goo research | 世論 What Japan Thinks

Mobile

Wi-fi at overseas airports

How difficult was it to use overseas airport wi-fi? graph of japanese statistics Here’s an interesting survey from goo Research, reported on by japan.internet.com, that I found lying about on my hard disk; it was a look at Wi-fi at overseas airports.

Demographics

Between the 6th and 10th of February 2014 1,076 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.1% of the sample were male, 13.7% in their teens, 15.4% in their twenties, 21.2% in their thirties, 17.2% in their forties, 15.0% in their fifties, and 17.6% aged sixty or older.

Setting up one’s device is usually pretty painless these days, but the problem I have is that certain airports have a system that requires you to watch an ad before you can sign in, or others hide the “free” button away in a corner in order to persuade you to sign up for the paid version.
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By Ken Y-N, 9 years ago

Business

Taxi apps in Japan

Have you used a smartphone taxi hailing apps? graph of japanese statistics

I’m back, hopefully getting back into a regular multiple-posts-per-week schedule, with this look at taxi hailing apps.

Demographics

Between the 28th of March and the 2nd of April 2014 1,071 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.6% of the sample were male, 13.6% in their teens, 15.7% in their twenties, 21.5% in their thirties, 17.2% in their forties, 14.9% in their fifties, and 17.1% aged sixty or older.

Most of Japan’s taxi apps are official ones from taxi companies; a service like Uber does not exist in Japan, and I don’t think it would work here. As I understand it, taxi companies in America often do not come when called, so Uber, even though it apparently more expensive than a regular taxi, fills a niche. In Japan, there are if anything too many taxis, so failing to appear is never a problem.
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By Ken Y-N, 9 years ago

Polls

One in eight Japanese using two-factor authentication

Do you know what two factor authentication is? graph of japanese statistics japan.internet.com recently reported on a survey conducted by goo Research into two factor authentication, a security method that usually consists of a web site sending you an access code to your registered mobile phone when you try to log onto their services. Google also provide an Android application that generates the access codes locally.

Demographics

Between the 20th and 25th of February 2014 1,078 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.5% of the sample were male, 13.4% in their teens, 15.8% in their twenties, 21.3% in their thirties, 17.4% in their forties, 14.8% in their fifties, and 17.3% aged sixty or older.

Last year I wrote some client (Android and iPhone) and server (Apache and Microsoft Server) code to support two factor authentication using a TOTP. I’d love to tell you more, but I cannot as it was (a) work-related and (b) a retelling of the tale would require mentioning other people who might read this blog in an unfavourable light.
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By Ken Y-N, 10 years ago

Polls

Paper and electronic newspaper consumption

How many paper newspapers do you regularly buy? graph of japanese statistics goo Research recently conducted a survey, reported on by japan.internet.com, into electronic versions of physical newspapers.

Demographics

Between the 13th and 18th of February 2014 1,075 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.7% of the sample were male, 13.7% in their teens, 15.6% in their twenties, 21.0% in their thirties, 17.3% in their forties, 14.9% in their fifties, and 17.5% aged sixty or older.
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By Ken Y-N, 10 years ago

e-money

Sales tax increase, electronic cash and railway fares

Do you use electronic cash? graph of japanese statistics For their report on goo Research’s fourth regular survey into electronic money, japan.internet.com took a look at an interesting aspect, the potential for discounted rail fares when using electronic cash.

Demographics

Between the 10th and 12th of February 2014 1,078 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 58.5% of the sample were male, 0.5% in their teens, 11.6% in their twenties, 22.4% in their thirties, 32.6% in their forties, and 33.0% aged fifty or older.

With sales tax going up from 5% to 8% in April, although currently all train tickets are rounded to the nearest 10 yen, some transport operators are planning on increasing fares by exactly 3% (actually by 2.857%, but you know what I mean!) then rounded to the nearest yen, but only for electronic cash users. As most of the ticket vending machines cannot handle one and five yen coins, for cash users the tax increase will be rounded up to the nearest ten yen.
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By Ken Y-N, 10 years ago

Entertainment

Projection mapping in Japan

Have you ever seen a Projection Mapping? graph of japanese statistics Recently there seems to have been quite a lot of projection mapping going on, so this survey from goo Research decided to have a look at this very subject of projection mapping.

Demographics

Between the 13th and 18th of December 2013 1,085 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.8% of the sample were male, 13.5% in their teens, 15.9% in their twenties, 21.7% in their thirties, 17.1% in their forties, 14.6% in their fifties, and 17.2% aged sixty or older.

Here’s one I’d love to have seen, taking place last year just 10 kilometres or so away from me:

I’m not sure how accurate the results of Q1SQ1 are; although the Japanese text used a generic “see” verb rather “watch”, I wonder if many people assumed that the question was directed towards watching live, as the percentages seem a bit off to me. On the other hand, as there does not seem to have been an explanation of the term Projection Mapping, I also wonder if more people saw news reports on projection mapping but didn’t realise what it was?
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By Ken Y-N, 10 years ago

Polls

Airbnb, etc, almost unknown in Japan

Do you know about traveller-oriented empty room matching? graph of japanese statistics

japan.internet.com recently reported on a survey by goo Research into traveller-oriented empty room matching services, and little recognition was registered; it is not clear from the question wording, however, whether they dropped the best-known brand name along with the rather wordy survey title.

Demographics

Between the 22nd and 26th of November 2013 1,082 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.9% of the sample were male, 14.0% in their teens, 15.2% in their twenties, 21.8% in their thirties, 17.5% in their forties, 14.7% in their fifties, and 16.8% aged sixty or older.

This year I am on our block of flats’ management committee, and I keep meaning to bring up at the meetings a proposal to change the residents’ contract to outlaw the renting of rooms through Airbnb and similar schemes. Currently, commercial activity that involves visitors is forbidden, and a neighbour in fact fell foul of the regulations as she was running a craft school in her living room, so she was asked to hold her classes elsewhere. I sort-of agree with the Airbnb concept, but NIMBY! I also think it encourages the black economy, so I cannot approve of illegal sub-letting, regulation-dodging and no doubt tax-avoidance. And having foreigners in our building would no doubt bring down the property values.
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By Ken Y-N, 10 years ago

Internet

Tablets surprisingly unpopular for communication

Well, these figures from goo Research, reported on by japan.internet.com were surprising to me at least, in this the third regular look at text communication.

Demographics

Between the 5th and 7th of November 2013 1,079 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private mobile phone and smartphone-based questionnaire. 57.7% of the sample were female (note, this figure is higher than usual due to this being a mobile survey verses the computer-based surveys that bias towards men), 2.3% were in their teens, 20.9% in their twenties, 35.2% in their thirties, 29.6% in their forties, and 12.0% aged fifty or older.
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By Ken Y-N, 10 years ago

Hardware

Three in ten Japanese recharge their smartphones twice or more a day

About how often do you recharge your smartphone? graph of japanese statistics This survey from goo Research, reported on by japan.internet.com, perhaps gives one a hint as to how addicted people are to their smartphones, as this look at smartphone recharging finds many burning through their batteries.

Demographics

Between the 28th of October and the 3rd of November 2013 1,082 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.8% of the sample were male, 13.8% in their teens, 15.4% in their twenties, 21.3% in their thirties, 17.2% in their forties, 14.8% in their fifties, and 17.5% aged sixty or older.

I manage to get three or four days out of a charge of my smartphone, but that is due to me only using it as an alarm clock, for occasional email and a couple of minutes of surfing per day.
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By Ken Y-N, 10 years ago