世論 What Japan Thinks

Here’s an interesting (but a fuller version would be even more interesting) survey conducted by Marsh Inc and reported on by japan.internet.com into taking work computers home.

Demographics

Between the 4th and 9th of December 2008 300 members of the Marsh monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.0% of the sample were male, 20.0% in their twenties, 20.0% in their thirties, 20.0% in their forties, 20.0% in their fifties, and 20.0% aged sixty or older.

At my place of work we have a number of interesting rules regarding taking computers out of the office. I take mine home almost every day, and of course since it is forbidden I never ever use it to prepare my blog entries nor have I installed no end of tools to assist in creation of said entries, even though by deleting the uninstall entries from the registry they can be hidden from the licence checking software. Or so I’ve been told, I of course do not know if that is true or not.
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Here’s a bit of a short survey that has rather interesting results; iShare looked at the end of the year Jumbo Lottery.

Demographics

Between the 21st and 25th of November 2008 430 members of the CLUB BBQ free online email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.5% of the sample were male, 13.3% in their twenties, 54.4% in their thirties, 23.5% in their forties, and 8.8% in their teens or fifty or older.

First a lottery tip: if you can spare 300 yen, buy just one ticket. This measurably changes your odds from absolutely zero to infinitesimal. Buying a second leaves your odds still infinitesimal, so don’t bother.

Next, the lottery does seem to have a lot of misconceptions surrounding it, mainly focussing on the drawing method and the relatively small first prize, leading many to think that it’s even more of a tax on the innumerate than the average one. However, the term “lottery” is misleading, as most people imagine the pick six from fifty-type schemes that are prevelant in the west, whereas Japan’s is more like a raffle – all the sold tickets go into a hat and winners are drawn from there, so if it is a sell-out all the prizes (in theory) will be claimed.

This year there are 70 first prizes of 200 million yen (roughly 2 million US dollars), 140 almost-first prizes of 50 million yen, 6,930 almost-almost first prizes of 100,000 yen, 140 second prizes of 100 million yen, 700 at 5 million yen, and so on, assuming they sell all 70 blocks of tickets. In total, there are 700 million tickets for sale (about 6 per man, woman and child) for a total value of 210 billion yen. I make that just over 99 billion yen in prize money, or 47.3% of the sales, leaving just under 111 billion yen in the pot. Once television and print advertising, sales overhead, amakudari-inflated old-boy director salaries, and everything else are paid for, that leaves a little bit left over (can anyone point me to figures for administration costs on the lottery?) for good causes, but I have little idea what they fund.

Oh, there’s a headline figure of 300 million yen advertised as the top prize, but I’m not really sure how one ticket can get the extra 100 million.

So, back to the survey.
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I know yesterday was Silly Sunday, but I’ve had this survey sitting on my hard disk for ages, so I thought I’d just get this look at why people think they can’t get promotion, conducted as usual by goo Ranking.

Demographics

Between the 25th and 28th of July 2008 1,072 members of the goo Research online monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.3% of the sample were male, 5.7% in their teens, 14.4% in their twenties, 31,0% in their thirties, 28.1% in their forties, 10.5% in their fifties, and 10.4% 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.

None of the answers were “Because I spend all my time filling (or translating for that matter!) these stupid surveys”, however.

I was also rather free with my translation of answer 2.
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Here’s a quick ranking survery from goo Ranking to squeeze in as my entry to the September 2008 Japan Blog Matsuri on poorly-understood job titles in Japan. As the theme of this month’s Matsuri is language, I’ll list the original Japanese too. I’ll bet many of my readers will be stumped by some of the translations too!

Demographics

Between the 25th and 28th of July 2008 1,072 members of the goo Research online monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.3% of the sample were male, 5.7% in their teens, 14.4% in their twenties, 31,0% in their thirties, 28.1% in their forties, 10.5% in their fifties, and 10.4% 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.
It’s interesting that most of the confusing job titles are English ones. Number 7, Vice-President, refers not to people like Dick Cheney, but to something I notice in start-ups, where everyone in at the founding and/or with substantial shareholdings gets an honorary vice-presidentship for their troubles. I’m not sure what number 14 is doing on the list – an orchestra conductor is a 指揮者, shikisha – do they mean bus conductor?

I used to have an unofficial job title of Transcontinental Code Monkey (I might even still have the T-shirt somewhere), but that’s another story.

Oh, and for the Blog Matsuri I though this or this would have been much more appropriate, but the translation defeated me!
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Here’s a pair of surveys that were too short to be separate articles and not quite silly enough for Sundays, so I’ll just post them now as the results have a few talking points in them. As usual, goo Ranking conducted the surveys, one on what cost-saving measures people wish their employer would introduce, and what secret struggles people are engaged in at work.

Demographics

For the first survey, between the 23rd and 25th of June 2008 1,014 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.1% of the sample were male, 6.5% in their teens, 14.5% in their twenties, 31.0% in their thirties, 28.1% in their forties, 11.1% in their fifties, and 8.8% aged sixty or older. For the second survey, between the 25th and 28th of July 2008 1,072 members of the goo Research online monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.3% of the sample were male, 5.7% in their teens, 14.4% in their twenties, 31,0% in their thirties, 28.1% in their forties, 10.5% in their fifties, and 10.4% 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.

My company doesn’t pay overtime; to be precise, there is a fixed amount of overtime built into one’s salary, 18 hours per month, I think. However, if I work past 10 pm (I only ever do that when I have teleconferences from home) they pay a measely time-and-a-quarter. The telephone meetings usually last under an hour, so I would never, ever, dream of claiming the scheduled two hours.

Back to cost-saving; it would have to be business trips for my team, followed by changing the budgeting system so that the team doesn’t lose its budget if it doesn’t spend all its allocation by the end of the year, leading to a lot of pointless purchasing in the weeks leading up to then.

My secret battle is… ahh, it’s secret, as there’s a chance he reads this blog. The other one is timing using all the hot water in the kettle by lunchtime so my colleague cannot make a cup of coffee during the lunch break and disturb my peace and quiet by SLURPING ALL THE *!%$ING TIME!!1!1!111!
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This Sunday’s silly survey is as usual a ranking survey from goo Ranking, looking at where or when people don’t want to meet people from the office at the weekends, split as usual into male and female responses.

Demographics

Between the 21st and 23th of May 2008 1,072 members of the goo Research monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. Exactly 50% of the sample were male, 5.7% in their teens, 12.9% in their twenties, 31.8% in their thirties, 27.5% in their forties, 11.3% in their fifties, and 10.8% 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.

Living in the big city and considerable far away from the office, I don’t think I’ve ever bumped into a cow-orker at the weekends, fortunately!

One presumes that as usual more dodgy activities, such as when exiting a love hotel are excluded…
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No, that’s not the titles of the last two videos I rented, but instead they are the subjects of perhaps the dodgiest survey I’ve seen for a long while from goo Ranking into what actions by female staff set male hearts aflutter, and vice versa, what actions by male staff set female hearts aflutter.

Demographics

Between the 22nd and 24th of April 2008 1,048 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 51.7% of the sample was female, 7.1% in their teens, 14.7% in their twenties, 29.0% in their thirties, 27.4% in their forties, 11.6% in their fifties, and 10.2% 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 presume that the more obviously perverted fetishes were eliminated from the initial answers, but still, some of them are bordering on the obsessive! Indeed, for the top female answer, the original results talked about Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct! As for me, I’ll be honest but boring and say that I never saw women around the office that way.
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Here’s a quick but fun survey from goo Ranking for your Sunday enjoyment; what did you feel uncomfortable about after starting your very first job after graduation.

Demographics

Over the 21st and 22nd of March 2008 1,036 people from the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.7% were male, 7.0% in their teens, 14.7% in their twenties, 30.1% in their thirties, 27.0% in their forties, 10.9% in their fifties, and 10.2% aged sixty or over. Note that the score in the results refers to the relative number of votes for each option, not a percentage of the total sample. Only the single people were asked today’s questions.

When I started in a Japanese company because I knew so little of the language and the customs everything felt strange! Perhaps oddest was getting a uniform; not just a jacket, but also official trousers made out of extremely itchy nylon and cut to Japanese shapes. I lasted 5 minutes in them before I consigned them to the back of the wardrobe.
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When your get-up-and-go has got up and gone, what do you do? That’s the question that goo Ranking asked recently. The answers were also ranked for men and women.

Demographics

Over the 21st and 22nd of March 2008 1,036 people from the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.7% were male, 7.0% in their teens, 14.7% in their twenties, 30.1% in their thirties, 27.0% in their forties, 10.9% in their fifties, and 10.2% aged sixty or over. Note that the score in the results refers to the relative number of votes for each option, not a percentage of the total sample. Only the single people were asked today’s questions.

For me, I find a blog and moan to get all of the negative emotions out of way!
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Ahh, excessive overtime, and especially the dreaded euphemistic-named “service overtime”, or unpaid overtime in proper English, is perhaps the biggest culture shock to foreign office workers when they come to Japan. We all have our pet theories about why, but this recent survey conducted by goo Research and reported on by CNET Japan into overtime and work efficiency perhaps answers some questions.

Demographics

Between the 22nd and 24th of February 2008 1,080 members of the goo Research monitor panel employed as businesspeople completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 68.2% were male, 24.5% in their twenties, 24.9% in their thirties, 25.3% in their forties, and 25,3% aged fifty or older.

My employer is one of the rare companies that has embraced Work-Life Balance as a slogan at least. However, some recent news that I don’t think I should mention has revealed that they are about to take a very bold, perhaps even unique in Japanese large companies, step to address one issue regarding this balance. We shall see how it all pans out…

The title of the survey implies that there was some questions regarding how people view the effectiveness of overtime; outside crunch times there is a general perception amongst foreigners that the Japanese spin out an 8 hour working day over 12 or more hours, so I’d have loved to have seen the outcome of questions regarding that issue. Sadly, the original Japanese article did not report this aspect.
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