public places. Indeed, I see far too often in Japan signs like the one above requesting the public not to do their business around this point. The red torii gate in the sign is to dissuade people by suggesting it would be sacreligious to relieve oneself on such a Shinto symbol. These anti-wee-wee wee red gates can be found in many places in Japan; coincidentally, when I went to visit Hampton Court near London, the palace of Henry the Eighth, I saw that round the banqueting hall crosses were painted around the skirting board to stop revellers relieving themselves. So, in one aspect at least, one can say that Japanese manners are still quite mediaeval!

I was going to have a poll here, but Japan Probe is ahead of me there too!
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With the recent negative news breaking regarding TOTO toilets going up in smoke, let’s look at the more positive side of Japanese toilets through a survey published by goo Rankings on what function or service people are most happy to find in public restrooms. The survey was conducted between the 22nd and 24th of February 2007, but no more demographic information is available, although looking at the results it is perhaps a mainly female audience who completed the survey. Note that the score column has 100 points for the top vote getter, and for the other entries the score is the percentage of the top’s vote total that that entry received.

The first time I experienced the top ranking warm toilet seat it was a strangely disconcerting feeling, as to that point warmth was associated with someone else having recently used said loo, but now I love the feature, and my toilet at home also has a cloth cover for even more soothing comfort on the chilly nights.

Number four, also known in Japanese by the brand name “Oto Hime”, or “Sound Princess“, plays a wee tune to cover up the plops and splashes as one does one’s business. I saw my first only two weekends ago in a small cafè; I really wanted to press the button, but we were the only customers and the owner is a friend of my wife’s family, so I just couldn’t.
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