Among the various (often unfair!) stereotypes of the Japanese, there exists the image of the camera-touting vacationer, snapping away during their short stopovers at tourist spots on package tours. Well, this image may not have been entirely without justification, especially during the heyday of the "bubble era", when the Japanese masses hit foreign shores to discover the world. Lately, its been the "silver generation" of wealthy retirees who seem to delight in this pastime of photographic cataloging.

While the youth of Japan today may not be quite as visible with their digital cameras, the underlying national penchant for archiving events is as strong as ever. These days however the device of choice is the cell-phone and the activity is called mobile blogging.

The Japanese love blogging. In fact, according to the Technorati 2007 "State of the Blogosphere" report, Japanese is the #1 blogging language in the world, accounting for 37% of all blog entries posted on the Internet. English accounts for only 36% of all blog posts. Compared with the West, Japanese blogs tend to contain less serious discussion and debate. Instead, much more of Japanese blogging is on the fun and frivolous side, with entertainment gossip and cuisine-related sites consistently ranking high in popularity.

It's also quite probable that Japan leads the world in mobile blogging. According to a recent survey, the mobile phone was found to be the blogging device of choice, being used by over two-thirds of bloggers in Japan. In fact, over a third of the sample stated that they only blog by mobile phone, while another 20% used both mobile phone and PC, while favoring the phone. The levels for favoring using a PC for blogging were lower.

This naturally leads to the question, what exactly is being written by these mobile bloggers? Well according to the aforementioned survey, nearly 70% of content involves diary entries/columns, followed by movies/television/music at 31%. In Japan, blogging is seen as a fun pastime ... digital karaoke!

All this is helped by the fact that Japan is one of the most advanced markets in the world for mobile phone technology. The vast majorities of handsets are 3G, multimedia-enabled and connected to the mobile Internet 24/7. As this technology advances further, the range and speed of mobile blogging is likely to advance also, allowing bloggers to their transmit feelings and information from their spontaneous interactions with the world in realtime. This is where the market researcher starts to get interested!

On the consumer research front, mobile phone technology is starting to impact our ability to track consumer purchasing behavior and trends. Drawing inspiration from Japan's mobile bloggers, JMI is utilizing a mobile diary methodology to generate real-time consumer data. Consumers can record their interactions with target products and services on their mobile phones and also add photos, movies and or open-text comments in-situ. These entries are then transferred automatically to an online diary than can be accessed via PC.

Studies can take the form of 360-degree tracking of all consumer interactions with brands using the TROI method that JMI has licensed from our UK partner MESH Planning.

Sample applications of TROI have also included understanding consumer-journeys to purchase, how energy needs states (and the solutions consumers choose to address such states) fluctuate during the day and how consumers react to certain catchphrases used to promote brands.

The online diary can be presented to consumers as part of an internet survey to close the project. Consumers can then be asked questions about particular entries or invited to add richer comments than can be entered on the mobile phone.

Another option is to invite these mobile-bloggers to an online chat-room forum after they have completed their tracking. Here clients are able to post specific questions that may arise from analyzing the data in the online diaries generated by the mobile blogging.

Its been long understood that the Japanese provide a special challenge when it comes to market research. Their natural tendency to not want to stand out from the group has resulted in less expression of opinion in focus group discussions compared with other cultures. However Japan now enjoys the second highest level of Internet-based research (as a proportion of all market research expenditure) in the world, in part reflecting the comfort that respondents feel in expressing opinions from the other side of an online connection.

Could it just be that the same psychology that has resulted in Japan becoming the most blogged nation on earth, might lend to a totally new channel of consumer understanding? One in which Japanese consumers start to provide us with records of their behavior in real-time and share their inner-thoughts in ways not previously accessible. We'll soon find out!

For more information on TROI and mobile phone research in Japan,
contact Jeff Matsui

For TROI in the rest of the world contact Fiona Blades at MESH Planning: fionablades@meshplanning.com