Tokyo, July 29, 2016 - Rakuten Research carried out an online survey on the Olympics. 1,000 men and women from around Japan in their 20s to 60s were selected from among the monitors registered with Rakuten Research (approx. 2.3 million people) to complete the survey, which was conducted over two days on Friday, July 8 and Saturday, July 9, 2016.
Survey Results
More than half of all respondents are looking forward to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, the top reason being “Because it’s a special event held only once every few years”.
When asked if they are looking forward to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, more than half of respondents (51.0%) replied either “Very much looking forward to it” or “Looking forward to it,” while the number of respondents who answered “Not looking forward to it” or “Not looking forward to it at all” totaled just 20.9%, marking a 30.1 percentage point difference between the two. This result suggests that the people of Japan have high expectations for the upcoming Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
The top reason respondents are looking forward to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games was “Because it’s a special event held only once every few years,” nominated by 57.6% of respondents. This was followed by “Because I’m interested in sports (51.8%)” and “Because I think the Olympic Games will have a positive impact on sports in Japan (29.6%).” Looking at the results by gender, there was a gap between the reasons for looking forward to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, with the top answer for women being “Because it’s a special event held only once every few years” at 65.6%, a difference of 16.3 percentage points to men (49.6%), and the top answer for men being “Because I’m interested in sports” at 64.0%, a difference of 24.7 percentage points to women (39.3%).
In contrast, out of those who said they are not looking forward to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, the top reason was “Because I’m not interested in sports” at 52.6%, followed by “Because a huge amount of money is being spent on the preparations (36.4%)” and “Because there is the threat of terrorism (33.5%).”
Tokyo residents thinking of leaving the city, or non-Tokyo residents thinking of going to Tokyo during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games are minorities.
When respondents living outside of Tokyo were asked whether they wanted to visit Tokyo during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, over half answered “No (53.5%).” Also, when respondents living in Tokyo were asked if they wanted to leave Tokyo to avoid congestion and disruption during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, over half answered "No (51.1%)." Only approximately one quarter of respondents were considering a change of scenery during the Olympics.
“Improved security” is needed to ensure the success of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
When asked what is needed to ensure the success of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, the largest number of respondents replied “Improved security (62.3%),” followed by “Improved accommodation (51.6%)” and “Alleviation of traffic congestion (50.4%).”
“Japan’s traditional arts” followed by “The spirit of Japan” and “Japanese cuisine” were the top aspects of Japanese culture that people wanted to promote to inbound visitors during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
When asked what aspects of Japanese culture they wanted to promote to the many inbound visitors during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, “Japan’s traditional arts (55.9%),” “The spirit of Japan (52.5%)” and “Japanese cuisine (47.4%)” were the top responses, in that order. When viewed by age group, the number of respondents in their 20s and 30s who answered “Manga and anime” was higher than the other age groups (29.3% for respondents in their 20s and 33.7% for respondents in their 30s).
“Swimming” was the event that respondents want to attend the most, followed by “Track & field,” “Soccer,” and “Gymnastics.”
When asked if they want to attend an event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, nearly half of the respondents replied “No (48.5%),” a large 15.1 percentage point difference to those who answered “Yes (33.4%).”
Out of those who responded they would like to attend the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, when asked which event they would like to attend, overall “Swimming (42.5%)” had the largest number of responses, followed by “Track & field (38.6%), “Soccer (38.6%)” and “Gymnastics (31.7%).”
When looking at the results by gender, the top five events for men were “Soccer (47.2%),” “Track & field (45.0%),” “Swimming (36.1%),” “Gymnastics (30.6%)” and “Judo (26.1%).” In contrast, the top five events for women were “Swimming (50.0%),” “Gymnastics (44.8%),” “Tennis (33.1%),” “Track & field (31.2%)” and “Soccer (28.6%).”
By age group, there was a difference between which event received the most responses. (20s: Swimming [42.1%]; 30s: Soccer [46.1%]; 40s: Soccer [46.4%]; 50s: Swimming [46.7%]; and 60s: Gymnastics [52.6%]).
Respondents want the opening ceremony to be produced by “Takeshi Kitano” and the national anthem to be performed by “SMAP.” “Arashi” ranked in the top five for the both opening ceremony and national anthem.
When asked, without the aid of multiple choice, who they would like to produce the opening ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and perform the national anthem, “Takeshi Kitano” received the largest number of responses for producing the opening ceremony, followed by “Amon Miyamoto,” “Arashi,” and “Koki Mitani.”
“SMAP” received the largest number of responses for the national anthem performance, followed by “Keisuke Kuwata,” “Saburo Kitajima” and “Arashi.”
Survey Overview
Survey area: Japan, Nationwide
Subjects: Men and women between 20 and 69
Sample size: 1,000 samples
*Tabulated based on the current population as of October 1, 2014 (released on April 17, 2015) in Population Estimates, published by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications Statistics Bureau
Period: From July 8 to July 9, 2016
Conducted by: Rakuten Research