世論 What Japan Thinks

Since the Fukushima Dai-ichi meltdown, one of the problems occuring has been the worries about radioactive particles in the tap water (I’d argue that the worries exceed the actual danger), so it was interesting to see this survey from iShare into drinking water for infants.

Demographics

On the 13th of June 2011 576 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 63.9% of the sample were female, 11.8% in their twenties, 80.6% in their thirties, and 7.6% in their forties. All of the sample lived in Tokyo prefecture and had bought mineral water for infants.

The one or two times I’ve been in Tokyo, however, I don’t think I’ve actually drunk the water, so I cannot say how nice or otherwise it is.

In Q7SQ, I never knew there was a recommended water for formula milk! Soft water is apparently the correct answer, and most of the water in Japan is soft. Q10 and Q10SQ shows just over three in four women with infants worry about Fukushima fallout in their water – do is that a larger or smaller percentage than you would imagine?

Research results

Q6: Do you currently have an infant that drinks formula milk? (Sample size=576)

	All	Male N=208	Female N=368
Yes (to SQ1)	17.9%	16.3%	18.8%
No	82.1%	83.7%	81.3%

Q6SQ1: Since the earthquake, have you changed the water used when preparing formula milk? (Sample size=103)

	All	Male N=34	Female N=69
Yes (to SQ2)	68.9%	67.6%	69.6%
No	31.1%	32.4%	30.4%

Q6SQ2: Since the earthquake, how have you changed the water used when preparing formula milk? (Sample size=71)

	All	Male N=34	Female N=69
From tap water to mineral water	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%
From mineral water to tap water	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Other	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%

Q7: Do you know about different kinds of water (hard and soft) and their respective features? (Sample size=576)

	All	Male N=208	Female N=368
Know both the kinds and features (to SQ)	53.6%	51.0%	55.2%
Know the kinds but not their features (to SQ)	37.5%	37.0%	37.8%
Know the features but not the kinds	4.5%	4.3%	4.6%
Don’t know neither the kinds nor features	4.3%	7.7%	2.4%

Q7SQ: When making formula milk, do you know which is the appropriate water? (Sample size=525)

	All	Male N=183	Female N=342
Soft water	76.4%	65.6%	82.2%
Hard water	2.5%	1.1%	3.2%
Don’t know	21.1%	33.3%	14.6%

Q8: Since the earthquake, has your basis for selecting mineral water changed? (Sample size=576)

	All	Male N=208	Female N=368
Yes	14.8%	8.7%	18.2%
No	85.2%	91.3%	81.8%

Q9: What is the most important point when buying mineral water? (Sample size=576)

	All	Male N=208	Female N=368
Whether it is domestic water	38.9%	32.2%	42.7%
Price	32.1%	33.2%	31.5%
Taste	14.9%	16.3%	14.1%
Brand	5.4%	6.7%	4.6%
Whether it is imported water	0.7%	1.0%	0.5%
Other	8.0%	10.6%	6.5%

Q10: Do you have worries about tap water? (Sample size=576)

	All	Male N=208	Female N=368
Yes (to SQ)	76.9%	66.8%	82.6%
No	23.1%	33.2%	17.4%

Q10SQ: What worries do you have about tap water? (Sample size=443, multiple answer)

	All	Male N=139	Female N=304
Whether radioactive particles have been mixed in through the rain	89.2%	84.9%	91.1%
If it’s OK to drink safely	80.8%	71.2%	85.2%
Other	4.3%	4.3%	4.3%