世論 What Japan Thinks

I’m back from my holidays (which did not include any skiing) to report on a survey from iShare on the dangers of skiing.

Demographics

Over the 30th of November and the 1st of December 2010 1,476 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 62.7% of the sample were male, 20.0% in their twenties, 24.5% in their thirties, 31.1% in their forties, and 24.4% in their fifties. Note that the ski season would have barely started in Japan at the time of the survey, and only a few remote locations would have been open.

I was a bit disappointed that there wasn’t a question about skiing overseas; although the skiing in Japan is very good, I would have liked to know how many people had gone on foreign skiing holidays.

Last time I went skiing was an overnight work trip back in Scotland, and I got horrendous sunburn as no-one told me that the UV reflects off the snow and hits your face from all angles!

Research results

Q1: When did you last go skiing? (Sample size=1,476)

	All	Male N=925	Female N=551
This season	0.7%	0.8%	0.5%
Last season	10.4%	12.0%	7.6%
Two or three years ago	6.6%	7.2%	5.6%
Four or five years ago	6.2%	6.3%	6.0%
Six or seven years ago	5.8%	5.4%	6.4%
Eight or nine years ago	3.3%	3.5%	3.1%
Ten or more years ago	38.9%	36.7%	42.5%
Never been skiing (to end of survey)	28.2%	28.2%	28.2%

Q2: What was the reasons for going skiing? (Sample size=1,060, multiple answer)

	All	Male N=665	Female N=395
Friends, family asked me along	76.4%	77.0%	75.4%
School trip, club event	34.0%	34.6%	32.9%
Influenced by movie	3.8%	5.1%	1.5%
Influenced by hit song	2.2%	2.6%	1.5%
Influenced by television advertisement	2.0%	2.4%	1.3%
Influenced by Olypmics	1.7%	2.0%	1.3%
Other	7.6%	6.9%	8.9%

There was a question on what songs people would like to listen to on the slopes, but the answers were very Christmas-oriented, so I’ll skip them.

Q3: If you were to go snowing this season, for how many nights would you go? (Sample size=1,060, multiple answer)

	All	Male N=665	Female N=395
Day return (including overnight bus, sleeping in car, etc)	340.7%	42.9%	37.0%
One night	43.5%	44.5%	41.8%
Two nights	29.7%	28.6%	31.6%
Three or more nights	8.3%	8.6%	7.8%

Q4: If you were to go snowing this season, about how much would your budget be for a trip, including transport fees, hotels, etc? (Sample size=1,060)

	All	Male N=665	Female N=395
Under 5,000 yen	11.1%	10.7%	11.9%
5,000 to 9,999 yen	23.1%	23.0%	23.3%
10,000 to 14,999 yen	17.0%	18.0%	15.2%
15,000 to 19,999 yen	14.9%	14.4%	15.7%
20,000 to 29,999 yen	16.5%	15.9%	17.5%
30,000 to 49,999 yen	12.6%	12.5%	12.9%
50,000 yen or more	4.7%	5.4%	3.5%

Q5: What do you take with you onto the slopes? (Sample size=1,060, multiple answer)

	All	Male N=665	Female N=395
Mobile phone	84.7%	86.6%	81.5%
Sunglasses	57.5%	60.2%	52.9%
Watch	52.35	55.6%	46.6%
Camera	50.1%	53.5%	44.3%
Towel	48.5%	45.1%	54.2%
Pocket warmer	40.4%	32.3%	53.9%
Sweets	34.1%	27.4%	45.3%
Portable music player	19.0%	18.9%	19.0%
Electronic cash	11.6%	13.8%	7.8%
Video camera	9.0%	11.0%	5.6%
Portable game machine	5.7%	5.3%	6.3%
Helmet	3.4%	4.1%	2.3%
Other	4.4%	3.8%	5.6%

Q6: Will you go skiing this season? (Sample size=1,060)

	All	Male N=665	Female N=395
Plan to go (to SQ)	9.0%	10.2%	6.8%
Don’t have plan, but would like to (to SQ)	28.5%	31.6%	23.3%
Won’t go	62.5%	58.2%	69.9%

Q6SQ: What kind of skiing do you want to enjoy this season? (Sample size=397, multiple answer)

	All	Male N=278	Female N=119
Ordinary skiing	83.9%	84.5%	82.4%
Snowboard	30.5%	30.2%	31.1%
Ski board (Fun ski)	14.9%	15.1%	14.3%
Off-piste (backcountry) skiing	3.8%	2.9%	5.9%
Other	3.0%	2.2%	5.0%

Q7: Have you ever had an accident or a near-miss on the slopes? (Sample size=1,060)

	All	Male N=665	Female N=395
Had an accident (to SQs)	28.0%	28.9%	26.6%
Near miss only	25.4%	26.9%	22.8%
Neither	46.6%	44.2%	50.6%

Q7SQ1: What kinds of accidents have you had on the slopes? (Sample size=297, multiple answer)

	All	Male N=192	Female N=105
Did myself an injury	50.2%	52.6%	45.7%
Broke a ski, other equipment	26.3%	28.6%	21.9%
Got injured when someone hit me	24.2%	20.8%	30.5%
Had an accident on the way to the slopes	7.7%	10.4%	2.9%
Broke something I carried with me	6.1%	6.3%	5.7%
Got injured when I hit someone	5.7%	5.2%	6.7%
Had ski equipment stolen	4.7%	4.2%	5.7%
Got into difficulties	2.0%	2.1%	1.9%
Had something I carried with me stolen	1.3%	1.0%	1.9%
Other	15.5%	12.5%	21.0%

Q7SQ2: How much did the accident cost you? If more than one, answer with the highest value. (Sample size=297)

	All	Male N=192	Female N=105
Nothing	33.3%	29.2%	41.0%
Under 5,000 yen	15.5%	15.6%	15.2%
5,000 to 9,999 yen	11.4%	11.5%	11.4%
10,000 to 29,999 yen	17.8%	20.8%	12.4%
30,000 to 49,999 yen	6.1%	6.3%	5.7%
50,000 to 99,999 yen	8.1%	8.9%	6.7%
100,000 to 199,999 yen	3.0%	2.6%	3.8%
200,000 to 499,999 yen	1.7%	2.1%	1.0%
500,000 to 999,999 yen	1.3%	2.1%	0.0%
1,000,000 to 4,999,999 yen	1.3%	0.5%	2.9%
5,000,000 to 9,999,999 yen	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
10,000,000 yen or more	0.3%	0.5%	0.0%

Q8: When you go skiing, do you take anything with you in case of accidents? (Sample size=1,060)

	All	Male N=665	Female N=395
Yes (to SQ)	44.0%	42.7%	46.1%
No	56.0%	57.3%	53.9%

Q8SQ: What do you take with you in case of accidents? (Sample size=466, multiple answer)

	All	Male N=284	Female N=182
Insurance card	82.6%	83.8%	80.8%
Band-aid	46.4%	40.5%	55.5%
Boiled sweets, chocolate	46.4%	41.5%	53.8%
Emergency contact information	42.7%	41.9%	44.0%
Pocket warmer	40.3%	30.6%	55.5%
Large handkerchief, bandana, other cloth	23.0%	19.7%	28.0%
Writing implements	22.1%	21.5%	23.1%
Compress	18.0%	17.3%	19.2%
Disinfectant	11.2%	10.2%	12.6%
Other	3.9%	4.2%	3.3%

Q9: Do you currently have insurance that covers leisure-related accidents? (Sample size=1,060)

	All	Male N=665	Female N=395
Yes (to SQ)	15.0%	17.0%	11.6%
No	62.9%	65.0%	59.5%
Don’t know whether my current insurance covers leisure-related accidents	22.1%	18.0%	28.9%

Q9SQ: Are you aware of what kinds of accidents your current insurance covers? (Sample size=159)

	All	Male N=113	Female N=46
Fully aware	24.5%	24.8%	23.9%
Not aware of some aspects	59.7%	59.3%	60.9%
Not aware of many aspects	15.7%	15.9%	15.2%
Not aware of anything at all	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%