世論 What Japan Thinks

[part 1 | part 2]

DIMSDRIVE Research recently carried out a survey on free presents given away with foodstuffs, a rather popular method of promotion here in Japan. They surveyed 5,925 people, 2,410 male, from all over the country by means of an internet-based questionnaire in mid-December. The average age of the men was 40.2 years old, and of the women 35.7.

First a quick Japanese lesson! The word used for these free presents is 食玩, shokugan, which as of the time of writing doesn’t appear in any online Japanese to English dictionary, but hopefully that will soon be rectified by Jim Breen and his WWWJDIC. I’ll use the term “free gift” as the translation of the term for the purposes of this post.

Next, a British English to American English lesson! “Sweetie” is “candy”, “rubbish” is “trash”.

The picture up top, taken from my mobile phone, so excuse the poor quality, is of my PC case at work. The figures all came free with Diet Coke through various promotions surrounding One Piece, Lupin III and Dragonball Z.

Q1: Have you ever collected free gifts? (Sample size=5,925)

Currently collecting	8.7%
Have collected, but not currently doing so (to Q7)	55.3%
Never collected (to Q13)	36.0%

The “never collected” group gets larger with age (barring teenagers, but the sample size for them is too small to draw conclusions from this figure), but whether this means that older people have forgotton, or had less money as kids, or for some other reason, I do not know.

Q2: What are you currently collecting? (Sample size=517, multiple answer)

Figures	73.3%
Bottle caps	25.0%
Mobile phone, etc, straps	24.2%
Cards	23.2%
Key holders	19.7%
Seals	14.3%
Stamps	9.5%
Badges	4.4%
Other	10.8%

Note that, for instance, Pepsi Cola do Star Wars figurine bottle caps, so they would presumably count twice in the table above.

Q3: Which of the above is your main collection? (Sample size=517, single answer)

Figures	57.4%
Mobile phone, etc, straps	7.9%
Bottle caps	7.5%
Cards	7.2%
Seals	4.6%
Key holders	3.3%
Stamps	1.5%
Badges	1.5%
Other	9.1%

Straps were almost six times more popular for women, as were stamps (319 total female collectors), whereas bottle caps were over four times more popular for men (198 total male collectors).

Q4: Where do you often buy the items in Q3? (Sample size=517, multiple answer)

Convenience store	71.0%
Supermarket	66.5%
Discount store	16.1%
Drug store	12.4%
100 yen shop	12.0%
Internet auction	11.2%
Internet shop	8.3%
Other	6.2%
Someone else buys or gives me the toys	0.6%

Q5: How many of the items in Q3 at a time do you usually buy? (Sample size=517, single answer)

One at a time	36.4%
Two or three at a time	41.0%
Four to ten at a time	7.2%
Box or case, etc, at a time	7.2%
Varies each time	8.2%

Women were 25 percent more likely to buy singly, and men twice as likely to buy a box or case.

Q6: About how much does one of the items in Q3 cost? (Sample size=517, single answer)

Up to 100 yen	9.9%
Up to 200 yen	41.8%
Up to 300 yen	33.5%
Up to 400 yen	6.6%
Up to 500 yen	3.3%
Up to 800 yen	0.8%
Up to 1000 yen	0.8%
Over 1000 yen	3.3%

Q7: About how many of the set in Q3 do you plan to collect? (Sample size=517, single answer)

All of them	25.1%
80 or 90 percent	28.4%
60 or 70 percent	12.2%
About half	13.5%
Less than half	3.9%
Don’t know	16.9%

Men were about 20 percent more likely to want to collect either all or 80% or more. Almost double the percentage of women didn’t know when they might stop.

[part 1 | part 2]