Job-hunting urban legends in Japan

Advertisement

When goo Ranking looked at urban legends related to job-hunting, there were a lot of answers that seemed quite out of place to me. Note that this survey was concerned with the milk round (what is the US term for this?), university students job-hunting activities.

Demographics

Over the 21st and 22nd of September 2010 1,072 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 68.2% of the sample were female, 10.4% in their teens, 18.0% in their twenties, 29.8% in their thirties, 26.2% in their forties, 8.7% in their fifties, and 7.0% 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 only have vague memories of the milk round for me; one notable was visiting and getting rejected by the company that eventually ended up being my ticket to Japan.
Read the rest of this entry »

Read more on: ,,

Comments (2)

OTT urban legends in Japan

To make up for my short off-line period, here’s an excellent survey from goo Ranking, looking at what over the top urban legends people would want to learn more about.

Demographics

Between the 23rd and 26th of April 2010 1,187 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-base questionnaire. 61.4% of the sample were female, 10.1% in their teens, 17.4% in their twenties, 30.9% in their thirties, 24.9% in their forties, 10.1% in their fifties, and 6.5% 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.

Number 4 is one I’d like to hear about, as I cannot really imagine what might be hidden by the marathon! For number 6, I think I’ve heard somewhere about Paul McCartney having a Japanese nanny. If any of my readers have heard more about the rumours, or if you want me to investigate more myself, please drop me a line!
Read the rest of this entry »

Read more on: ,

Comments (1)

Japanese urban legends people believed in

This set of Japanese urban legends that people just thought were true from goo Ranking is interesting, especially when compared to a previous Japanese urban legends survey I translated a while back.

Demographics

On the 19th of November 2009 1,166 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 59.9% of the sample were female, 13.4% in their teens, 20.6% in their twenties, 28.2% in their thirties, 23.2% in their forties, 8.3% in their fifties, and 6.3% aged sixty or older.

Number 2 is actually true, although it is for promotional reasons:

Number 5 is also actually almost true, although the school is in Shizuoka, I think. The kids gargle with it, as green tea has an anti-bacterial effect. I’ve seen it on the television, so it must be true!

When I was a kid, the one I believed the most was that Malboro was secretly sponsered by the KKK due to various hidden ciphers.
Read the rest of this entry »

Read more on: ,

Comments (1)

Custom Search

Urban legends Japanese suspect might actually be true

This is probably the strangest survey I’ve translated since my one on the top folklore and superstitions. This time we look with goo Ranking at the urban legends that might just be true. As I am no expert in Japanese rumours, some of the translations may be wrong, and some of the rumours just seem rather odd, but I hope my readers can help me out. The survey was conducted between the 19th and 21st of June 2007.

I thought that fan death was interesting – this is a popular legend in Korea, but I didn’t know anyone really took it seriously in Japan. Perhaps interestingly, number 10, skin breathing, comes from the Bond film Goldfinger. Ian Fleming invented other such rumours, for example the one about Sumo wrestlers being trained to retract their testicles, and that gay people cannot whistle. Finally, I’d be shocked, quite frankly, if there wasn’t a bomb shelter underneath the Diet! Perhaps, however, the rumours go further.

Oh, and how I wish number 25 was true!
Read the rest of this entry »

Read more on: ,,

Comments