世論 What Japan Thinks

Healthy beer is a phrase one doesn’t hear too often, but that’s basically the title of a recent survey conducted by MyVoice into health-related beer-like drinks.

Demographics

Over the first five days of March 2008 14,373 members of the MyVoice internet community successfully completed an internet-based questionnaire. 54% of the sample was female, 15% in their twenties, 39% in their thirties, 30% in their forties, and 16% in their fifties. Note that since the legal drinking age is twenty, teenagers were excluded from this survey.

I got a free can of Kirin ZERO for going to see a cross-dressing dancing General Douglas MacArthur (don’t ask!) but my wife gave it away to the father-in-law before I got a chance to sample it. I tried Tanrei Green Label and it was just as much swill as the full-sugar Tanrei!

In Q7, being good for health is an interesting answer. I suspect it is not just a poor wording (“can control calorie intake” might have been better), but I’ve seen people on television interpret “not so bad for you” as “can consume as much as I like.” One strong memory is of an actor knocking back two or more bottles of red wine a night and being shocked when the doctor told him that that was a bad thing.

Research results

Q1: What types of beer do you often drink? (Sample size=14,373, multiple answer)

Beer	44.7%
Happoshu	36.6%
Third-sector beer	23.3%
Premium beer	13.0%
Healthy beer	10.1%
Don’t drink beer	13.1%
Don’t drink any alcohol	23.1%

Due to excise laws in Japan taxing beer based partially on malt content, happoshu was created as a cheap low-malt or malt-free brew with gas added for a beer-like effect. Third-sector beer is another tax dodge, this time using things like green peas or soya beans as the basic material in the fermenting process.

Q2: Do you know about “healthy beers”, which have healthy features such as low sugar, low calorie or low purine? (Sample size=14,373)

Yes	84.9%
No	15.1%

Q3: Which of the following healthy beers do you know or have you heard of? (Sample size=14,373, multiple answer)

Kirin Tanrei Green Label (Kirin)	77.3%
Aqua Blue (Asahi)	62.7%
Kirin ZERO (Kirin)	58.4%
Diet Nama (Suntory)	58.1%
Kirin Tanrei Alpha (Kirin)	42.2%
Asahi STYLE FREE (Asahi)	34.9%
Slims (Sapporo)	21.0%
Zero Nama (Suntory)	19.2%
BEER FINE (Sapporo)	11.8%
Nankoku Monogatari (Orion)	6.5%
Other healthy beer	1.8%
Don’t know any at all	9.6%
No answer	0.9%

Q4: About how often do you drink healthy beers? (Sample size=beer drinkers)

Almost every day	3.1%
Three or four days a week	3.4%
One or two days a week	7.7%
Two or three days a month	9.0%
One day a month or less	20.1%
Don’t drink healthy beer	54.8%
No answer	1.9%

Q5: Which of the following healthy beers have you drunk? (Sample size=beer drinkers, multiple answer)

Kirin Tanrei Green Label (Kirin)	70.8%
Aqua Blue (Asahi)	41.9%
Diet Nama (Suntory)	31.4%
Kirin Tanrei Alpha (Kirin)	27.6%
Kirin ZERO (Kirin)	22.7%
Asahi STYLE FREE (Asahi)	17.7%
Slims (Sapporo)	12.3%
BEER FINE (Sapporo)	4.3%
Zero Nama (Suntory)	4.1%
Nankoku Monogatari (Orion)	2.3%
Other healthy beer	3.1%
No answer	1.5%

Q6: Which healthy beers do you drink the most? (Sample size=healthy beer drinkers)

Kirin Tanrei Green Label (Kirin)	42.0%
Aqua Blue (Asahi)	13.9%
Diet Nama (Suntory)	10.1%
Asahi STYLE FREE (Asahi)	6.4%
Kirin ZERO (Kirin)	5.8%
Kirin Tanrei Alpha (Kirin)	5.1%
Slims (Sapporo)	2.0%
BEER FINE (Sapporo)	0.8%
Zero Nama (Suntory)	0.6%
Nankoku Monogatari (Orion)	0.5%
Other healthy beer	0.9%
None in particular	10.3%
No answer	1.5%

Q7: Why do you drink healthy beers? (Sample size=healthy beer drinkers, multiple answer)

Cheap	28.1%
Good for health	27.0%
Easy to drink	22.0%
Has taste I like	19.8%
Delicious	15.5%
Light yet rich taste	13.7%
Can enjoy alcohol in a worry-free manner	7.8%
From an established brewer	5.1%
Was recommended by family	4.8%
New product	4.5%
Lower alcohol content	4.4%
Branding	4.2%
Good impression from advertising	3.5%
Packaging looks mouth-watering	2.7%
It’s a hot topic these days	2.5%
Promotional campaign	2.0%
Friends rated it highly	1.7%
Other	2.9%
No particular reason	14.4%
No answer	1.3%