- BRIC Study Vol.4

Summary
I-News Vol.4 digs into the similarity and differences of lifestyle among BRIC countries and Japan. Among all countries, similarities can be observed as regards to working hours, commuting times, items owned at home and favorite colors. On the other hand, responses showed diversity on topics such as commuting means and type of car owned. Commuting by train is most common in Japan while motorcycles and bicycles are the most favored means of transportation in India and China respectively. When it comes to the type of car, respondents in Japan, China and India remarked that they favor a minivan/MPV, a sedan, and a hatchback respectively.

online research

• Question 1: How long do you usually work per week?

The result shows that in all countries, the majority of people (51%, 49%, 42%, 37%, and 28% in China, Russia, Brazil, Japan and India respectively) work between 40 and 48 hours. Although Japanese are known for being ‘workaholic’, the working hours of Japanese are not distinctive compared to those of other countries.
Relatively speaking, Indian workers seem to have the longest working hours. This is partially because there are still a large number of people (40% of Indian respondents) working 6 days instead of 5 days a week.

• Question 2: How long does it take for you to commute?

Respondents in all 5 countries answered in a similar way; Between 83-90% of respondents remark that their commuting time is within 60 minutes.

When paying closer attention to the result,

In China and Russia, approximately 60% of respondents fell under either “within 30 minutes” or “within 60 minutes” categories.
The commuting time in India and Brazil seems to be relatively shorter than that in other countries; 37% and 45% of the respondents in India and Brazil respectively answered that their commuting time was less than 15 minutes. This could be attributed to the fact that the percentage of self-employed people is higher in these two countries.

• Question 3: What means of transportation do you usually use to commute to your workplace? (Multiple choice)?

Respondents answered in a slightly different way to this question.

Train is the most common means in Japan but not in other countries.
It is noticeable that as many as 30% of Indian respondents use motorcycle to commute and 22% of people in China commute by bicycle.

• Question 4: Please select every item you own from the following options, including what you have at home and share with your family. (Multiple choice)

*excluding digital camera of cell-phone

**Toilet seat with bidet that sprays water from underneath and dries with air

Cell phones and personal computers are equally common in all the countries; as many as 90%+ of people own these items.

Other remarkable results we should pay attention are

Only 30% of respondents own cars in China.
Over 60 % of respondents in India answered to own water purifiers.
Portable MP3 players (iPod, etc) are very common in China; Ownership rate came out to be 78%.
The penetration rate of car navigation systems in Japan is significantly higher compared to that in other countries.

• Question 5: What type of car(s) do you have at home (including your own and shared family cars)? (Multiple choice)

In China and Russia, sedans are most popular; As many as 60% of Chinese and Russian respondents answered they own a sedan.
In India and Brazil, about 40% of respondents seem to own a hatchback type vehicle.
Minivan/MVP, the most popular type of car in Japan (30% of Japanese respondents answered to own it), is not popular among BRIC countries.

• Question 6: What is your favorite color? (Choose one)

Blue is the favorite in all countries followed by green and black. Especially in Brazil approximately 40% of respondents chose blue as their favorite color.
Although not favored in other countries, purple is very popular in China; In fact it came in second place (16% chose as their favorite)
Japanese and Indian favored pink while Russian respondents did not.