Tokyo, February 27, 2015 - Rakuten Research carried out an online survey on the launch of the Hokuriku Shinkansen service (March 14, 2015). Men and women from around Japan aged 20 to 69 were selected from among monitors registered with Rakuten Research (around 2.3 million people) to complete the survey, which was conducted from February 10 to 12, 2015, and the results from the survey are as follows.
The most important factors about the Shinkansen were the “ride comfort” first, “safety” second and “spacious seating” third. Clear differences of focus are seen by age and gender.
The most important factor: “ride comfort” (reduction of shaking, noise, etc.)
In response to the question about the most important Shinkansen amenities or services, the most common response was “ride comfort (prevention of shaking, noise, etc.)” (54.2%), followed by “safety (security cameras installed, etc.)” (44.2%) in second and “spacious seating” (35.4%) coming third.
Women demand higher Shinkansen standards than men. Factors they focus on include “bathroom comfort” and “safety.”
For eight out of the nine possible responses to the questions on the most important Shinkansen amenities or services, the number of women who answered that the amenities or services were important was greater than the number of men, a clear expression of the higher standards demanded by female travelers. (The only option that more men than women said was important was the availability of power points at every seat.) The priorities for women using the Shinkansen included “bathroom comfort” and “safety”: 40.2% of women rated bathroom comfort as important, versus 24.6% of men, a difference of 15.6 points, while 52.0% of women versus 36.4% of men rated “safety (security cameras installed, etc.)”, a 15.6 point difference.
For women in their forties, services such as boxed meals and onboard sales were most important
Also noteworthy is the fact that more women in their 40s gave highest emphasis to four out of nine Shinkansen amenity or service factors, such as “good cabin service,” “boxed meals,” “on-board sales” and “premium seats (special seating such as first class)”, than any other demographic group.
Respondents in their twenties place highest emphasis on ““power points available at every seat”
A high proportion of those in their 20s placed the highest emphasis on “power points available at every seat” (36.5%), a ratio that declines with each older age group. Those in their 60s finding this factor important amount to just 7.0%. As noted above, this is the only amenity that more men (20.8%) find important than women (19.4%).
The top three tourist spots people want to visit near the Hokuriku Shinkansen line are Kenrokuen, Kurobe Dam and Shirakawa-go Gassho-zukuri Village. For those who have visited five times or more, Kenrokuen, Kurobe Dam Alpine Route and Kamikochi are the most popular
Asked about “Tourist spots near the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to visit after the Shinkansen launch,” regardless of whether they had been before or not, the biggest response was for Kenrokuen (40.3%), followed by Kurobe Dam (36.4%) and Shirakawa-go Gassho-zukuri Village (30.3%). Asked the same question, those who had been to the prefectures of Hokuriku five times or more put Kenrokuen in first place (83.4%), Kurobe Dam Alpine Route in second place (78.5%) and Kamikochi in third place (77.8%).
Most sought-after regional produce items were Toyama’s snow crab, Ishikawa’s blackthroat sea perch and Fukui’s Echizen crab. The most popular “B-grade” Hokuriku dishes are Toyama’s Black Ramen, Ishikawa’s Kanazawa Curry and Fukui’s Sauce Katsudon
Asked which Hokuriku prefectural specialities they would like to eat/drink, seafood from each prefecture topped the rankings. For Toyama Prefecture the most sought-after specialities were snow crab (30.6%), Himi yellowtail (29.6%) and firefly squid (24.6%), for Ishikawa Prefecture they answered blackthroat sea perch (37.0%), winter yellowtail (30.0%) and Noto beef (28.4%) and for Fukui Prefecture the top ranked products were Echizen crab (49.0%), Echizen sea urchin (26.3%) and Wakasa fugu (21.8%).
B-grade cuisine also ranked highly, with Black Ramen from Toyama Prefecture 8th (14.0%), Kanazawa Curry from Ishikawa Prefecture 5th (16.0%) and Sauce Katsudon from Fukui Prefecture 4th (20.7%) all popular.
Survey Overview
Area: Japan, Nationwide
Survey target: Men and women aged 20-69
Samples returned: 1,000
Survey period: February 10 to 12, 2015
Organization conducting survey: Rakuten Research
The results of the survey and analysis are available in Japanese at the following link:
https://research.rakuten.co.jp/report/20150227/
*Please note that the information contained in press releases is current as of the date of release.
