12
is not possible to attempt even a tentative demographic profile of the Japanese Service audience as a whole. The most that can be said is that, among the sample interviewed. the likelihood of listening to the BBC was highest among better educated men living in the 12 largest cities. Age was not a decisive factor, but education quite clearly was.
In the 1983 survey, the under 20s were most likely to listen to the BBC in Japanese. While men were far more likely to listen than women, listening rates did not vary a great deal between people from different educational backgrounds or communities.
Two out of every three Japanese Service listeners contacted in the survey had been listening to the BBC for several years, while one in three had first listened within the last 18 months. Evening was the most popular time for listening. (The BBC Japanese Serv- ice transmissions are broadcast at 0645-0700 and 2000-2045 local time.)
3.7 Former listeners to the BBC Japanese Service
A few people contacted in the survey (0.2% of the sample) had listened to the BBC regu- larly several years ago, but had given up listening since. All were men in their 30s and 40s.
3.8 Listening to foreign broadcasting in English
Asked if they can speak or understand English, 30% of the sample claimed some knowl- edge of the language. However, under 6% said that they can understand English rea- sonably or very well.
Not one foreign broadcaster in English achieved a total audience of 1% of the sample.
TABLE 2
LISTENING TO FOREIGN BROADCASTING IN ENGLISH
BBC VOA
Radio Australia
Radio Beijing
Radio Korea, Seoul
Radio Moscow
Regular Occasional TOTAL Audience Audience AUDIENCE
%
%
%
0.1
0.7
0.8
0.3
0.2
0.5
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.1
0.1
0.2
0.0
0.2
0.2
All the other stations asked about had total audiences of 0.1% or less
There has been little change in the level of foreign radio listening in English since the 1983 survey. The American Forces Far East Network (which had a total audience of 4.1% in 1983) was not included in the current survey.
3.9 The audience to the BBC in English
Japan 1987