世論 What Japan Thinks

After having looked at rice consumption in January, as a sort-of follow-up, over the first five days of March MyVoice asked their online monitor community about rice cookers.

Demographics

15,947 members osuccessfully completed the online questionnaire. 54% were female, 2% in their teens, 19% in their twenties, 39% in their thirties, 26% in their forties, and 14% in their fifties.

IH is Induction Heating, which is… well, this site describes the process in detail.

Note that I don’t know if just boiling a pan of rice on the cooker counts as a rice cooker or not (although I suspect not), or if the traditional rice pan (I can’t remember the Japanese name of the iron pan with the wooden lid) does either (I suspect it might). As a pedagogical note, the Japanese for rice cooker is 炊飯器, suihanki, which “translates” kanji by kanji as boiling rice device

Research results

Q1: What sort of rice cooker do you have at home? (Sample size=15,947)

IH Pressure cooker	24.6%
Other IH type	21.1%
Non-IH electric type	31.1%
Gas type	3.8%
Microwave oven-use type	0.7%
Other	2.1%
Have rice cooker, but don’t know what type	13.2%
Don’t have rice cooker	3.4%

Q2: Who is the maker of the rice cooker you have at home? (Sample size=rice cooker owners)

Tiger	20.0%
Zojirushi	18.7%
National (Panasonic)	16.6%
Sharp	7.0%
Toshiba	6.2%
Sanyo	5.6%
Mitsubishi	4.7%
Hitachi	3.8%
Paloma	0.9%
Rinnai	0.8%
Other	2.2%
Don’t know	13.3%
No answer	0.2%

Q3: About how often do you cook rice in your home rice cooker? (Sample size=rice cooker owners)

Twice a day or more	6.4%
Once a day	31.3%
Four to six times a week	12.4%
Twice or thrice a week	10.6%
Once a week	7.2%
Less than that	13.1%
Don’t cook rice at home	17.8%
No answer	1.1%

Q4: Do you plan to buy a rice cooker in the future? (Sample size=15,947)

Definite plans to buy one	4.3%
Don’t have definite plans, but want to buy one	37.4%
Don’t plan to buy one	58.3%

Q5: When buying a rice cooker, which of the following are important? (Sample size=15,947, multiple answer)

Excellent rice cooking functions	74.7%
Reasonable price	53.7%
Easy to clean	47.0%
Low energy	41.1%
Easy to use functions	34.7%
Reliable maker	32.3%
Excellent functions for cooking methods (plain rice, sushi rice, etc)	29.6%
Good size, weight, etc	28.7%
Excellent functions for keeping cooked rice ready-to-eat, reheating	28.6%
Functions for cooking different kinds of rice grains	27.4%
Fast cooking	27.2%
Easy to understand water measurement	22.1%
Good colour, design	20.7%
IH features	20.0%
Type of cooking bowl	15.8%
Functions for preparing things other than rice	15.1%
Good for the environment	12.4%
Popular model	7.2%
Other	1.2%
Don’t know	5.2%
No answer	0.3%

Q6: If you were buying a rice cooker, from which manufacturer would you most like to buy? (Sample size=rice cooker owners)

Tiger	12.6%
Zojirushi	10.6%
National (Panasonic)	10.5%
Sharp	3.2%
Toshiba	1.6%
Sanyo	1.3%
Mitsubishi	1.1%
Hitachi	0.9%
Paloma	0.4%
Rinnai	0.4%
Other	0.7%
Don’t know	56.1%
No answer	0.6%