世論 What Japan Thinks

I’ve always found Japanese saying “You’re good with chopsticks” such an empty compliment as a lot of them seem pretty poor themselves, and if they ever get loose on a knife and fork it’s often a total disaster. Perhaps what they are saying is that they themselves are no good with a knife and fork, a situation that this survey from iShare seems to back up.

Demographics

Between the 15th and 21st of July 2009 574 members of the free email forwarding service CLUB BBQ completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.3% of the sample were male, 32.6% in their twenties, 31.0% in their thirties, and 36.2% in their forties.

Just thinking about it, one problem my wife has is pressing the knife down when cutting things; most Westerners (I hope! Or at least most Europeans do…) hold knives like we hold our pens, with the index finger straight out, but Japanese tend to hold pens in their fists, so perhaps the correct position is unfamiliar and uncomfortable to them.

I’d also have loved to have seen them asked if they can eat spaghetti without slurping or without holding their face a few centimetres above the place and shovelling the pasta in with both fork and spoon together.

Research results

Q1: Do you have opportunities to eat meals at places where western dishes form the main course? (Sample size=574)

	All	Male N=300	Female N=274
Frequently	12.2%	9.3%	15.3%
Sometimes	75.6%	75.0%	76.3%
Never	12.2%	15.7%	8.4%

Q2: Have you ever eaten spaghetti using a fork and spoon simultaneously? (Sample size=574)

	All	Male N=300	Female N=274
Yes (to SQ)	72.3%	63.7%	81.8%
No	27.7%	36.3%	18.2%

Q2SQ: How good are you at eating spaghetti with a fork and spoon? (Sample size=415)

	All	Male N=191	Female N=224
Strong point	28.7%	24.6%	32.1%
Reasonably strong point	42.2%	40.8%	43.3%
Reasonably poor	22.7%	27.2%	18.8%
Poor	6.5%	7.3%	5.8%

Q3: Have you ever eaten food using a knife and fork simultaneously? (Sample size=574)

	All	Male N=300	Female N=274
Yes (to SQ1)	94.8%	94.0%	95.6%
No	5.2%	6.0%	4.4%

Q3SQ1: How good are you at eating food using a knife and fork? (Sample size=544)

	All	Male N=282	Female N=262
Strong point	17.1%	15.6%	18.7%
Reasonably strong point (to SQ2)	50.2%	50.0%	50.4%
Reasonably poor (to SQ2)	28.9%	29.8%	27.9%
Poor (to SQ2)	3.9%	4.6%	3.1%

Q3SQ2: If you could, would you want to be skillful at eating with a knife and fork? (Sample size=481)

	All	Male N=256	Female N=225
Yes	53.4%	41.4%	67.1%
No	46.6%	58.6%	32.9%