世論 What Japan Thinks

I’ve never eaten a convenience store bento (boxed lunch) as I am yet to see a vegetarian offering; the best I did when I was single was a Lawson’s tomato pasta, which was particularly disgusting. However, that doesn’t seem to bother many people in this survey from MyVoice into convenience store boxed lunches.

Demographics

Over the first five days of June 2009 15,023 members of the MyVoice internet community successfully completed a private online questionnaire. 54% of the sample were female, 2% in their teens, 14% in their twenties, 36% in their thirties, 30% in their forties, and 18% aged fifty or older.

The actual title of this survey, and coincidentally the name of a sadly deceased (the blog, not the blogger!) gaijin blogger’s blog, is the commonly used abbreviation, conbini bento.

Research results

Q1: About how often do you buy convenience store bento? (Sample size=15,023)

A number of times per week	7.4%
Once a week	9.5%
Two or three times a month	14.0%
Once a month	31.7%
Never	37.4%

Q2: About how much do you pay for your convenience store bento? (Sample size=bento eaters)

Up to 299 yen	1.7%
300 to 349 yen	6.5%
350 to 399 yen	17.5%
400 to 449 yen	25.8%
450 to 499 yen	27.4%
500 to 549 yen	15.2%
550 to 599 yen	3.4%
600 yen or more	2.2%
No answer	0.2%

Q3: Which convenience store has the most tasty bento? (Sample size=bento eaters)

7-11	50.3%
Family Mart	9.8%
Lawson’s	9.5%
Circle-K, Sankus	4.5%
am/pm	2.9%
Ministop	1.4%
Popular	0.8%
Daily Yamazaki	0.6%
Three F	0.5%
Other	1.3%
Don’t know	18.1%
No answer	0.2%

Q4: On what basis do you select which convenience store bento to buy? (Sample size=bento eaters, multiple answer)

Lovely, mouthwatering to look at	59.5%
Price	50.4%
Has lots of various items	34.0%
Flavour	32.9%
Has vegetables	22.1%
Overall size is large	18.5%
Has meat, fish	18.4%
Low calorie	18.3%
New product	11.4%
Has seasonal ingredients	10.0%
Is part of promotional campaign	8.9%
Is the one I usually eat	8.4%
Large amount of rice	6.5%
Is topic of conversation from advertising, word of mouth, etc	5.3%
Overall size is small	3.8%
Produced in conjuction with a famous shop, etc	3.5%
In-store, storefront advertisement	3.1%
Small amount of rice	2.7%
Other	1.9%
Not particularly bothered	4.7%
No answer	0.1%

Q5: What other foodstuffs do you buy along with your convenience store bento? (Sample size=bento eaters, multiple answer)

Dessert	22.6%
Salad	17.7%
Sweets	14.1%
Miso soup	11.0%
Rice ball, sushi roll, inari sushi (rice in tofu pillow)	10.5%
Sweet bread, prepared bread	9.3%
Soup	9.2%
Cup noodle, other instant food	7.1%
Ice cream, sherbet, etc	6.9%
Sandwich	5.8%
“Hot corner” food (hot dog, chicken nuggets, etc)	5.8%
Prepared side dishes	4.6%
Noodles	3.0%
Other	15.5%
Don’t buy any extra food	27.7%
No answer	0.5%

Q6: What drinks do you buy along with your convenience store bento? (Sample size=bento eaters, multiple answer)

Japanese tea, tea-based drink	68.5%
Chinese tea, tea-based drink	24.6%
Coffee, coffee-based drink	15.1%
Black tea, tea-based drink	10.9%
Mineral water	9.4%
Vegetable juice	7.2%
Fizzy drink	6.7%
Fruit juice	5.3%
Sports drink	4.6%
Alcohol	2.7%
Lactic acid-based drink	2.6%
Milk	1.9%
Health drink	1.6%
Other	0.5%
Don’t buy any drink	14.3%
No answer	1.1%

Q7: When do you usually eat your convenience store bento? (Sample size=bento eaters)

Breakfast	0.9%
Lunch	77.5%
Evening meal	16.3%
Late night	3.4%
Other	1.2%
No answer	0.6%