世論 What Japan Thinks

I don’t know how these numbers compare with elsewhere in the world, but the results of this survey from VLC (Value Create) into toilets produced a few quite interesting results.

Demographics

Over the 19th and 20th of September 2013 1,045 members of VL Crew completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was 50:50 male and female, and 20.0% in each of the twenties, thirties, forties, fifties and sixties age groups.

My home toilet has both a heated seat (lovely) and a bum squirter (yuk!). I used it once or twice when we first got it, but quite frankly I couldn’t see the point, and all the water down there melts toilet paper when I try to dry off afterwards.
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goo Ranking decided to have a look inside Japan’s public toilets and find out what annoys people when they use the facilities.

Demographics

Over the 8th and 9th of June 2012 1,092 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 60.1% of the sample were female, 10.8% in their teens, 15.8% in their twenties, 28.9% in their thirties, 26.3% in their forties, 10.2% in their fifties, and 8.0% aged sixty or older. Note that the score in the results refers to the relative number of votes for each option, not a percentage of the total sample.

I’m very sensitive when it comes to public toilets, so most of these below can cause me to abort my mission. American toilets with the 30 centimetres of free space around floor-level is another pet hate.

As the list below might be a bit traumatic, to calm you down here is Hello Kitty:

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A recent survey from Point On Research, reported by japan.internet.com, into mobile phone addiction levels found a high level of self-reported addiction amongst the young heavy users that make up their monitor base.

Demographics

On the 11th of May 2010 800 members of the Point On monitor group who were heavy users of mobile phones completed a private mobile 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.

On weekends I can go the whole day without touching my phone, but at work since I’m not allowed to take my mobile into my office, when I have a toilet break I have a peek, but unless there is mail waiting, it is no more than pressing a button on the case to see if it buzzes.
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It’s a while since we’ve visited the toilet with iShare, so I was curious to see this latest investigation by them into the gents.

Demographics

Between the 20th and 23rd of April 2010 529 male members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 28.5% of the sample were in their twenties, 32.7% in their thirties, and 38.8% in their forties.

Although I’m well house-trained, I always stand in public toilets. I steer clear of Japanese-style trenches, though, as I’ve been scarred by the one time I had to use them when I had a bit of the runs, and I managed to get poo on my trousers…

Note that apparently at schools, entering a cubicle will often get you seriously teased (if television programs are to be believed), causing problems with constipation in schoolkids, and perhaps both the teasing and the constipation continue to be problems in later life?

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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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