I thought it was us British that were a nation of queuers, but the Japanese do take the same pride in their ability to stand in a line, so this survey from Research Plus took a look at queueing.
Demographics
Between the 13th and 18th of January 2016 760 members of the Research Plus monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 54.7% of the sample were female, 2.5% in their twenties, 5.7% in their thirties, 17.5% in their forties, 30.3% in their fifties, and 44.1% aged sixty or older. The sample was also split 50:50 between residents of Kanto (Tokyo area) and Kansai (Osaka area), although not too much difference was to be seen in the answers.
Queues in Japan, outside of the obvious places like Disneyland, are often found when foreign chains open their first branch in Japan, and last days if not weeks until the novelty wears off. Ramen restaurants are another favourite, but I avoid both these kinds of places as my stomach tells me waiting a couple of hours is not worth it! Thirty minutes is the most I’m prepared to wait for food.
Research results
Q1 was about how long people were prepared to queue for different kinds of things, but for some reason it was not published. Over an hour was acceptable to 11.4% for theme parks, and 5.1% for concerts. Overall, the most popular maximum wait was 30 minutes or less, with 28.8% selecting that time.
Q2: What is the longest you have ever queued for something? (Sample size=760)
| Less than five minutes |
2.0% |
| Less than ten minutes |
1.3% |
| Less than 30 minutes |
6.7% |
| Less than one hour |
22.4% |
| Less than one and a half hours |
27.2% |
| Less than two hours |
14.5% |
| Less than two and a half hours |
17.5% |
| Less than three hours |
3.7% |
| Less than four hours |
5.1% |
| More than four hours |
3.2% |
Q3: After your longest queueing, how satisfying was the outcome? (Sample size=760)
| Very satisfying |
2.4% |
| Satisfying |
29.0% |
| Just OK |
50.7% |
| Dissatisfying |
13.8% |
| Very dissatisfying |
4.2% |
Q4: What do you do while queueing? (Sample size=760, multiple answer)
| Chat |
62.8% |
| Fiddle with smartphone, etc |
21.3% |
| Read book |
14.9% |
| Listen to music |
9.3% |
| Sleep |
3.0% |
| Play portable game machine |
2.2% |
| Fiddle with laptop, tablet |
1.6% |
| Revise vocabulary, text books |
0.0% |
| Eat, drink |
5.8% |
| Other |
0.7% |
| Nothing in particular |
23.0% |
Q5: Other than the length of time queueing, what annoys you about queueing? (Sample size=760, multiple answer)
| Queue-jumping |
58.3% |
| People not bunching up |
43.8% |
| Sloppy queueing |
42.5% |
| Reserving a spot |
38.3% |
| People talking loudly |
35.5% |
| People bunching up too tightly |
23.8% |
| Leaky headphones |
12.0% |
| People moaning about the length of the queue |
10.5% |
| People eating, drinking |
4.3% |
| Other |
0.4% |
| Nothing in particular |
9.9% |
Q6: How do you most often feel after queueing? (Sample size=760)
| Glad I queued, and would queue again |
12.1% |
| Glad I queued, but wouldn’t queue again |
59.9% |
| Don’t want to queue again |
28.0% |
Q7: How do you feel when you see people queueing for some unknown reason? (Sample size=760)
| Curious, and queue up myself |
2.8% |
| Curious, and ask someone queueing what it’s for |
20.7% |
| Curious, and have a look round to see what it’s for |
17.2% |
| Curious, and stop to watch for a little |
23.2% |
| Curious, but don’t stop |
24.6% |
| Not curious |
11.6% |
Q8: If there is a reservation system (eg Fast Pass at theme parks), do you use it? (Sample size=760)
| Yes, often |
15.8% |
| Yes, sometimes |
49.9% |
| No, rarely |
19.9% |
| No, not at all |
14.5% |
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3. Reputation and word of mouth-What you should know about Japan marketing | Japan Marketing Strategy · June 15, 2021 at 18:55
[…] even extend to product or store launches. Japanese consumers are incredibly “queue-rious”. When asked for their reaction when they see that a queue has formed, 88% said they’d be interested in what’s going on. […]