世論 What Japan Thinks

One key skill that most newcomers to Japan need to learn is how to navigate the train system. To find out how the locals find their way around, japan.internet.com reported on a survey conducted by goo Research into looking up train routes and connections.

Demographics

Between the 22nd and 25th of February 2008 1,095 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.0% were male, 16.2% were in their teens, 18.3% in their twenties, 21.3% in their thirties, 16.5% in their forties, 15.8% in their fifties, and 12.0% aged sixty or older.

As I’m quite familiar with the train routes around my local area, I usually look up my route on Yahoo! Transit to find the approximate journey time then commit the stations to change at to memory. One option I see missing from the list below, however, is taking a mobile phone photograph of a QR code that contains a web address representing the route. I thought that Yahoo! Transit supported such a feature, but it seems that’s their maps only.

Photo by tantek
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At the start of December last year, MyVoice surveyed its internet community on the subject of train manners. 13,586 people successfully completed an internet-based questionnaire. 54% of the sample was female, 3% in their teens, 21% in their twenties, 39% in their thirties, 24% in their forties, and 13% aged fifty or older.

Interestingly enough, the most common gripe I hear from other foreigners about the trains in Japan, that of people reading porno manga openly, irritates just 6.6% of the sample, and is seen as bad manners by barely three in ten, less than the number who consider putting on make up as a sign of poor breeding.

For me, snuffling without blowing one’s nose is the most boorish activity on trains, but that’s just my westernness showing! Not bothering to turn one’s phone to manner mode would come second, and it is mostly people who seem old enough to know better who do this, sadly.
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With most train lines stopping around 12 midnight and not resuming until 5 am, there is always the danger of getting one over the eight and missing the last train. So, with this in mind, goo Ranking published the results of a survey conducted towards the end of October into what people did if they had to wait for the first train home. As usual for goo Rankings, there is no demographic information, and scores are the percentages of the top ranking choice.

Note that getting a taxi home is usually an infeasible option as taxis are horrendously expensive once you get past a few kilometres. Also note that family resturants tend to have all-you-can-drink soft drink options, so it is easy to hole up all night nursing a bottomless cup of coffee. The times I’ve missed (sometimes on purpose!) the last train home I’ve ended up in a karaoke box or even walking home, even though it was a good ten kilometres or so!
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Here’s a silly wee survey from goo Ranking on ___-only carriages on trains. The fieldwork was carried out over four days towards the end of October by means of a public poll, so no demographics are available. The scores in the survey represent the percentage of the top vote-getter that each option got.

Note that the Japanese term, ○○専門, maru-maru senmon, perhaps translates better as “specifically for whatever“, even though the most familiar form, 女性専門, josei senmon, is usually translated as “women only”. I’ll stick with “only” in the table, even though some may make more sense as “specifically for”.

I suspect that many of the votes were for enforcing segregation, such as for keeping the drunks or overly-perfumed (or even screaming kids…) away from the normal people. My vindictive vote would be for a bad breath-only car, but given the vapours in the average morning rush train, perhaps three-quarters of the carriages would need to be dedicated to those whose oral health was lacking.

In position number 7, strong heating or cooling, is perhaps in response to many lines having in summer a “cool” car, with the air conditioning set a couple of degrees higher. However, in my experience the default temperatures are far too strong, so I can only imagine that people are wanting a sauna or ice blocks!

I have previously translated a more serious look at women-only trains.
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As part of DIMSDRIVE’s 89th Ranking Research they enquired into people’s views on women-only carriages in trains. They asked three questions to women and one to men.

Compared to other bad manners in and around trains, the women-only carriage regulations are surprisingly well-respected, at least on the lines I have frequented, with it being a relatively rare sight to see a man riding on them, even during the rush-hour peak, considering the number who ignore other regulations such as the no mobiles or no talking on the phone signs, or who smoke outside the designated areas.

Also please note that in Q1 the usage may seem to be low, but if one rides outside of peak rush hours, the trains tend to be not so overcrowded so the risk of getting groped is lower, so the figures here should not be taken simply at face value.

There is also a news report from the Mainichi Shimbun via Japan Probe about how groping is down overall in Tokyo, but up on lines with recently-introduced or expanded women-only carriage services.
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InfoPLANT conducted a self-selecting survey in the middle of October through the iMode menuing system, to which 9,290 people replied, with just a third of them male, to find out what people do in the train.

I have a two hour commute myself, with about 40 minutes each way actually spent in the train. My usual activities are mobile phone mailing and reading a book, with my current reading material being a kanji study text book. I don’t usually sleep during my normal commute, although at the weekends I often feel my eyelids rather heavy. I’m not surprised at the high use of mobile phone games, but most of the men, especially, seem to play just mah jongg or pachinko games.
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Outside two of the railways stations in Osaka yesterday they were handing out census forms to find out about rail use in the city. There is an online option for submissions, but the web site seems to be broken! Note that the URL uses the English path /railcensus/ rather than Japanese /tetsudochousa/ or the like. I’ll be keen to see the results of this survey!

The questions are as follows:

Q1: What is the purpose of your first railway journey today?

• Commute to work
• Commute to school
• Work-related travel
• Private
• Returning home

Q2: When did you set out on this trip?

Q2A: What means of transport were used to get to the first railway station?

Q2B: When did you arrive at the first railway station on your trip?

Q3: For each train taken, please record the railway line name, the start and end station, the class of train (local, express, reserved seat or bullet train), whether you used a commutation pass, and if it was crowded or over-crowded.

Q4: When did you arrive at the final railway station on your trip?

Q4A: What means of transport were used to get to your ultimate destination?

Q5: For your second railway journey of the day, please record the similar details to those above.

Q6: If your second trip of the day did not take you home, and you didn’t return home by some other means, please record the start and end times and start and end station of your trip home.

I found a blog reporting a Yahoo! headline supplied by the Mainichi from a press release from the private railway companies of Japan’s umbrella organisation, so excuse the fourth-handedness of the whole story. 6000 people were questioned to find out their views on bad manners on board. So, without further ado, first some of the complaints that didn’t quite make the top grade:

• Not following telephone manners (20%)
• Not following the rules when getting on and off (9%)
• Sitting on the floor
• Being noisy in the train
• Leaky headphones
• Putting on makeup
• Luggage in the way
• Ciggies (what aspect?)
• Eating and drinking on board

The worst three, gathering the majority of the votes were all to do with sitting down.

• Sitting with legs akimbo
• Young or fit people in the priority seats
• Not squeezing up when the bench seat is almost full

My pet hate is similar to the last one, people who don’t move away from the doors when they board.