世論 What Japan Thinks

The two biggest urban areas of Japan are Tokyo and Osaka, and the areas around them are respectively known as Kanto and Kansai. The two have many differences in habits that even the Japanese themselves find surprising, that being the subject of this recent survey from goo Ranking.

Demographics

Over the 21st and 22nd of September 2010 1,072 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 68.2% of the sample were female, 10.4% in their teens, 18.0% in their twenties, 29.8% in their thirties, 26.2% in their forties, 8.7% in their fifties, and 7.0% aged sixty or older. Note that the score in the results refers to the relative number of votes for each option, not a percentage of the total sample.

Here’s evidence from flickr of number 1 – left is Osaka, right is Tokyo.

I only knew four of them – the slices per loaf is completely new and quite surprising to me, for instance. I’m not sure why noodle broth was a surprise, as I thought that was pretty common knowledge. However, the first (and last, I hope) time tasting Kanto-style was surprising – there seemed to be about a week’s worth of salt in the pitch-black soup versus the clear and mild Kansai flavour.
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The two major metropolitan areas in Japan are Kanto, centred around Tokyo, and Kansai, centred around Osaka. Both areas have many distinct facets, so this goo Ranking looked at the differences between people in the Kansai and in Kanto.

Demographics

On the 19th of November 2009 1,166 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 59.9% of the sample were female, 13.4% in their teens, 20.6% in their twenties, 28.2% in their thirties, 23.2% in their forties, 8.3% in their fifties, and 6.3% aged sixty or older.

Kansai versus Kanto is like Glasgow versus London, just to put it into perspective. I’ve lived all my Japan life in Kansai, so it’s difficult for me to directly compare, but I get the impression that the Tokyo area is much colder for foreign residents than Kansai.

The preferences for dashi broth is something I have had direct experience of – a local soba (buckwheat noodles) restaurant was initally Kansai-style, with a light, clear broth, but for some reason they decided to go Kanto-style, resulting in something that tasted and looked like warmed-up soy sauce and almost undrinkably salty! That change lasted less than three months, presumably because they had far too many complaints!

Oh, and most of the people who get posted here from Kanto complain that Kansai cyclists are horrendous scoff-laws.
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