世論 What Japan Thinks

Following up on onigiri and drinking, we now have DIMSDRIVE looking at snacking in another survey conducted last year but only reported on this month.

Demographics

Between the 22nd of July and the 5th of August 2010 6,720 members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.5% of the sample were male, 0.7% in their teens, 10.1% in their twenties. 30.2% in their thirties, 33.1% in their forties, 17.4% in their fifties, and 8.5% sixty or older.

I must admit to being one of the ones who snack just about every day; chocolate at work and whatever sweeties or crisps we have lying around the house at weekends, although my excuse is that I don’t eat a full lunch at work, and at home we fill up at breakfast and dinner, so again the snacks play the role of a rather unhealthy lunch.

Research results

Q1: How often do you normally snack? (Sample size=6,720)

	All	Male N=3,596	Female N=3,124
Almost every day	33.0%	21.8%	46.1%
Once every two or three days	23.0%	20.6%	25.7%
Once every four or five days	7.9%	8.9%	6.8%
Once a week	10.6%	13.2%	7.6%
Twice or thrice a month	5.3%	6.6%	3.7%
Less than that	9.9%	13.7%	5.5%
Never snack (to Q7)	10.3%	15.2%	4.6%

There was very little variation by age.

Q2: When do you usually snack? (Sample size=6,031, multiple answer)

	All	Male N=3,050	Female N=2,981
When I get a little peckish	69.9%	64.4%	75.5%
When my mouth feels lonely	28.3%	20.4%	36.4%
When I want to cheer up, feel refreshed	28.3%	21.9%	34.9%
When having a break	25.2%	20.8%	29.7%
When tired	25.0%	17.6%	32.5%
When stressed	19.3%	12.2%	26.6%
When I see something that looks delicious	18.9%	11.6%	26.5%
While watching television	16.9%	13.6%	20.2%
To reset my mouth after a meal	13.5%	9.3%	17.8%
While drinking alcohol	13.3%	15.7%	10.7%
When someone passes me them	11.6%	7.2%	16.1%
At my regular snack time	10.6%	8.5%	12.9%
While doing something	10.5%	8.1%	12.9%
While surfing the internet	10.2%	8.3%	12.1%
During work, study	10.1%	10.1%	10.1%
To fill free time	9.8%	8.0%	11.6%
When my throat is dry	9.5%	7.3%	11.7%
When driving	7.6%	7.3%	7.8%
While watching movies	7.6%	6.2%	8.9%
Other	1.0%	1.1%	0.9%

Q3: When do you most often snack? (Sample size=6,031)

Midnight to 3 am	3.1%
3 am to 6 am	0.5%
6 am to 9 am	1.2%
9 am to noon	3.8%
Noon to 3 pm	37.7%
3 pm to 6 pm	22.1%
6 pm to 9 pm	19.7%
9 pm to midnight	11.9%

Q4: What do you often snack on, and what do you most often snack on? (Sample size=6,031, multiple answer and single answer)

	Often eat	Most often eat
Snack sweets	55.1%	20.2%
Chocolate	50.6%	14.7%
Frozen dessert	46.4%	9.1%
Sembei rice crackers	45.4%	11.1%
Biscuits, cookies	34.9%	5.9%
Jelly, yoghurt, purin	34.9%	6.4%
Western sweets – cake, pancake, etc	32.6%	4.2%
Japanese sweets – dorayaki, taiyaki, etc	31.5%	4.1%
Boiled sweets	21.8%	4.5%
Breads – sandwich, hot dog, etc	20.9%	3.8%
Chewing gum	18.2%	5.1%
Dagashi – cheap sweets	17.8%	1.6%
Noodles – udon, soba, ramen, etc	9.4%	2.0%
Rice – onigiri, ocha-tsuke, etc	8.1%	1.0%
Drink	7.3%	3.5%
Dried foods – kombu seaweed, sour plums, etc	7.1%	0.7%
Functional food – Soyjoy, Calorie Mate, etc	6.6%	0.7%
Diet foods – Microdiet, etc	1.9%	0.3%
Other	1.9%	1.1%

Snack sweets were favourite for men by six percentage points, whereas the reverse was true for chocolate, again by six percentage points.

Q5: How do you usually obtain the foods you snack? (Sample size=6,031, multiple answer)

Buy them myself	88.1%
Get them from someone (to Q7)	22.2%
Make them myself (to Q7)	8.7%
Other (to Q7)	3.4%
Don’t know (to Q7)	1.6%

Q6: Where do you buy your snacks from? (Sample size=5,311, multiple answer)

	All	Male N=2,558	Female N=2,753
Supermarket	82.6%	74.6%	90.1%
Convenience store	55.5%	61.6%	49.7%
Drug store	20.3%	16.1%	24.2%
Specialist store (bread shop, cake shop, sweet shop, etc)	14.6%	10.1%	18.8%
Discount store	14.1%	15.4%	13.0%
Department store	7.0%	3.9%	9.9%

Q7: What do you think are the plus points regarding snacking? (Sample size=6,720, multiple answer)

	All	Male N=3,596	Female N=3,124
Cheers me up	53.0%	46.1%	60.9%
Fills a hole	47.7%	41.9%	54.4%
Can relax	37.7%	32.4%	43.7%
Feel less tired	28.3%	21.9%	35.6%
Can feel refreshed	28.0%	23.6%	33.0%
Can get nourishment	11.3%	12.6%	9.8%
Can focus on work, study	6.8%	5.8%	7.9%
Recover from not eating enough lunch, etc	5.5%	6.3%	4.6%
Other	0.4%	0.3%	0.4%
No plus points	11.8%	16.1%	6.9%

Q8: What do you think are the minus points regarding snacking? (Sample size=6,720, multiple answer)

	All	Male N=3,596	Female N=3,124
Too many calories	65.4%	60.1%	71.5%
Fattening	61.3%	53.1%	70.8%
Eat too much	37.8%	29.8%	47.1%
Becomes a habit	33.4%	26.8%	41.0%
Costs money	31.9%	27.9%	36.6%
Not good for the body	31,3%	32.3%	30.2%
Bad for teeth	22.4%	18.1%	27.4%
Can lose appetite for meals	14.5%	12.8%	16.5%
Bad for skin, beauty	10.1%	4.1%	17.0%
Other	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%
No minus points	6.6%	9.4%	3.4%