世論 What Japan Thinks

Over five days at the start of January, MyVoice looked at that Japanese staple, rice. 10,245 members of their online monitor community successfully completed the survey. 54% were female, 2% in their teens, 18% in their twenties, 40% in their thirties, 26% in their forties, and 14% in their fifties.

My translation for Q3 is not very good, I fear, but I hope you get the general picture! I eat rice almost every day, and at home we use a mix of half white and half brown rice.

I was surprised in Q4 that 3.3% said they like their rice with soy sauce, as not doing it is one of the first points of etiquette drilled into foreigners, so please feel free to print out this survey to justify your bad manners next time you do so in polite company!

Follow this link for more information on Japanese rice cookers.

Q1: What is your favourite staple food? (Sample size=10,245)

Rice	75.3%
Bread	9.1%
Pasta	4.9%
Ramen	4.4%
Udon	2.7%
Soba	1.5%
Cereal	0.2%
Other	0.1%
Not particularly keen on any of the above	1.7%

Q2: About how often do you eat rice? (Sample size=10,245)

Three or more times a day	12.4%
Once or twice a day	69.7%
Five or six times a week	12.5%
Two to four times a week	4.4%
Once a week	0.6%
Less than that	0.3%
Don’t eat rice	0.2%

Q3: What are you particular about regarding preparing or eating rice? (Sample size=10,245, multiple answer)

Must be Japanese rice	55.6%
Wash first, then boil	35.2%
Cook white rice	32.3%
Fussy about area of origin	16.6%
Reheating cooled rice	14.9%
Fussy about brand	12.5%
Mix in various grains	12.1%
Eat brown rice	11.9%
Cook unpolished and unwashed rice	9.2%
Boil in mineral water	6.8%
Cook mixed with barley	6.8%
Use “retort” (freeze-dried?) rice	3.1%
Boil in a stone pot	2.4%
Boil with a lump of charcoal	2.2%
Buy pre-cooked packs	2.0%
Other	3.6%
None of the above	13.9%
No answer	0.2%

Q4: What do you put on top of your rice when you eat it? (Sample size=10,245, multiple answer)

Natto	57.2%
“Furikake” dried fish and seaweed	48.7%
Egg	41.2%
Seaweed	39.7%
Dried plum	32.4%
Salmon flakes	26.6%
Seaweed boiled in soy sauce	22.6%
Fish boiled in soy sauce	19.4%
Nametake mushrooms	15.9%
Sesame salt	10.1%
Salt	3.4%
Miso	3.3%
Soy sauce	3.3%
Mayonnaise	1.9%
Butter, margarine	1.8%
Sauce	0.3%
Ketchup	0.3%
Milk	0.2%
Other	5.9%
Nothing in particular	16.8%
No answer	0.2%

Q5: What sort of rice bowl dishes do you like? (Sample size=10,245, multiple answer)

Katsudon (breaded pork)	57.8%
Gyuudon (beef)	50.4%
Oyakodon (egg)	49.7%
Tendon (battered shrimps, etc)	47.1%
Kaisendon (fresh fish)	36.2%
Chuukadon (Chinese-style)	36.2%
Butadon (pork)	27.2%
Other	6.8%
Don’t like any	3.8%
No answer	0.4%

Q6: What sort of image does rice have? (Sample size=10,245, multiple answer)

Tasty	75.8%
Never get bored of it	59.6%
Japanese-like	57.5%
Healthy	51.8%
Can’t live without it	49.8%
Warming	40.3%
Source of energy	39.2%
Powerful	20.5%
Taste of home	16.7%
Laid-back	12.0%
High calorie	3.7%
Mediocre	3.1%
Conservative	2.9%
Suits the times	2.6%
International	2.3%
Unbalanced nutrition	2.2%
Good sense	2.1%
Simple	1.7%
Elegant	1.7%
Out of date	0.6%
Naff	0.1%
None of the above	1.8%
No answer	0.1%

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed, or check out my weekly newsletter. Thanks for visiting!