bill - 4:27 am on Oct 10, 2012 (gmt 0)

From the author comments it appears he equates SEO with e-mail spam, but fortunately it's not his survey...he only translated it.

One in four Japanese companies get Search Engine Optimisation professionals in [whatjapanthinks.com] Q1: How do you conduct SEO on your company's web site? (Sample size=500, multiple answer) Do it in-house 55.6% Contract with web site builder company 35.6% Contract with SEO company 25.2% Contract with other company 3.8% Don't do it, don't know 0.0%

Its a small sample and admittedly sponsored by an SEO firm. My personal experience says this number is way too high.