世論 What Japan Thinks

One of the latest fads in fruit these days seems to be the above “Godzilla’s egg”, an egg-shaped watermelon weighing in at a good few kilograms. As for me, one thing I miss in Japan is a real pear-shaped and pear-flavoured pear, not the watery apple-like thing that is all too common. Melons seem to missing something too, and don’t get me started on other entertainingly-shaped watermelons. However, I can’ t think of a smooth seque into a recent survey conducted by Yahoo! Japan Value Insight (ex infoPLANT) into the subject of fruit.

Demographics

Over the 29th and 30th of June 2007 300 members of the Yahoo! Japan Value Insight internet monitor panel completed an online questionnaire. Exactly 50:50 were male and female, but age groups are not listed, although these sorts of surveys from Value Insight tend to have the numbers in each age group evenly distributed.

You know when you’ve been in Japan too long when you order grapefruitS juice when speaking English.

There were also a few bonus facts added to the report. The full survey was 19 questions long, but just the highlights are in the translated article.

When buying Chuhai (cheap fruit-flavoured alcoholic drinks) rather than price it was flavour that was most important.

The survey was conducted a week after Snapple Peach and Rose Tea went on sale, and 13% were curious about the mix of peach and rose.

About one in three women were interested in buying high-quality fruit juices.

Research results

Q1: What is your most favourite fruit? (Sample size=299)

Rank	Fruit	Percentage
1	Peach	16%
2	Strawberry	11%
3	Japanese-style pear	10%
4	Mandarin orange	9%
5	Melon	8%

There was one person who didn’t like any fruit. The full survey had a question on the fruit people disliked the most, but sadly the What Japan Thinks budget does not stretch far enough for me to consider purchasing the detailed report to find out what it was.

Q2: In the last two or three years, which fruits have you been eating more of? (Sample size=300, multiple answer)

All	Percentage	Male N=150	Percentage	Female N=150	Percentage
Banana	23%	Banana	20%	Banana	26%
Strawberry	21%	Strawberry	17%	Strawberry	24%
Apple	16%	Apple	16%	Mango	19%
Kiwi fruit	16%	Kiwi fruit	13%	Grapefruit	18%
Grapefruit	15%	Grapefruit	12%	Kiwi fruit	18%

Q3: Which fruits do you think are good for you? (Sample size=300, multiple answer)

All	Percentage	Male N=150	Percentage	Female N=150	Percentage
Grapefruit	54%	Lemon	52%	Grapefruit	65%
Blueberry	54%	Blueberry	51%	Banana	56%
Lemon	52%	Apple	48%	Blueberry	56%
Banana	50%	Mandarin	47%	Lemon	53%
Apple	50%	Banana	45%	Apple	53%

Q4A: Which fruits do you associate with spring? (Sample size=300, multiple answer)

Rank	Fruit	Percentage
1	Strawberry	66%
2	Cherry	24%
3	Peach	4%
4	Orange	1%
5	Kiwi fruit	1%

Q4B: Which fruits do you associate with summer? (Sample size=300, multiple answer)

Rank	Fruit	Percentage
1	Watermelon	93%
2	Pineapple	19%
3	Peach	18%
4	Melon	13%
5	Hirami lemon (shekwasha)	12%

Q4C: Which fruits do you associate with autumn? (Sample size=300, multiple answer)

Rank	Fruit	Percentage
1	Japanese-style pear	53%
2	Grape	31%
3	Apple	20%
4	Western-style pear	11%
5	Peach	10%

Q4D: Which fruits do you associate with winter? (Sample size=300, multiple answer)

Rank	Fruit	Percentage
1	Mandarin	78%
2	Apple	27%
3	Strawberry	12%
4	Orange	2%
5	Melon	1%