世論 What Japan Thinks

The hanami, cherry blossom viewing, season is in full swing, which means all the popular areas are packed, making for not really a very pleasant experience in my opinion. Thus, this survey from iShare into hanami information sites looked into “air hanami”, just looking at the photos and not bothering visiting in person.

Demographics

Between the 10th and 15th of March 2010 548 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 54.9% of the sample were male, 33.9% in their twenties, 31.2% in their thirties, and 34.9% in their forties.

Watching the television this last weekend, I saw that Ueno Park in Tokyo had around 100,000 visitors on Saturday! I find the crowds too much bother, so I make do with looking at Kema Sakuranomiya Park in Osaka through the window of the train to and from work.

Research results

Q1: Do you like the colour pink? (Sample size=548)

&nbsp	All	Male N=301	Female N=247
Love it	28.5%	18.3%	40.9%
Like it a little	51.5%	54.8%	47.4%
Dislike it	20.1%	26.9%	11.7%

Q2: Do you go to view the cherry blossoms every year? (Sample size=548)

&nbsp	All	Male N=301	Female N=247
Usually go	25.5%	20.9%	31.2%
Usually don’t go	56.0%	56.5%	55.5%
Never go	18.4%	22.6%	13.4%

People who liked the colour pink were more likely to go to view the cherry blossoms.

Q3: Have you ever looked up flower opening information on a hanami information web site? (Sample size=548)

&nbsp	All	Male N=301	Female N=247
Yes (to SQs)	25.4%	22.6%	28.7%
No	74.6%	77.4%	71.3%

Q3SQ1: After looking up the information, have you ever just looked at the photos (air hanami) rather than going to see them for real? (Sample size=139)

&nbsp	All	Male N=68	Female N=71
Yes	71.2%	70.6%	71.8%
No	28.8%	29.4%	28.2%

Q3SQ2: After looking up the information, have you ever wanted to go to a different area to see the attractive cherry blossoms? (Sample size=139)

&nbsp	All	Male N=68	Female N=71
Yes	90.6%	88.2%	93.0%
No	9.4%	11.8%	7.0%