世論 What Japan Thinks

infoPlant published a survey on purchase and consumption of low-alcohol drinks. They got 6,071 responses, 63.3% female, from their usual method of an iMode menu-based prize draw survey, held for a week at the end of November.

Note that low-alcohol drinks here are not what you might guess them to be, namely reduced- or zero-alcohol beers, but instead means any alcoholic drink that is not too strong; a chugging rather than a sipping drink, perhaps. The survey introduction specifically mentions chu-hai, a usually rather dangerous fruity cocktail that often weighs in at 7% alcohol by volume yet tastes like just a fruit soda, along with beer and ready-mixed can cocktails as being the drinks of interest in the questionnaire.

Whether or not people were answering for themselves personally or for their whole family, or whether or not purchases in bars and restaurants were included is not clear, although I suspect that it means store-bought alcohol, judging by the answers to question 2.

Q1: About how often do you purchase low-alcohol drinks? (Sample size=6,071)

	All	Male	Female
About every day	5.1%	7.2%	3.8%
4 or 5 times a week	2.5%	2.7%	2.3%
2 or 3 times a week	6.6%	6.9%	6.4%
Once a week	10.2%	10.3%	10.2%
2 or 3 times a month	12.1%	9.9%	13.4%
Once a month	9.9%	8.5%	10.6%
Less than once a month	18.4%	16.0%	19.8%
Don’t buy low alcohol drinks	35.3%	38.4%	33.4%

Q2: Which of the following describes how you go to shops to buy low-alcohol drinks? (Sample size=3,930)

	All	Male N=1,374	Female N=2,556
Always decide on brand before going	6.1%	8.1%	5.0%
Usually decide on brand before going	23.8%	25.0%	23.2%
Don’t usually decide on brand before going	38.9%	34.2%	41.4%
Never decide on brand before going	29.4%	30.2%	29.0%
Do not buy from shops	1.8%	2.5%	1.5%

Q3: What are the important points when buying low-alcohol drinks? (Sample size=3,930, multiple answer)

	All	Male N=1,374	Female N=2,556
Taste or flavour	78.4%	69.4%	83.3%
Price	70.3%	66.8%	72.2%
Calories	22.6%	15.4%	26.5%
Alcohol content	22.6%	19.9%	24.0%
Maker or brand	22.3%	25.5%	20.7%
Word of mouth from friends or family	22.2%	15.2%	26.0%
Package design	16.4%	14.1%	17.6%
Advertisments	16.1%	12.7%	18.0%
Other	2.4%	3.6%	1.7%

It’s interesting to note that men seem significantly less bothered by everything except the drinks brand when shopping.