Although the topic of this survey from DIMSDRIVE Research Inc was fish, the most interesting figure for me was some data to allow me to estimate the number of vegetarians in Japan.
Demographics
Between the 1st and 16th of Octoer 2008 9,524 members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.5% of the sample were male, 1.3% in their teens, 13.7% in their twenties, 34.% in their thirties, 31.2% in their forties, 14.5% in their fifties, and 5.1% aged sixty or older.
The vegetarian numbers can be derived from first noticing that 0.7% don’t eat fish according to Q2, then 2.7% of these 0.7% say they don’t eat fish because they are vegetarians, meaning that a whole 8 people from the original 9,524, or 0.08% of the sample, which makes a mere 10,000 vegetarians in the whole of Japan! Of course, monks would inflate the figures, although note that the average local priest is not averse to even grilled beef!
Note that here fish refers to fish only, not other beasts of the sea like octopus, squid, prawns, shellfish, or indeed whale.
Research results
Q1: Do you like eating fish? (Sample size=9,524)
Love it |
40.0% |
Like it |
44.6% |
Can’t say either way |
7.7% |
Don’t really like it |
6.2% |
Hate it |
1.5% |
Q2: How often do you usually eat fish? (Sample size=9,524)
Almost every day |
3.6% |
Four or five days a week |
11.6% |
Two or three days a week |
49.3% |
One day a week |
21.2% |
Two or three days a month |
9.0% |
One day a month |
2.3% |
One day every two or three months |
1.4% |
One day every six months |
0.4% |
One day a year |
0.0% |
Less than that |
0.5% |
Don’t eat fish |
0.7% |
By age, older people were more likely to eat fish: over four in five over-sixties ate fish at least twice a week, whereas just over half of thise in their twenties did.
Q3: How often do you or your family members usually cook fish at home? (Sample size=9,524)
Almost every day |
3.0% |
Four or five days a week |
8.9% |
Two or three days a week |
42.5% |
One day a week |
20.5% |
Two or three days a month |
9.1% |
One day a month |
3.3% |
One day every two or three months |
1.9% |
One day every six months |
0.8% |
One day a year |
0.2% |
Less than that |
1.4% |
Don’t know |
1.4% |
Don’t cook fish at home |
7.0% |
Under two in five of those living alone cooked fish weekly or more, whereas nearly two-thirds of all other family sizes managed the same frequency.
Q4: What kinds of fish dishes do you often eat? (Sample size=9,229, those eating fish at least once a month, multiple answer)
Grilled |
91.7% |
Sashimi |
76.8% |
Boiled |
54.5% |
Sushi |
51.8% |
Dried |
45.2% |
Fried |
36.1% |
Tempura |
30.0% |
Hot-pot, shabu-shabu |
22.6% |
Minced |
22.1% |
Fish balls, fish paste |
21.3% |
Rice bowl |
13.1% |
Rice ball, stir-fry rice, other rice dish |
12.7% |
Miso soup, soup |
12.2% |
Salad, marinade |
10.5% |
Pasta |
5.0% |
Hamburger |
3.7% |
Other |
0.9% |
No particular dish |
0.2% |
Q5A: What kinds of fish do you like? (Sample size=9,229, those eating fish at least once a month, multiple answer, top fifteen)
Rank |
|
Votes |
1 |
Sanma |
3,596 |
2 |
Tuna |
3,322 |
3 |
Chum salmon |
2,503 |
4 |
Mackerel |
2,416 |
5 |
Horse mackerel |
2,232 |
6 |
Japanese amberjack |
1,157 |
7 |
Medaka ricefish, sea bream |
1,143 |
8 |
Okhostk Atka mackerel |
795 |
9 |
Pilchard |
696 |
10 |
Skipjack tuna |
683 |
11 |
Young Japanese amberjack |
652 |
12 |
Righteye flounder |
629 |
13 |
Flounder |
531 |
14 |
Salmon |
520 |
15 |
Pacific cod |
284 |
You’ll notice salmon appears twice in the list; the more popular was the Japanese term ã•ã‘, é®, sake, the less popular was the English loan word salmon. I don’t know what the difference between the two is.
Q5B: What kinds of fish do you like? (Sample size=men eating fish at least once a month, multiple answer, top ten)
Rank |
|
Votes |
1 |
Tuna |
1,923 |
2 |
Sanma |
1,876 |
3 |
Mackerel |
1,256 |
4 |
Horse mackerel |
1,140 |
5 |
Chum salmon |
970 |
6 |
Medaka ricefish, sea bream |
586 |
7 |
Japanese amberjack |
508 |
8 |
Skipjack tuna |
410 |
9 |
Pilchard |
406 |
10 |
Young Japanese amberjack |
348 |
Q5C: What kinds of fish do you like? (Sample size=women eating fish at least once a month, multiple answer, top ten)
Rank |
|
Votes |
1 |
Sanma |
1,720 |
2 |
Chum salmon |
1,533 |
3 |
Tuna |
1,399 |
4 |
Mackerel |
1,160 |
5 |
Horse mackerel |
1,092 |
6 |
Japanese amberjack |
649 |
7 |
Medaka ricefish, sea bream |
557 |
8 |
Okhostk Atka mackerel |
454 |
9 |
Salmon |
374 |
10 |
Righteye flounder |
370 |
Q6: Why do you eat fish? (Sample size=9,229, those eating fish at least once a month, multiple answer)
Delicious |
82.1% |
Good for health |
53.4% |
Like fish |
50.5% |
Goes well with rice, Japanese food |
47.8% |
Can obtain DHA, other nutrients that fish are rich in |
33.3% |
Light and refreshing |
22.1% |
Low in fat |
15.3% |
Other family members like fish |
14.6% |
Cheap to buy |
13.8% |
Suits my age |
9.4% |
Just because it’s put on the table |
2.9% |
Other |
1.3% |
No particular reason, just because |
2.5% |
Q7: Where do you buy fish? (Sample size=9,229, those eating fish at least once a month, multiple answer)
Supermarket |
91.0% |
Fishmonger |
19.5% |
Department store |
12.4% |
Market |
5.6% |
Shop other than fishmonger |
4.7% |
Internet, TV shopping, etc |
3.5% |
Harbour, fisherman |
2.5% |
Home centre, discount store |
1.0% |
Mobile shop |
0.8% |
Other |
3.8% |
Don’t buy fresh fish |
4.1% |
Q8: What do you check (what is important) when buying fish? (Sample size=8,852, those buying fish, multiple answer)
Freshness |
83.4% |
Price |
77.8% |
Type of fish |
48.4% |
Place of origin |
38.9% |
Colour, sheen |
37.3% |
Whether in season |
36.3% |
Dampness of the eyeball |
34.0% |
Sashimi-ready, raw-ready, cooking use, etc |
33.8% |
Sell-by date |
31.4% |
Number, weight of fish in pack |
27.6% |
Whether it’s leaking water |
23.8% |
Size of each fish |
23.1% |
Preparation (if the guts are removed, etc) |
16.8% |
Whether it’s sliced |
14.3% |
Whether it’s grated |
9.2% |
How it’s displayed |
3.0% |
Other |
0.7% |
Nothing in particular |
2.0% |
Q9: Why don’t you eat fish? (Sample size=295, those never eating fish or eating less than once a month, multiple answer)
Dislike fish |
37.6% |
Bothersome to cook |
27.8% |
Worried about smelly hands, room, rubbish |
23.1% |
Don’t like the smell |
22.7% |
Bothersome to eat |
19.3% |
Can’t cook |
17.6% |
Fish is expensive |
15.6% |
Don’t have the chance to eat it |
13.2% |
Other family member hates fish |
8.1% |
Can get enough nutrients from other sources |
4.4% |
Allergic |
4.1% |
Vegetarian |
2.7% |
Got food poisoning, etc from it before |
1.0% |
Other |
4.1% |
No particular reason |
11.2% |
Q10: Why don’t you cook fish at home? (Sample size=559, those never cooking fish or cooking less than once a month, multiple answer)
Don’t cook at all at home |
31.7% |
Cooking is bothersome, difficult |
30.6% |
Can’t cook fish |
28.3% |
Quicker, tastier to buy ready-cooked |
22.2% |
Worried about smelly hands, room, rubbish |
21.8% |
Difficult to cook it well |
19.0% |
Gets kitchen, cooking implements dirty; washing up is difficult |
15.6% |
Don’t have good cooking implements |
6.1% |
Can’t buy |
5.5% |
Family member hates, is allergic to fish |
2.0% |
Haven’t many recipies |
2.0% |
Other |
6.4% |
Don’t know |
1.8% |
No particular reason |
11.4% |
Q11: In your everyday life, do you think you eat sufficient fish? (Sample size=9,524)
Sufficient |
11.0% |
Sufficient to some degree |
30.0% |
Can’t say either way |
20.1% |
Insufficient to some degree |
28.6% |
Insufficient |
10.3% |
Only for those over fifty was there a clear majority who felt they were eating sufficient fish. People living alone significantly felt they weren’t getting enough.
7 Comments
Janne · January 8, 2009 at 23:06
ã•ã°ã€é¯– is mackerel, not salmon. Salmon is ã•ã‘ã€é®ã€‚I know the difference well as my wife likes salmon and hates mackerel and she’d probably club me to death with it if I came home with the wrong thing.
Ken Y-N · January 8, 2009 at 23:52
Janne, you are indeed correct, and it was my mistake in my footnote – the more popular salmon, number 3 in the list, was the Japanese sake. 4 was saba. My confusion at the difference between é® and サーモン still stands though!
Kristen · January 9, 2009 at 11:57
Your reasoning on the vegetarian calculations might not be fully sound. Vegetarianism in Japan is commonly understood to include fish, which confuses and upsets many Western vegetarians. So your 10,000 vegetarians may only count those who subscribe to the Western world’s vegetarian scheme.
It seems odd, but not too surprising for a country that decided to apply the counter word used with birds to rabbits, too, so that they could eat them in an era when only poultry was acceptable.
Ken Y-N · January 9, 2009 at 23:10
Kristen, the Japanese for vegetarian used here was èœé£Ÿä¸»ç¾©, saishokushugi, which I think carried a definite “vegetables only”, although I have noticed when I use the katakana vegetarian it usually gets understood as “no identifiable meat chunks”, so even offal is OK!
Also, considering that the survey was about fish, and the people who said they were vegetarian answered that in reply to being asked why they didn’t eat fish, and of course I am a Western vegetarian, and most of my readers are Western, so I think using no dead animal products as a definition is appropriate.
mike · January 11, 2009 at 04:23
I like tuna and salmon fish.
Afro · June 7, 2015 at 09:14
Dude your stats are out of 101%which makes them seem bogus because(45+40+6+2+8=101) but I could be wrong dont take my word for it☺but then again errors happen
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