club bbq

Eye City Japan’s favourite contact lens shop

Where did you most recently buy contact lenses from? graph of japanese statisticsThe huge set of contact lens and glasses chains will make little sense to anyone outside Japan, but in this survey by iShare into shops where one has purchased contact lens the surprising to me result was that just over a quarter last bought lenses online.

Demographics

Between the 1st and 4th of June 2012 1,183 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 66.6% of the sample were female, ages ranged from 16 to 60 years old, and the respondents came from all over Japan, and all had purchased contact lenses for their own use within the last year.

When I first came to Japan I wore contact lenses, but I never replaced them in Japan. Furthermore, I banged my head somewhere and lost a lens, so rather than try to struggle my way through buying contact lenses in Japanese, I just gave up and switched to glasses!

I’m really surprised though at just 28% buying online; I would have thought given that most people choose soft lenses (actually, I don’t have a statistic for that!), and given the reliability of delivery services, placing a regular online order would be the cheapest way to refill one’s prescription. I wonder how the prices compare? Do any of my readers have experience of this?
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By Ken Y-N, ago

Gaga papas

Do you think you, your husband is an ikumen? graph of japanese statisticsIt’s a while since I’ve had an iShare survey, so I’m not just pleased to see an update, but also to see a rather interesting topic being surveyed, that of child-rearing and doting fathers, with both the husbands rating themselves and wives rating their husbands.

Demographics

Over the 15th and 16th of March 2012 726 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.3% of the sample were female, 33.7% in their twenties, 33.2% in their thirties, and 33.1% in their forties, furthermore, all were married with a pre-school child. The survey was conducted in conjunction with Benesse’s Women’s Mall.

If you want to find out how doting a parent you are, Benesse’s Women’s Mall offer a self-test.

In the survey below, I use the Japanese term イクメン, ikumen, which describes men who proactively take part in child-rearing, and who grow up themselves while enjoying child-rearing.
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By Ken Y-N, ago

Stuffed noses and open mouths

For how long did you have a blocked nose last year? graph of japanese statisticsWith hay fever season almost upon us, this seems like quite a good time to take a look at a recent survey from iShare into blocked noses.

Demographics

Over the 7th and 8th of February 2012 1,086 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.6% of the sample were male, 33.5% in their twenties, 33.3% in their thirties, and 33.1% in their forties.

I get a badly-stuffed nose for about a month thanks to hay fever, and for a few days here and there throughout the year for probably mildly-allergic reactions to unidentified agents. My pet hates about a blocked nose are blowing so hard I get a nosebleed or at the other extreme not blowing enough and dripping snot onto desks and tables. Furthermore, on bad days all the phlegm going down my throat upsets my stomach.
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By Ken Y-N, ago

Three in four Japanese fathers don’t communicate sufficiently with their children

Do you communicate with your children on weekdays? graph of japanese statisticsAs a break from the recent flood of goo Research, here is iShare looking at intra-family weekday communication.

Demographics

Over the 25th and 26th of January 2012 683 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service who were married, in employment, had children in primary school or younger, and lived with their spouse and children completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.1% of the sample were male, 5.6% in their twenties, 52.6% in their thirties, and 41.9% in their forties.

Question six in particular might look a little out of place, but that is because the survey was sponsored by Logicool (Logitech) on the launch of their wide screen HD 1080 pixel web camera Logicool HD Pro Webcam c920. They also sponsored a second survey as part of their promotional campaign, but I haven’t translated it yet.

In Q1 and Q3 I don’t know if they are asking people to measure the time that they are in the same vicinity, specifically different rooms in the same house, or if they are asking when people are in the same room.
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By Ken Y-N, ago

Safe water more important than tasty water

Do you feel reluctant to drink tap water without boiling, using a water filter, etc? graph of japanese statisticsWith the recent nuclear accident and scare about caesium in drinking water, many people in Tokyo and other parts of the north have switched to bottled water or other alternatives to the tap. To find out exactly what was going on, iShare took a look at home use drinking water.

Demographics

Over the 8th and 9th of November 2011 1,166 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 60.2% of the sample were male, 9.9% in their twenties, 29.2% in their thirties, 37.1% in their forties, and 23.8% in their fifties.

Our flat came with a built-in reverse osmosis (I presume that’s what it is, anyway!) drinking water filter, which we use only for drinking directly or filling the kettle. We just have a feeling that town water is just not that safe drunk directly, perhaps influenced by our previous flat where there was regularly black flakes coming through the old pipes, and we used a non-osmosis-based plugged into the mains purifier.
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By Ken Y-N, ago

Many Japanese want to try out a Sony PS Vita

What portable gaming machine do you most want to try out? graph of japanese statisticsWhat Japan Thinks kicks off the New Year properly with a proper survey, this time from iShare, looking at portable gaming machines, a definition that stretches to include not just Nintendo-like devices, but also smartphones and tablets.

Demographics

Between the 22nd and 26th of December 2011 714 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service who owned and were interested in portable gaming machines completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 57.0% of the sample were male, 30.0% in their twenties, 49.9% in their thirties, and 20.2% in their forties.

My gaming device is my Android smartphone (Panasonic P-01D), and the only two games I have on it at the moment are Andoku (sudoku) and Nethack. I should really download Angry Birds (I’m still to play it on any device!), I suppose, but as I’m trying to keep my data charges down I don’t want to have adverts being fetched from the internet as I play!
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By Ken Y-N, ago

Television program recording: part 2 of 2

[part 1][part 2]

iShare recently took a look at the subject of recording television programs.

I’ve not mastered the use of our recorder, as the wife takes charge of the device. The best I can do is record live programs; I’ve never actually got round to trying to set up any reservations!

Note that when television watching is mentioned, that includes both live television and time-shifted contents.
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By Ken Y-N, ago

Television program recording: part 1 of 2

[part 1][part 2]

iShare recently took a look at the subject of recording television programs.

Note that when television watching is mentioned, that includes both live television and time-shifted contents.
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By Ken Y-N, ago

Stress-related skin diseases in Japan

Do you feel stress in your private life? graph of japanese statisticsiShare recently took a look at stress and skin diseases.

Demographics

Between the 14th and 17th of October 2011 3,272 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 72.8% of the sample were male, 1.3% in their teens, 8.9% in their twenties, 24.3% in their thirties, 33.2% in their forties, 25.7% in their fifties, and 6.5% in their sixties.

One reason for this survey was that November 12th was “Skin Day”; one way of reading 1112 is いいひふ, ii hifu, or good skin in English.

In the list of diseases in Q2 you might notice the absence of psoriasis, according to my local quack and his big book of diseases the most common reason for people in the west to visit the dermatologist. In white people the rate is about 2 in 100, but in oriental people it is closer to 2 in 10,000, thus it is well below the radar in Japan.

I used to get rough skin from stress, but I don’t these days. However, my ears go red some evenings for no discernable reason, so I tend to assume it might just be stress.
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By Ken Y-N, ago

Smartphones, voice calls and VoIP: part 2 of 2

Have you got a VoIP app installed on your smartphone? graph of japanese statisticsHere is the second of this week’s smartphone surveys, this time it is iShare reporting on smartphones, voice calls and VoIP, where VoIP is Voice over Internet Protocol, in other words calls made computer to computer using an internet connection rather than phone to phone dialed calls. The best-known VoIP packages are probably Skype and Google Talk.

Demographics

Over the 3rd and 4th of October 2011 1,209 smartphone using members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.2% of the sample were female, 29.4% in their twenties, and 70.6% in their thirties.

Voice call costs don’t bother me as the only person I phone is my wife, and I get free calls to her. Anyway, I don’t phone her much anyway, as we almost exclusively email.
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By Ken Y-N, ago