世論 What Japan Thinks

Here’s another rather slow set of results from DIMSDRIVE Research (although, of course I’m most grateful for making the data public) into theme parks and funfairs.

Demographics

Between the 12th and 27th of May 2010 8,164 members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.9% of the sample were male, 0.9% in their teens, 11.4% in their twenties, 31.6% in their thirties, 32.4% in their forties, 15.9% in their fifties, and 7.8% aged sixty or older. As a further demographic, 62.2% were married.

I personally hate roller coasters, in particular the lift part, both from the point of view of heights (I’m not terribly good with them) and the slow wind-up. The most recent one I rode was at Universal Studios Japan, which has slightly reclining seats so you are basically horizontal on the way up, and my wife (who loves them) was telling me how she found it scary when she had ridden before. Getting off these things I have terrible rubber legs but a strange feeling of relief for having survived. My worst experience was on a tea cup kind of ride (in Japan it’s called a coffee cup) which little to my knowledge beforehand tilted up to around sixty degrees, but with no seat belts, just an iron bar to brace against. At the same theme park (Expoland, now closed after a fatal accident) on another day with work colleagues one woman had to be pushed onto a kiddie-oriented haunted house-type of tunnel ride that featured not much more than a few static glow-in-the-dark bats.

Research results

Q1: Which of the following funfairs and theme parks have you been to? (Sample size=8,164, multiple answer)

Tokyo Disneyland	73.8%
Tokyo Disney Sea	40.9%
Toshimaen	31.9%
Fuji-Q High Land	29.8%
Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise	28.8%
Universal Studios Japan	26.2%
Yomiuri Land	25.5%
Tokyo Dome City Attractions	24.8%
Asakusa Hanayashiki	24.5%
Tokyo Summerland	18.9%
Nagashima Spa Land	17.3%
Seibuen Yuenchi	16.6%
Tobu Dobutsu Koen	16.6%
Hirakata Park	15.1%
Yokohama Cosmo World	14.6%
Nasu Highland Park	14.1%
Suzuka Circuit Motopia	14.0%
Adventure World	13.1%
Parque Espana	11.6%
Space World	11.6%
Never gone to any	3.2%

Note that the list above is not exhaustive, so there was no doubt lots of parks in single figures.

By area of residence, Tokyo Disneyland was most popular for almost every region of Japan, especially from Hokkaido to Nagoya, where it was 30 percentage points ahead of the competition. For the Kinki (Osaka, etc) area, Universal Studio Japan in Osaka was tops, followed by a local railway company’s Hirakata Park, then TDL, but with one and a half percentage points separating them. For the Chugoku and Shikoku area, TDL was again tops, but for Kyushu and Okinawa TDL did not enter the top three, but neither did my favourite, Huis Ten Bosch.

Q2: Which funfair or theme park that you have been to is your favourite? (Sample size=7,901)

Tokyo Disneyland	37.2%
Tokyo Disney Sea	10.0%
Universal Studios Japan	5.2%
Fuji-Q High Land	3.0%
Nagashima Spa Land	1.9%
Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise	1.9%
Asakusa Hanayashiki	1.4%
Adventure World	1.1%
Toshimaen	1.0%
Rusutsu Resort	0.9%
Umi no Nakamichi Seaside Park	0.9%
Suzuka Circuit Motopia	0.8%
Hirakata Park	0.8%
Space World	0.8%
Greenland	0.7%

TDL was the favourite everywhere, and even in USJ’s home area it was twice as popular as USJ.

Q3: Why is the funfair or theme park from Q2 your favourite? (Sample size=6,107, multiple answer)

Can enjoy a full day	54.5%
Like the atmosphere, theme	46.1%
Can enjoy with family	45.3%
Fun for adults	36.1%
Can forget everything matters	35.7%
Lots of shows	33.5%
Lots of attractions	32.5%
High-quality shows	31.7%
Responsive staff	27.0%
Fun for children	26.0%
Like the park’s characters	25.5%
Has attractions I like (excluding thrill rides)	23.7%
Regular new shows, events to experience	22.5%
Lots of souvenirs, character goods, etc	21.3%
Lots of shopping facilities	17.7%
Has thrill rides I like	17.2%
Lots of eating facilities	14.7%
Lots of thrill rides	9.4%
Not crowded	7.4%
Can get in touch with nature	6.7%
Cheap	4.3%
Other	4.7%
Nothing in particular	2.3%

In a breakdown of the top five theme parks versus the top five enjoyments, TDL and TDS beat the competition in every category except for having lots of attactions, where USJ topped TDS and was just two percentage points behind TDL.

Q4: Which of the following funfairs and theme parks that you have not been to would you like to visit sometime? (Sample size=8,164, multiple answer)

Tokyo Disney Sea	27.6%
Universal Studios Japan	21.2%
Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise	16.0%
Fuji-Q High Land	11.5%
Tokyo Disneyland	9.2%
Asakusa Hanayashiki	8.9%
Space World	7.3%
Nagashima Spa Land	5.6%
Suzuka Circuit Motopia	5.5%
Umi no Nakamichi Seaside Park	5.4%
Toshimaen	5.3%
Adventure World	5.1%
Yomiuri Land	4.7%
Tokyo Dome City Attractions	4.6%
Tobu Dobutsuen	4.5%
Rusutsu Resort	3.8%
Parque Espana	3.8%
Kokuei Hitachi Kaihin Koen	3.7%
Nasu Highland Park	3.7%
Yokohama Cosmo World	3.4%

Tokyo Disney Sea was tops for almost every region, except for the Kanto area centred on Tokyo, where USJ displaced TDS. USJ was second for everywhere except in its Kinki home, where TDL followed TDS.

Q5: About how often do you go to funfairs and theme parks? (Sample size=7,901)

Twice a month or more	0.3%
Once a month	0.5%
Once every two or three months	4.1%
Once every six months	11.5%
Once a year	18.3%
Once every two or three years	17.1%
Once every four or five years	9.4%
Less than that	34.6%
Don’t know	4.2%

Q6: Who do you go to funfairs and theme parks with? (Sample size=7,901, multiple answer)

With family	52.4%
With spouse	32.7%
With children	24.3%
With friends of the same sex	23.4%
With boyfriend, girlfriend	14.6%
With friends of the opposite sex	11.0%
With parents	3.4%
With work colleagues	3.0%
With others	1.4%
By myself	1.9%
Don’t know, don’t remember	7.0%

Q7: About how much do you spend per person on average when you visit funfairs and theme parks? Exclude hotel fees but include ticket costs. (Sample size=7,901)

Under 3,000 yen	9.7%
3,000 to 4,999 yen	23.6%
5,000 to 9,999 yen	44.3%
10,000 to 14,999 yen	15.0%
15,000 to 19,999 yen	4.2%
20,000 to 29,999 yen	2.2%
30,000 to 39,999 yen	0.5%
40,000 to 49,999 yen	0.2%
50,000 yen or more	0.3%

Q8: Do you like thrill rides? (Sample size=7,901)

	All	Male N=3,962	Female N=3,939
Love them	17.4%	15.4%	19.5%
Like them	26.2%	25.8%	26.7%
Can’t say either way	22.1%	26.5%	17.7%
Dislike them	19.5%	19.7%	19.2%
Hate them	14.8%	12.6%	16.9%

Q9: Do you like haunted houses? (Sample size=7,901)

	All	Male N=3,962	Female N=3,939
Love them	7.6%	8.5%	6.7%
Like them	20.4%	24.1%	16.6%
Can’t say either way	33.2%	39.2%	27.2%
Dislike them	24.3%	20.5%	28.2%
Hate them	14.5%	7.7%	21.3%

Q10: How long are you prepared to queue for an attraction? (Sample size=7,901)

Up to 30 minutes	15.1%
Up to an hour	44.5%
Up to two hours	11.9%
Up to three hours	1.8%
Up to five hours	0.4%
Up to ten hours	0.4%
Up to twenty hours	0.9%
Up to thirty hours	2.5%
Up to fifty hours	0.8%
More than fifty hours	0.9%
Won’t even wait for a minute or two	20.8%

There was next a graph on how much people would be prepared to pay to avoid the queueing, but a lot of the percentages were unmarked, so I can just report in text. Also, it wasn’t clear if the price was per ride or for a whole day. 4.6% would pay up to 100 yen, 4.2% up to 200 yen, 6.9% up to 300 yen, a tiny sliver 400 yen, then 16.9% up to 500 yen. A few more tiny slivers covered 600, 700, 800 and 900 yen, then 10.7% willing to pay 1,000 yen. The next significant figure was 3.1% willing to pay 2,000 yen, but 48.6% were not prepared to pay anything extra at all.

Q11: Which of the following have you done, experienced at a funfair or theme park? (Sample size=7,901, multiple answer)

Rode a tea cup ride and got motion sickness	37.3%
Bought a photo after the jet coaster, other ride	36.5%
Wanted to ride everything in a day	28.1%
Had a snog in the ferris wheel	27.4%
Dropped something on the roller coaster, etc	6.8%
Had to give up in the haunted house	6.1%
Got on stage for the Power Rangers show	4.9%
Didn’t get to ride anything because of the queues	3.4%
On a date the haunted house was scary but I struggled through	12.0%
On a date got fed up pretending the haunted house was scary	5.8%

Across every age group about 50% more women than men got motion sickness on the tea cup ride. About a third more women wanted to ride everything, but curiously although similar number of men and women up to their forties had a snog on the ferris wheel, well over twice as many men compared to women in their fifties and sixties got all romantic on the big wheel. About equal numbers of men and women fought their fears and struggled through the haunted house, but slightly more women than men faked their way through.