世論 What Japan Thinks

With the recent nuclear accident and scare about caesium in drinking water, many people in Tokyo and other parts of the north have switched to bottled water or other alternatives to the tap. To find out exactly what was going on, iShare took a look at home use drinking water.

Demographics

Over the 8th and 9th of November 2011 1,166 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 60.2% of the sample were male, 9.9% in their twenties, 29.2% in their thirties, 37.1% in their forties, and 23.8% in their fifties.

Our flat came with a built-in reverse osmosis (I presume that’s what it is, anyway!) drinking water filter, which we use only for drinking directly or filling the kettle. We just have a feeling that town water is just not that safe drunk directly, perhaps influenced by our previous flat where there was regularly black flakes coming through the old pipes, and we used a non-osmosis-based plugged into the mains purifier.
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Having looked a few months ago at water servers (or water coolers), this time DIMSDRIVE Research looked at domestic water servers and disasters.

Demographics

Over the 22nd and 23rd of August 2011 500 members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor group who (a) lived in one of Tohoku, Kanto, Koshinetsu, Aichi Prefecture and Shizuoka Prefecture, and (b) had purchased or rented a home water dispenser. 58.2% of the sample were female, 1.6% in their teens, 12.6% in their twenties, 30.2% in their thirties, 25.2% in their forties, 21.2% in their fifties, and 9.2% aged sixty or older.

The survey size here is quite small, but because there was the pre-selection of those with water servers (perhaps there was a follow-up with those from the first survey?) the margin of error should not be too large.
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Having done alcohol consumption earlier in the week, today I take a look at a survey from DIMSDRIVE Research into temperature of drinking water, etc, with a faddy diet as a bonus!

Demographics

Between the 6th and 8th of November 2009 9,947 members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 55.9% of the sample were male, 0.6% in their teens, 8.4% in their twenties, 27.6% in their thirties, 32.7% in their forties, 19.0% in their fifties, and 11.7% aged sixty or older.

The fad diet is the Sayu diet, 白湯 in kanji, the drinking of water at between 40°C and 50°C. Looking at the answers below, it appears it should raise one’s metabolism and burn more fat for the same food intake. Who knows if it works or not, although I would guess that the answer would be no, it doesn’t!
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I use a built-in water purifier for drinking water at home, so consumption of mineral water is limited to the occasional half-litre bottle at the weekends when going out. To see how the Japanese use it, DIMSDRIVE Research conducted a survey into this topic of mineral water.

Demographics

Between the 19th and 27th of March 2008 8,383 members of the DIMSDRIVE Monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.9% of the sample were female, 1.3% in their teens, 14.9% in their twenties, 33.3% in their thirties, 29.9% in their forties, 14.7% in their fifties, and 5.9% aged sixty or older. 51.7% lived in a house, 47.0% in a flat (apartment), and 1.3% other. By family size, 13.0% lived alone, 23.8% with one other, 25.1% with two others, 24.1% with three others, and 14.0% with four or more other people.

The pictured bottle sounds even less appealing than the Engrish standbys of Pocari Sweat and Calpis, but it’s actually mineral water for your four-legged friend, not Dogpis!

Getting back on track, my purchased brand is determined by seeing which one is 110 yen in the convenience store, although I can’t remember the brand right now, but it is a Japanese one. I’ve tried the oxygenised water a couple of times, but I didn’t really notice any difference.

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Over the first five days of 2007, MyVoice conducted a survey within their internet monitor group into the matter of mineral water. This is the third time they have conducted this survey, but the first time I have translated it! 10,732 people successfully completed the private online questionnaire. 54% were female, 2% in their teens, 19% in their twenties, 39% in their thirties, 27% in their forties, and 13% in their fifties.

My almost every day mineral water is the below mentioned Crystal geyser sparkling lemon (or sometimes lime), although Suntory’s Tennensui is also rather nice. However, all this talking about mineral water reminds me of a Penn and Teller show on the subject, which also reminds me that I am glad indeed that Penta Water does not feature on the list.
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Today I will present three ranking surveys for the price of one, all on the theme of water usage at home, all carried out by DIMSDRIVE Research as part of their 85th Ranking Survey over the period of about a week at the end of June and start of July. First is using water for drinking at home, next is water for tea and coffee at home, and finally water for cooking at home.

Japan’s tap water is basically safe, but in the big cities it tends to smell a bit due to the various treatments it undergoes. Most restaurants, for example, serve water that at least has been through some sort of treatment, but what exactly they use in their tea is anyone’s guess. At home, we have a built-in water purifier that we use for drinking and tea and coffee, except for when making a large pot of tea (usually 麦茶, mugicha, barley tea) for refrigerating, when we use plain old tap water. The exact reason for this is beyond me. Our previous flat had some nasty black spots (tar or pitch, perhaps) that occasionally flaked off making filtration absolutely necessary.
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