世論 What Japan Thinks

The Cabinet Office Japan recently released the results of a survey they conducted into citizens’ lifestyles. I translated a survey on the same topic conducted two years ago, which may be useful as a cross-reference. See also part 2 of the survey from 2005.

Demographics

Between the 5th and 22nd of July 2007 10,000 members of the public were randomly selected from presumably the electoral rolls. Of that number, 6,086 people actually took part in the survey, conducted by means of face-to-face interviews. The sample was 53.2% female, 9.1% in their twenties, 14.5% in their thirties, 15.4% in their forties, 21.0% in their fifties, 20.7% in their sixties, 15.2% in their seventies, and 4.5% aged eighty or older. In addition, 8.7% lived alone, 24.4% with a spouse, 48.9% in a nuclear household, 15.6% with grandparents or grandchildren, 0.7% in other types of family environment, and 1.7% in other non-family-based living arrangements. 73.7% were married, 12.1% divorced or widowed, 14.0% unmarried, and 0.2% did not answer. 80.2% lived in an owned house, 2.5% in an owned apartment, 3.9% in a rented home, 10.8% in a rented apartment, 0.3% in a company house, 1.6% in a company apartment, 0.4% in other arrangements, and 0.1% didn’t know where they lived. Finally, 27.2% were daily internet browsers at home or work, 16.5% were occasional browsers, 6.8% just used email, and 49.1% barely used it at all, with 0.4% don’t knows.

I decided to highlight the figures from Q6 that suggest one in five feel they have plenty of spare time and 44.2% have some; this compares to a recent survey from MyVoice where just 46% felt they had free time. This apparent disparity can be explained partially by the sample sizes; 40% of the sample here is past retirement age, so no doubt they have much more free time than the MyVoice community, which has a high percentage of young office workers and housewifes with school-age children.

Research results

Q6: In you daily life, do you have time to take a break or pursue your interests, etc? (Sample size=6,086)

Have rather a lot of spare time	20.1%
Have some spare time	44.2%
Don’t have much spare time	24.9%
Have almost no spare time	10.5%
Don’t know	0.3%

Again, none of the figures above changed much more than one percentage point when compared with two years ago.

Q7: When you have had free time recently, what sort of activities have you performed? (Sample size=6,086, multiple answer)

Listening to radio or watching television	54.3%
Enjoying hobbies	43.8%
Leisurely resting	38.4%
Reading newspapers and magazines, etc	36.0%
Enjoying things as a family group	34.1%
Spend time with friends	31.5%
Going shopping	28.6%
Using computer or mobile phone to find out information, read mail, etc	21.6%
Sports and other physical activities	21.4%
Going on trips	21.3%
Community or voluntary work	6.8%
Other	2.1%
Don’t know	0.7%

The big mover here is surfing the internet from computers or mobile phones, up over five percentage points, or nearly a third higher than two years ago. Spending time with the family was up 4.5 percentage points, and hobbies also saw a significant increase, up three percentage points.

Q8: How do you think your home life compares to the average household? (Sample size=6,086)

Well above the norm	0.9%
A little above the norm	9.7%
Average	53.8%
A little below the norm	26.2%
Well below the norm	7.2%
Don’t know	2.2%

Again, none of the figures above changed much more than one percentage point when compared with two years ago.

Q9: How do you think your home life will change in the future? (Sample size=6,086)

Become better	8.3%
Stay pretty much the same	60.2%
Get worse	29.1%
Don’t know	2.5%

Q10: In the future, into what sort of areas of your lifestyle do you particularly want to exert effort? (Sample size=6,086, multiple answer)

Leisure activities	35.1%
Income or salary	29.2%
Food	28.3%
Savings	27.0%
Self-development	24.1%
Home life	23.1%
Car, electrical goods, furniture and other durable consumer goods	7.8%
Clothing	4.8%
Other	2.1%
Nothing in particular	8.1%
Don’t know	2.0%

Compared to two years ago, the big mover was food, people wishing to perhaps reform their diet, given how metabolic syndrome has become such a big topic recently.

Q11: Regarding enriching material possessions and enriching your heart in your future daily life, which of the following two ways of thinking is closest to your way of thinking? (Sample size=6,086)

As I already have sufficient stuff, I want to emphasise enriching my heart and having a leisurely lifestyle	62.6%
I want to emphasise enriching my material possessions	28.6%
I can’t say either applies	7.4%
Don’t know	1.4%

The number looking at improving their spiritual life has increased almost five percentage points since two years ago.

Q12: In the future, do you want to put effort into saving for the future or effort into enjoying your daily life? (Sample size=6,086)

Saving for the future	30.2%
Enjoying fully my daily life	60.5%
I can’t say either applies	8.2%
Don’t know	1.1%

The number of people sitting on the fence has decreased substantially, with the number wishing to live for today increasing more significantly that those wishing to save.