世論 What Japan Thinks

Since it’s nearly the holiday season, let’s look at fun in Japan!

goo Research, in conjunction with NTT Resonace anand Mitsubishi Research, carried out a survey of 30,456 members of their internet monitor group in mid-September to find out what was their definition of fun. The respondents were 57.3% male, with 1.5% aged nineteen or under, 23.8% in their twenties, 40.3% in their thirties, 23.6% in their forties, 7.9% in their fifties, 2.0% in their sixties, 0.4% in their seventies, and 0.5% did not disclose their ages.

One surprising figure is the mere two percent who find enjoyment through religion or supernatural stuff. The actual number of members of religious groups is around 8.8%, so it seems not very many people at all derive pleasure from their practice. Perhaps, as Marx said, religion is the opium of the people from which the majority of people derive merely reassurance to keep them secure. Of course, as a member of Soka Gakkai myself, I would say that most of the people I know who practise do indeed appear to derive pleasure from their activities.

Q1: Where or when do you feel enjoyment? (Sample size=30,456, multiple answer)

With the seasons	29.9%
When communicating with people	53.9%
When expressing or improving myself	31.3%
When eating and/or drinking	57.5%
When shopping	32.8%
At the everyday things in life	14.2%
At festivals and concerts and other special events, or travel	36.3%
When working	9.8%
With religion, fortune telling and other supernatural things	2.0%
None of the above are enjoyable	2.3%

Q2: What aspects of the seasons give you enjoyment? (Sample size=9,100, multiple answer)

Cherry blossoms, autumn colours, and other changes in nature	65.4%
Seasonal foods	45.4%
Fireworks and other seasonal events	37.9%
Seasonal holidays and tourism	29.6%
Seasonal festival days (at shrines, Obon, New Year, Xmas, etc)	28.4%
Insects’ voices and fireflies	24.8%
Seasonal weather changes (heat, cold, rainy season, snow, etc)	23.4%
Seasonal sports (skiing, swimming, etc)	11.3%
Seasonal clothes and fashions	9.5%
The lengthening and shortening of daylight hours	7.5%

Q3: What aspects of communicating with people give you enjoyment? (Sample size=16,428, multiple answer)

Communicating in person with close friends and family	91.2%
Meeting with people with shared interests at hobby groups, etc	36.3%
Going out eating or drinking in a group	33.8%
Meeting lots of people at school or other education-related locations	20.1%
Intermingling with pets and other animals	19.3%
Everyday chatting with the neighbours and locals	14.6%
Faceless chat on the internet	11.7%
Cultural exchanges with foreigners	10.8%
Communicating with strangers	7.9%
Writing letters by carefully committing feelings and thoughts to paper	7.0%

Q4: What aspects of expressing or improving yourself give you enjoyment? (Sample size=9,544, multiple answer)

Increasing knowledge of my hobbies or attending specialised classes	56.8%
Building up a collection related to my hobby	33.8%
Self-expression through music, painting or other artistic endeavours, either the production process or public display	33.2%
Expressing individuality through fashion, hair and make-up	27.6%
Physical expression such as sports, dance or singing	25.0%
Expressing myself through interior decoration	24.4%
Expressing myself through a home page or blog	20.0%
Visiting esthetics or sports gyms to get into ideal shape	10.8%
Learning about the tea ceremony, flower arranging, cooking, etc	8.6%
Obtaining high-price brand goods or antiques, etc	5.4%

Q5: What aspects of food and drink give you enjoyment? (Sample size=17,525, multiple answer)

Spending time with close friends and family over a meal	67.0%
Eating out in a different atmosphere from the everyday home cooking	51.0%
Tasting lots of delicious foods	43.7%
Experiencing the tastes of the seasons	35.8%
Tasting fresh foods	19.2%
Eating ethnic foods, home town cooking and interesting unusual dishes	17.5%
Eating just what I like only	13.1%
Eating my own cooking, or ingredients grown or picked myself	11.5%
Eating healthy foods	6.4%
Choosing my own menu and volume of food and eating at home	4.1%

Q6: What aspects of shopping give you enjoyment? (Sample size=9,990, multiple answer)

Net shopping	40.8%
When rows of stalls are laid out, special sales days or times, etc, where no purchases are needed to enjoy myself	40.5%
Free gifts, tombolas and lotteries	24.6%
Special attactions with themed goods	21.7%
Auctions	21.2%
Mail order shopping	19.4%
Chatting to the sales staff and fellow customers, exchanging information, and meeting people	18.6%
Stands and carts	14.5%
Haggling over the price	13.9%
The calls of the vendors and the energy of the marketplace	10.6%

Q7: What everyday things in life give you enjoyment? (Sample size=4,324, multiple answer)

Indulging in my hobby	54.2%
Feeling relieved	40.3%
Watching TV, video, DVDs, etc	36.4%
Sleeping	32.0%
Preparing or eating food with the family	24.8%
Physical activity	19.4%
In the bath	15.5%
Gardening	13.0%
Playing games at home	12.7%
Cleaning or tidying up the house	11.7%

If you’re thinking what I’m thinking, then sorry, no, I don’t know where that pleasure rates…

Q8: What aspects of festivals and concerts and other special events, or travel give you enjoyment? (Sample size=11,044, multiple answer)

Short trips to hot springs, etc	46.4%
Listening to concerts or other live performances	43.4%
Going sightseeing overseas and to other far-off places	37.9%
Going to theme parks	31.0%
Watching theatre, plays, or musicals	29.3%
Drinking parties, eating out or karaoke	26.2%
Watching or participating in sports	24.0%
Going to museums, exhibitions and art galleries	17.0%
Watching the circus, shows or comedians	5.6%
Volunteer activities	1.7%

Q9: What aspects of work give you enjoyment? (Sample size=2,982, multiple answer)

Challenging work	78.9%
Serving people through work	47.0%
Thorough assessment of my own work	39.7%
Salary or other rewards	26.1%
Performing in my role for the company	22.5%
Working alongside colleagues	22.0%
Direction and developing those under me	7.8%
Company management	5.7%
Promotion	1.7%
Changing jobs	0.8%

Q10: What aspects of religion, fortune telling and other supernatural things give you enjoyment? (Sample size=618, multiple answer)

Self-pursuit of deeper understanding of the philosophy and ideologies	49.2%
Pursuit of the spirit world, past and future existances, UFOs and aliens	48.1%
Worshipping in temples, shrines, churches, etc and sampling the rich atmosphere	33.2%
Fortune telling and oracles	28.0%
Increasing knowledge of the meaning of life and how to live life	22.5%
Visiting places steeped in belief and getting close to the buildings and statues	13.6%
Studying and learning from sutras and scripture	12.3%
Ghosts, ghouls and telling of tall tales by candlelight and other scary stuff	11.3%
Enjoying the morals and gratitude	11.0%
Increasing knowledge of items from good-luck charms to voodoo dolls that are said to have some effects	10.4%