世論 What Japan Thinks

What do Japanese men think being handsome is? Do they themselves want to be handsome? This rather intriguing subject was investigated in a survey conducted by DIMSDRIVE Research and sponsored by DIME magazine, a rather popular trend-watching magazine. I hope there will be a follow-up for the women to describe what they think a man is, or for them to describe beautifulness.

Demographics

Over the 31st of May and the first of June 2007 2,990 male members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor group replied to a private internet-based questionnaire. 0.7% were in their teens, 9.6% in their twenties, 26.5% in their thirties, 34.5% in their forties, 19.2% in their fifties, and 9.5% aged sixty or older.

I wouldn’t consider myself handsome (note that the word I translated as “handsome” is 男前, otokomae, although the meaning is perhaps closer to having an aura of manliness or charisma. The ALC dictionary amusingly translates it as studmuffin!), but I think (or at least I hope!) my wife would disagree. As for my regular personal grooming habits, I don’t think that pulling out nose hairs with my bare hands at home or at the office really counts for much. You may also note that getting one’s teeth regularly descaled or whitened didn’t rate even in the Other category of Q6.

If I were to name a handsome man, I’d probably choose Sean Connery.

Research results

Q1: When you hear the word “handsome” what sort of male image comes to mind? (Sample size=2,990, multiple answer)

Reliability	45.5%
Cleanliness	37.5%
Uncompromising	36.3%
Cool	35.3%
Strong	33.7%
Good-looking	30.4%
Kind	30.4%
Good at one’s job	28.8%
Fresh	23.5%
Sportsman	19.5%
Muscular	17.3%
Intellectual	13.2%
Wild but fashionable	10.2%
Hard worker	9.9%
Pheromones	7.8%
Skilled talker	7.5%
Uncouth	3.5%
Glittering	3.3%
Rich	3.2%
Smell of sweat	3.0%
Flirt	2.6%
Healing	2.4%
Soothing	1.8%
Ambitious	1.6%
Academic	1.1%
Other	1.7%
Nothing in particular	4.0%

By age, those up to age 59 chose reliability as the top attribute, but for the over sixties, cleanliness was top.

Q2: Which famous person do you feel is handsome? (Sample size=2,990, free answer)

Rank		Who is he?	Votes
1	Takuya Kimura	Actor	284
2	Oda Nobunaga	Daimyo (feudal lord) from the Sengoku period of Japan	167
3	Ken Takakura	The Clint Eastwood of Japan, apparently	146
4	Testuya Watari	Another actor	140
5	Ryoma Sakamoto	The man who helped break the power of the Shogun that heralded the Meiji Restoration	132
6	Yuzo Kayama	Musician and actor	73
7	Masaharu Fukuyama	Singer-songwriter and actor	63
8	Hiroshi Abe	Model and actor	61
9	Ichiro	Seattle Mariners baseball player	58
10	Yujiro Ishihara	Deceased but still wildly popular actor	52
11	Ken Watanabe	Actor	47
12	Mokomichi Hayami	Another actor	42
13	Alain Delon	French actor	40
14	Sen’ichi Hoshino	Baseball manager	38
15	Hideki Takahashi	Actor	35

Q3: Is there a handsome man close to you? (Sample size=2,990)

	Yes (to SQ)	No
All	22.9%	77.1%
Teens (N=21)	47.6%	52.4%
Twenties (N=287)	31.0%	69.0%
Thirties	26.0%	74.0%
Forties (N=1,031)	19.7%	80.3%
Fifties (N=574)	18.5%	81.5%
Sixty or older (N=284)	25.4%	74.6%

Q3SQ: Who is this handsome man? (Sample size=686, multiple answer)

Friend	39.8%
Myself	18.7%
Colleague	15.0%
Boss	14.7%
Acquaintance	14.1%
Subordinate	6.4%
Father	5.8%
Relative	4.5%
Neighbour	2.3%
Brother	2.2%
Teacher, instructor, etc	2.2%
Shop staff	1.9%
Other	4.4%

Q4: What do you think is important for a man to have to be considered “handsome”? (Sample size=2,990, multiple answer)

Gentleness	52.0%
Consideration	51.0%
Personal grooming	50.6%
Intelligence	41.5%
Conduct	36.5%
Sense	36.2%
Healing	28.1%
Humour	27.2%
Way with words	23.4%
Good at job	23.2%
Physical strength	18.4%
Reflexes	14.8%
Financial strength	11.6%
Way of spending private time	7.3%
Other	2.6%
Don’t know	6.0%

Q5: Would you like to be handsome? (Sample size=2,990)

Would like to, but not doing anything about it	41.8%
Putting effort into being so	17.9%
Don’t want to be handsome	17.5%
Gave up trying to be handsome	13.5%
Already handsome	6.5%
Other	2.7%

As age increased less people were interested in either putting in the effort or even wanting to be though of as handsome.

Q6: Regarding personal grooming, which of the following do you take some care over? (Sample size=2,990, multiple answer)

Tidy up nose hair once a week or more	25.5%
Manage facial hair (beard trimming, designer stubble, etc)	21.1%
Use face lotion, cream after washing	11.9%
Use cologne, scent, etc	11.1%
Trim eyebrows	11.0%
Remove excess hair	4.6%
Take a mirror with me when going out	1.9%
Go to the hairdresser at least once a fortnight	1.3%
Go to a beauty salon	0.6%
Go to a nail salon	0.3%
Other	2.9%
Concerned about personal appearance, but don’t do anything in particular	34.3%
Not particularly bothered about personal appearance	20.8%