世論せろん What Japan Thinks

Just about the only thing in Japan that is noticably cheaper than anywhere else is broadband, with 4,000 yen per month (US$40, UK&147;20 or so) being on the expensive side for proper broadband (often 10 Mbps or more). To see how that low price is shaping the market, please study this survey from Marsh Inc and reported on by japan.internet.com into internet usage .

Demographics

Over the 30th of April and 1st of May 2008 300 members of the Marsh monitors completed a private internet-based questionnaire. In the sample the male:female split was exactly 50:50, 20.0% were in their teens, 20.0% in their twenties, 20.0% in their thirties, 20.0% in their forties, 14.7% in their fifties, and 5.3% aged sixty or older.

The article also notes that the broadband market was worth just under 1.2 trillion yen in 2007, (about 12 billion US dollars), and is predicted to be nearly 1.25 trillion yen this year, and over 1.4 trillion yen by 2012.

The report also does not consider cable to be broadband!
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Eating alone is something I do quite a bit myself, and I do find it relaxing to have peace and quiet for a few minutes every day. To see what image Japanese people have of this, MyVoice recently conducted a survey into this topic of eating alone.

Demographics

Over the first five days of April 2008 14,878 members of the MyVoice internet community successfully completed a private online questionnaire. 54% of the sample were female, 1% in their teens, 14% in their twenties, 38% in their thirties, 30% in their forties, and 17% in their fifties.

I have two meals a day during the week alone; for breakfast I’m up too early (I’m surprised that wasn’t an offered answer for Q5), and at lunch, as I can’t be bothered eating with my colleagues and the eating noises in the dining hall put me off anyway, so I pop out myself for some bread to eat at my desk. Evening meals alone at restaurants are depressing on the whole, although when I was single there was a nice okonomiyaki shop to while away the hours after work in.
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Not too surprisingly, Yahoo! comes out on top as the most frequently used news site in Japan, but there are still many interesting results in this survey from MyVoice into news sites.

Demographics

Over the first four days of April 2008 14,913 members of the MyVoice internet community successfully completed a private online questionnaire. 54% of the sample was female, 1% in their teens, 15% in their twenties, 37% in their thirties, 30% in their forties, and 17% in their fifties.

I am glad to see that the top complaint is the lack of information in articles; most Japanese articles are just two or three paragraphs long and as a user of Google News one finds very similar reports in different papers. Google News also reveals another problem, namely that articles often expire really quickly; even after only a few hours a lot of the links on Google News lead to error pages.

For English news on Japan, I recommend the appropriately-named News on Japan as a useful aggregator of news, although in a few months there may very well be a new challenger in this market…
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You may remember the Neko-punch Google-slap I got for running Text Link Ads that I reported on last year. Having seen my income die horribly in AdSense then slowly wither through Text Link Ads, I finally decided to ditch TLA, then use Google’s Webmaster Tools to beg for my PageRank back. I did this on Sunday, and checking today I noticed I’d got my two lost ranks back. I’ll watch to see if this has any significant effect on my AdSense, although talking to another who was in the same boat I don’t hold out much hope.

I would say thanks to Bloomberg, but I don’t think they deserve it. I posted on Sunday about Shane’s tale of the poison gas recipe, and I see they’ve now updated their story to remove the unnecessarily-detailed information of how to make the gas.

Oh, and the animated neko punch (cat punch) gif above is doing the rounds of Japanese mobiles. I’ve set it up as the backdrop for all the various mail exchange actions on my phone too, so please feel free to steal it off me!

With the Golden Week holidays over today, this will be the final filler ranking survey (they’re always quick and easy to translate!) this time on the holiday theme of what typical Japanese tourist behaviour people end up doing on overseas holidays.

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.

Although I’ve only done one Japanese group tour to Europe (you have to do it once yourself, just so you know how bad it is!) I think the taking of optional tours was the most common I saw from others. When the tour stopped at Vienna, we’d already ordered tickets for the musical Elizabeth so we went there whilst everyone else headed off on the optional tour.

Even on personal tours, my wife photographs and videos just about everything, which I find immensely dull as we’ll probably never watch the videos again, and seeing the sights through the viewfinder cannot be much fun at all.

The final choice, which I thought might be higher, ordering souvenirs before departure, perhaps needs a little explanation for people who are not so familiar with Japan. Souvenir giving is a highly ritualised event, such that one needs (yes, needs) to buy a small present for just about every friend and acquaintance, often macadamia chocolates, but close friends sometimes actually name what they want. So, rather than fill up one’s suitcase with 20 boxes of nuts or whatever, there are many mail-order catalogues to be had from the travel agent that will deliver the day you return from holiday. I find the whole business extremely impersonal, and would much rather a hand-written postcard that showed me someone took some effort to think of me while they were away, and it’s much more fun for me to write these cards compared to traipsing round airport shops.

Photo from nubui on flickr.
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Today and every 5th of May is Children’s Day in Japan, and to celebrate, goo Ranking published a list of what adventure novels from one’s childhood made one’s heart beat faster.

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.

This is a fascinating list. First, there is but one Japanese author, then there are a good number of countries represented, although of course it will be the Japanese translation that people read as a child. Next, I must admit to never having heard of books 2, 8, 18 and 19.

For me, the book that defined my childhood would have to be The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, both of them read to me by my mother. I could only manage to read by myself the Tales of Narnia, which would probably be third on my list of memorable adventures.
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Here’s another quick but fun survey from goo Ranking for your Sunday enjoyment; what did you find surprising when you entered further education.

Demographics

Over the 21st and 22nd of February 2008 1,052 people from the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.7% were female, 6.4% in their teens, 15.7% in their twenties, 31.0% in their thirties, 26.6% in their forties, 11.2% in their fifties, and 9.1% 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.

When I started uni in Scotland, I think the most surprising thing I realised was that women… I’d better not finish that one as my wife and mother read my blog!
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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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Oooh, I’m angry!

Shane at A Typical Life reports that Bloomberg has published a story detailing the recipe for hydrogen sulphide, the poison gas that has become all the rage for people doing themselves in, but a method of suicide that has killed a few others in the process and has sickened many, many more.

They have not only published the exact recipe and named the products to use, but in the case of the bath salts that may be difficult to obtain, they chose to link not to the official web site, but actually to an online shopping site so that death can be delivered to your door with a click of the mouse.

Please visit Shane’s blog and digg and Japan Soc the story, and add a word or two of support for her and also tell Blooomberg what you think of them for detailing information that the Japan National Police Agency is trying to keep off the web.

Softbank has just recently reported that for each of the last twelve months they have reported the highest growth in new contracts of all the mobile companies, and if the results from this recent survey, the 37th regular modile phone upgrade needs survey, by goo Research and published on japan.internet.com is anything to go on, Softbank’s growth looks set to continue.

Demographics

Between the 21st and 23rd of April 2008 1,000 members of the goo Research monitor group, and although it is not explicitly stated the figures imply that they all have mobile phones. 52.0% were female, 1.2% in their teens, 15.3% in their twenties, 39.7% in their thirties, 27.1% in their forties, and 16.7% aged fifty or older.

Softbank has been heavily pushing their voice discount services, with intra-family calls being free all the time as one of the biggest selling points. DoCoMo’s response has been to offer the same deal, but only to those who have been with the company ten years or more! I am just now eligible for that, but I’ve got so used to using email that I cannot be bothered with it, myself!

I don’t know if there is a connection, but recently there’s been more people speaking on mobiles in trains - now that would be another interesting topic to investigate!
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