世論 What Japan Thinks

Another recent survey from MyVoice looked this time at the sense of taste.

Demographics

Over the first five days of September 2008 15,245 members of the MyVoice internet community completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 54% of the sample were female, 1% in their teens, 15% in their twenties, 36% in their thirties, 29% in their forties, and 19% in their fifties.

Many Japanese seem to make a fuss over the inability of foreigners to eat anko, a sweet bean paste usually made from adzuki beans, which I have never had a problem with. Certain kinds of seaweed have never been a problem, but natto defeats me every time. I used to hate Brie and other soft French cheeses until I went to Normandie and had it fresh there, so perhaps I need to find a similarly-fresh kind of natto, not the cheap supermarket plastic packs.

Research results

Q1: How sensitive are you to tastes? (Sample size=15,245)

Very sensitive	14.1%
Somewhat sensitive	51.9%
Not very sensitive	31.5%
Not sensitive at all	2.4%

Q2: In your normal daily life, how often do you eat pre-packed food such as side dishes, bento lunch boxes, frozen foods, instant foods, etc? (Sample size=15,245)

Almost every meal	2.3%
Once a day or more	8.7%
Several times a week	42.7%
Several times a month	35.3%
Almost never	10.8%
No answer	0.2%

Q3: About how often do you yourself cook? (Sample size=15,245)

Almost every meal	29.4%
Once a day or more	16.4%
Several times a week	16.0%
Several times a month	13.0%
Almost never cook myself	25.1%
No answer	0.2%

Q4: What factors other than taste are related to you feeling food is delicious? (Sample size=15,245, multiple answer)

Smell	77.9%
Appearance	76.7%
How empty my stomach is	65.9%
Feel when chewed	55.4%
Physical state	54.7%
Who I am eating with	48.3%
Feel on the tongue	44.9%
Mental state	40.9%
Where I am eating	39.1%
Feeling when going down the troat	36.1%
Time of meal	16.7%
Sound when chewing	15.9%
Sound when cooking	14.4%
Price	8.2%
Knowledge of the food	7.2%
Brand of ingredients	7.0%
Number of times I’ve eaten	2.9%
How well-known the cook is	2.6%
Other	1.4%
Nothing in particular	0.9%
No answer	0.0%

Q5: At what sorts of times do you feel that food that should be edible feels unappetising? (Sample size=15,245, multiple answer)

When in a poor physical state	62.6%
When stomach isn’t empty	48.9%
When feeling stressed	47.8%
When fatigued	37.9%
When sad	27.3%
When angry	26.6%
After a row	20.6%
When suffering from lack of sleep	19.9%
When eating foods that don’t go well together	16.7%
When the presentation is ugly	15.9%
After getting scolded by boss, teacher, etc	11.5%
When eating alone	8.9%
After hard exercise	7.1%
When the cost is high	3.1%
When eating with someone different	3.1%
When eating somewhere different	1.4%
When the cost is low	0.9%
Never felt food has been bad	7.0%
Other	1.9%
No answer	0.2%

Q6: How has your awareness of taste changed over the last several years? (Sample size=15,245, multiple answer)

Prefer less salty food	19.1%
Become less fussy eater	13.3%
Feel food is delicious more often	10.8%
Become sensitive to food additives	10.0%
Like sweet food	8.4%
Like sour food	7.6%
Become sensitive to mono-sodium glutamate	6.6%
Like highly-stimulating food	6.2%
Cannot cope with highly-stimulating food	6.0%
Feel food is delicious less often	5.6%
Prefer more salty food	5.1%
Cannot cope with sweet food	3.3%
Become more fussy eater	1.7%
Harder to sense the taste of mono-sodium glutamate	1.7%
Cannot cope with sour food	1.6%
Cannot cope with bitter food	0.9%
Harder to sense food additives	0.6%
None of the above	45.9%
No answer	0.4%

Q7: What food that you used to dislike have you now become able to eat? (Sample size=15,245, free answer)

Rank		Votes
1	Natto	447
2	Bitter melon/bitter gourd (go-ya/nigauri)	385
3	Green pepper/bell pepper	297
4	Aubergine/eggplant	250
5	Celery	169
6	Sea urchin	151
7	Tomato	134
8	Shiitake mushroom	114
9	Vegetables in general	100
10	Sashimi	96

Q7A: What food that you used to dislike have you now become able to eat? (Sample size=7,013, male, free answer)

Rank		Votes
1	Natto	184
2	Green pepper/bell pepper	111
3	Bitter melon/bitter gourd (go-ya/nigauri)	96
4	Aubergine/eggplant	85
5	Celery	61

Q7B: What food that you used to dislike have you now become able to eat? (Sample size=8,232, female, free answer)

Rank		Votes
1	Bitter melon/bitter gourd (go-ya/nigauri)	289
2	Natto	263
3	Green pepper/bell pepper	186
4	Aubergine/eggplant	165
5	Celery	108