7% of Japanese Have No Friends
- Categories: Japan, News
- Date: Oct 29, 2009 12:36 JST
- Tags: Bizarre, Hikikomori, Internet, Otaku, Relationships, Ronery, Statistics
There is some surprise at the results of a survey which suggest as many as 6.7% of Japanese questioned have no friends at all…
The survey, with over 13,000 participants, found 6.7% of respondents had no friends at all, whilst 22.2% had 3-4, 20.6% had 5-6, and 23.8% had over 11.
Friends were mostly made at high school (55.4%) and at work (52.4%), as well as at university (38.1%) and middle and elementary school (34.1%/24.3%), with hobby related connections trailing at 25.1%. 8% came from online acquaintances.
Curiously, 17.1% of respondents stated they found such relationships “troublesome”…
Similar figures for other countries are not hard to come by – 2003 Gallup polls of Americans asked “Not counting your relatives, about how many close friends would you say you have?” yielded an average of 8.6 friends:
0 – 2%
1 – 6%
2 – 8%
3 – 11%
4 – 11%
5 – 17%
6-9 – 18%
10+ – 27%
Whether a “close friend” equates to a “tomodachi” in Japanese culture is open to question (as is whether Japanese actually agree on what a “friend” is), but it certainly seems the social circles of some Japanese are shrinking… Just how many of these are actual hikikomori and otaku is not known.
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Oh come on, it's only 7%. I bet it's no different from any other countries.
You're lying to yourself.
yaay.. im not alone in the world with no friends! bet im one of the 0.3% without friends or so in my country
Iam too now i feel so tired to socialize
Only 7%?
Hey, 23.8 have over 11, so yea.
over 11 via mmorpg, so what is it? korean mmo or weatern moo? perhap facebook. also i wouldnt describe a 'friends' that you only see when theres a party call but almost impossible to see them out of it.
If you really do have a friends, you wont need to think how many you have. because when you think of the words friends their faces are the one that first comes to mind. atleast this is the case for me and i only 2 faces come to my mind, sadly i already parted with them. but the good times we had is worth remembering.
I'm so gonna leaving cakes in front of my computer
Hmmm... Japanese need to get in tune with reality though the fiction world is cool. I have nearly 450 friends in which at least 100 were constant in contact. I meet and talk to not less than 20 ppl in a day on average. Now... this makes me wonder about the survey...
Another teenager that thinks the people in facebook are real friends.
Anyone who brags about having A LOT of friends, not about having GOOD friends, is a faggot.
>"I am a virgin with little friends and must invest in a drawn women."
im a virgin and i have no friends here in japan i hate you :/
No one has any actual friends. Friendship is a fairy tale, and Walt Disney is dead.
I thought he was just frozen.
Probably is the reason why there is a relatively high suicide rate in Japan...
Making friends from scratch is too much hassle. And with age people tend to be more insincere and keep distance themselves.
I have no friends, I don't really want them. They're more trouble than they're worth. Although I haven't left the house in like 4 years either.
All people who dont have friends;
Come with me. We will have a bright future.
I accept everyone,who can look at my eyes!
Have a pure heart, trust yourself!
You are great! You CAN find friends!
Big BW
I gave up having friends. Apparently people only hung out with me because I was good at hustling. :l I didn't mind teaching them but they rather mooch off of me. D:<
Sad story is sad.
No wonder Japan is trying so hard to make android waifu's.
Oh yes, the Japanese need Friend (with capital "F").
Friend will save you!
Not surprising considering the nature of the society.
Work and family responsibilities come first..
People are not totally honest with each other..
Emotions are hidden..
As a westerner I have 3-4 friends in my life who are REAL friends.. the rest are friends for now but would drift away as circumstances change.
'
People are not totally honest with each other..'
Yeah, as opposed to the rest of planet Earth, where lying and hypocrisy are unknown and everyone is totally honest.
I got one friend and that's more than enough. The question is, would I feel this way without the Internet?
having many friend is good, but too comfortable with having many friend is not good.
from what I know you can have lots of friend while you teenage. then it decreased when you gets adult.
some have to move far away from their community,
it will test your mentality with zero friend in new environment.
Just came from a post that listed side by side "7% of Japanese Men reject onanism" and "7% of Japanese have no friends"
7%!!!!
OMG what a horrible tragedy.... not.
Wouldn't be surprised if 7% of Canadians have no friends.
I don't know anyone that has no friends mind you as all the people I know are not tragic hermits.
If asked how many people I know I can call friend (in the acquaintance sense of the word though as I use the term 'friend' to denote a person that earned the term), well it could take me a long time to list them all. And that's just the people I know locally in person.
It would take me all day if I had to add the internet connections too.
No I am not 'great' or anything like that, I'm just not a hermit.
if people wouldn't be thinking only about themselves, real friendship would exist.
But that's not the case...
That being said I have no "true" friends.
I don't like how loosely the word "friend" is thrown around. A friend isn't a classmate/co-worker/random person you see often.
I have 3 best friends but two of them went to study a bit far so i can only communicate with them online or meet sometimes at weekends, well at least my best friend lives 100 meters away from me.but it still sucks, cos at my college in my group there r no my alter ego ppl(dotn know if its the right word), anw sometimes it rly sucks to be alone and play x360 or watch anime and stuff all day long.
They should gather the 7% and get them to talk to each other. NOW EVERYBODYS HAPPY!
The article picture reminds me of that motivational poster that says "Real women are easily replacable"
Hmmm, well even people with "no" friends still have family, my sister is like the closest person to me, and then I have like 1 or 2 other true friends.
X% of Japanese Need No Friends.
why would they need friends anyway when they have soo many anime characters, dakimura, doujinshi, ero games, lolis etc
Breaking news, new studies have shown that at least 7% of Japanese have enever been on the internet.
only 7%, which is a good thing. Rather than 70% O_o
You dont need friends if you have anime XD
Well at least I have something in common with 7% of Japan :)
Lonely, I'm Mr. Lonely,
I have nobody for my own.
I'm so lonely, I'm Mr. Lonely,
wish I had someone to call on the phone.
Roneryyy, I am so roneryyy... ^^
A friend will help you move.
A really good friend will help you move a body.
Mafia is your best friend?
But....it says to the right of the article in an add that I have a friend in japan. So if i got those 7% of people to read that, would they also have a friend?
Wow they might as well not trust the AV Industry.
But they have so many wives.
I actually have two actual friends whom I talk two but out of those two one I actually hang out with. Thing is I don't talk much or like invite them out to chill or anything I'm always waiting for them. So yeah I am pretty lonely.
Hm we seem to have a lot in common. We should be "friends" lol. No really I only have 2 friends too and I only hang out with one of them and I too always wait for them to want to do something with me. Well it is lonely but I don't want to interrupt their lives just so I can feel like someone likes me.
lol My god you really are like me the reason why I don't call them is cuz I don't want to be rejected. Hell even then I don't want to annoy them or anything but even then if we do go out just seems so boring sometimes.
Hah, same here. I've still got a handful of close friends from HS, but none here in college. I joked with them about how troublesome it is to try and chill (outside of class) with people, it'd essentially be like "asking a guy out" (erm, me being a guy).
I'm not exactly lonely, having plenty fun here as it is (Internet, HS friends, games), though I guess it'd be even better with friends nearby.
that picture is freaking creepy as hell.
creepy?
That is a depiction of my dreams coming true!
Even more reason for you, good sir, to stay on the meds the doctors prescribed for you.
OP pic is so lovely..
That's just pitiful. Japan is surely doomed if these surveys are correct.
It's probably not just a Japanese problem. I'd bet a small percentage of adults in every country have no friends. These would probably be the night shift security guards who work alone, go home in the day and sleep into the afternoon.
Or just really fucking unfriendly.
I prefer working at night..
What they're referring to is probably "close friends" some people are just cynical by nature and trust nobody else but themselves.
you cannot trust in all the people
Familiarity breeds contempt.
I distrust my friends less than I distrust most people.
7% of people need to get together.
Is the ball in the friend?
OMG.what the heck?its must be lonely?lonelier than having no GF.
Well, now we know who is desperate in the comments section.
its u isnt it?try to act like not desperate in his harem world
I guess Myspace, Facebook, etc. isn't popular in Japan or internet friends didn't count.
(for the record social networking sites suck)
Facepalm and Emospace aren't worth the time, Palmtop.
What you have is a bunch of faggots and squeeing fangirls.... y'know what? Scratch that: They're all faggots. I've actually tried an Emospace account... and was less than thrilled with the results. Messages from people wanting me to check out the fucking bands they're interested, or the band they're actually with. There's not enough time in any given day to answer them all, and they wind up going away in a tiff when you take too long to reply. Fucking duchebags.
Granted, not everyone at those sites are like that, but your mileage will often vary.
To be honest, I found it more worthwhile to crank up one of my games, like Princess Waltz or The Sagara Family, than blogging in general. If anyone wants to get and maintain a close circle of internet friends at one of those types of places, hell.... knock yourselves out. :)
As for me? I'll be eagerly awaiting the arrival of Al-Azif when Demonbane finally comes to the shores of the US. ^^
I have over 70 people on my Facebook, yet only 4 or 5 of those I would call 'friend'.
I think 'social networking' tools cheapen friendship these days. They inflate everyone's self-importance by ensuring your daily mundane UNINTERESTING life can be advertised to anyone.
i think net friend isnt count.and i agree with ur () statement
I think some net friends can count if you know them long enough and make a bond. I had met someone while playing Starcraft and we've been friends since, I consider him one of my best friends in regards to even real life friends.
Wrong, the second you start relying on the internet, you should just unplug and fucking get a life
I love you so much right now hudabigbadwolf, if I could +1 you any harder I would.
Well, you see, Life is often displayed on the HUD of your screen, usually found on the bottom of your screen, as a number between 0 and 100. In recent games however, there is a lack of this number, and instead, you simply have a set amount of health that can regenerate.
"Define life."
Something that HARDKOAR obviously doesn't have.
Not if you are going out for drinks, or to ball games, or movies, or even hooking up.
It depends on what you do with people you "meet" online.
"Wrong, the second you start relying on the internet, you should just unplug and fucking get a life"
Define life.
I see the social conection attitude in Japan is just fine
the only problem is sadistic money starving bitches xD
I was sure that this figure would be higher.
Either that or a good percentage didn't want to click the zero option.
Friend
a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard.
I don't have any of those either. I have hundreds of people who follow me around, many who share the same interests and enjoy eachother's company, and large group that I get along with and spend time with.
None even match that definition. There is a point where you get too fucking cool to have friends because everybody but you pretty much sucks.
Man that made me feel depressed and hopeless, thanks for breaking my denial bubble.
Your comment sounds a bit narcissistic to me.
One word: Narcissist.
i dont think i got any true close friends... i have friends... but none that are truly close... you kinda lose contact after you travel around, and when you meet up it just becomes a "hey, how have you been"
its once said, in a guys life, if he ever has 1 'true' friend, hes doing good,
you all think you have best friends, but only time will tell
gotta give some credit to u EroMango, especially to ur "wise words"
i mean im doing quite well with all my highschool buddys and all and i dont have a prob being on good terms with ppl, in case i dont dislike them of course
prob is, i tend to easily dislike ppl lol
all in all i would say ive like 15 buddies i can have a good time with, but im only really close to like 3-4 of them, but whats worse is that 2 of them (who also happen to be the ones ive known the longest) dont even know that i like anime/manga
so yeah i dont have someone i can really call a "true" friend, a true friend for me would be someone i can hang around with and have some fun time with all the time, probably like a twin to be more precise
ah damn had some nice post lined up but its gone damnit
anyway i dont know if ive anyone i can call a "true" friend, i mean i dont have much of a prob being on good terms with ppl but i also dont have a prob being on bad terms with ppl ya know
all in all i have like 15 buddies i can have a fun time with but i would only consider 3-4 of them as close friends and whats worse, 2 of them (who also happen to be the ones ive known for the longest) dont even know that i like anime/manga, which is kind of sad ive to say myself
so yeah no "true" friend over here, a true friend for me would be someone i can hang out with and have some fun time with all the time, and with whom i can talk about anything, like a twin brother i would say to be more precise
i had some really close/good friends some time ago but then i had to move and inet wasnt all that common back then so meh...
I couldnt agree more! wise words have been spoken folks
Nothing wrong with that IMHO, they're just honest enough to admit it.
I have plenty of friends (I'm in high school), but honestly I prefer to be by myself alot of the time as well. I somehow doubt that the majority of friendless Japanese are bereft of friends because they prefer to be alone though.
People are shallow, real friendship is hard to come by, so if these people are in such a situation, I don't think it's such a bad thing to reject others.
Don't mind me, just a little nihilistic rambling.
Which brings us to the point that, with an attitude like that, you wouldn't get any friends even if you tried.
more like 8
Don't bullshit me. You know exactly what I'm talking about. I'm cooler and more handsome than everybody so I don't have anybody to play Xbox with like you might all day Anon.
Otaku's friends are the anime...
You're 11, right?
Male jealousy. The most easily ignited phenomenon. Tell me more about how you wish you were as amazing as I am.
I LOLed soo fucking hard. ^^
lol pwnt. :P
Will those hundreds of people who follow him around still do so when he gets out of prison?
Now the real question is, how many of those "friends" these people consider actually treat them as friends in return? How many of those people are delusional?
Imagine for a moment that you fuck up and are left on the street with no money. How many people do you know that would do their utmost to get you back on your feet again? That's how many friends you have.