世論 What Japan Thinks

For some reason that I am not quite familiar with, a recent craze in Japan is Buddhist statues, which was the subject of this survey from iShare.

Demographics

Between the 22nd and 25th of June 2009 553 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 56.1% of the sample were male, 38.9% in their twenties, 30.6% in their thirties, and 30.6% in their forties.

This seems like a good excuse to remind my readers that my Buddhist name is The Boy Craving-Filled Head. What’s yours?

I do like visiting temples myself, and the Nara National Museum has a huge collection of statues and other Buddhist treasures, and is well worth a visit.

Research results

Q1: Do you like looking at Buddhist statues? (Sample size=533)

	All	Male N=310	Female N=243
Love it (to SQs)	7.8%	5.5%	10.7%
Like it (to SQs)	32.0%	25.2%	40.7%
Don’t like it	60.2%	69.4%	48.6%

Q1SQ1: How do you view Buddhist statues? (Sample size=220, multiple answer)

	All	Male N=95	Female N=125
Go to look at actual statues	80.9%	75.8%	84.8%
On television	31.4%	32.6%	30.4%
On the internet	17.7%	21.1%	15.2%
In magazines, specialist publications, photo books	15.9%	8.4%	21.6%
Look at statues, related goods I have	1.4%	0.0%	2.4%
Look at my own photo collection	3.6%	4.2%	3.2%
Other	0.9%	0.0%	1.6%

Q1SQ2: Do you feel reluctant to tell friends that you like Buddhist statues? (Sample size=220)

	All	Male N=95	Female N=125
Feel reluctant	1.8%	0.0%	3.2%
Don’t feel reluctant	98.2%	100.0%	96.8%

Q1SQ3: Do you have any Buddhist statues, related goods? (Sample size=220, multiple answer)

	All	Male N=95	Female N=125
Yes, Buddhist statues	3.2%	2.1%	4.0%
Yes, Buddhist goods	9.1%	8.4%	9.6%
No, neither	88.2%	90.5%	86.4%

Q2: Do you like visiting Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines? (Sample size=533)

	All	Male N=310	Female N=243
Love it	15.0%	11.0%	20.2%
Like it	47.7%	45.2%	51.0%
Don’t like it	37.3%	43.9%	28.8%

Q3: Do you like history? (Sample size=533)

	All	Male N=310	Female N=243
Love it	13.9%	11.6%	16.9%
Like it	45.4%	41.9%	49.8%
Don’t like it	40.7%	46.5%	33.3%