Japan Studies

How Romantic Are the Japanese?

How does Japan fare versus other countries in the romance stakes? Harlequin, a world-leading publisher of romance fiction, conducts an annual study on a romance-related topic in some 20 countries and publishes the results in late January each year as a lead-in to Valentine's Day.

In January 2001, the results of a study on the topic of Romantic Daydreams and Fantasies were released. 5,484 interviews were completed with approximately equal numbers of males and females age 18 to 64 in 21 countries. In Japan, 200 interviews were completed, 100 with males and 100 with females, with the interviews being equally split among four age groups: 18 to 29, 30 to 39, 40 to 49, and 50 to 64 years old.

In 2000, the topic covered was Love at First Sight, and involved 6,831 interviews in 22 countries. As above, 200 interviews were completed in Japan, equally divided among males and females and the four age groups. In both studies a broad cross section of countries and regions were covered -- North America (Canada, US, Mexico), Latin America (Argentina), Scandinavia (Finland, Sweden, Denmark), Eastern Europe (Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic), Europe (UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece), Australia, China, and Japan.

Let us first of all review the data on romantic daydreams or fantasies. Respondents were asked how frequently they had romantic daydreams/fantasies, and were asked to respond by choosing one of three answers -- often, occasionally, or rarely. A romantic daydream/fantasy was defined for respondents as follows: Romantic fantasy includes not only fantasizing about a person that one adores or yearns for, but could also include any imaginary scenario or plan that you yourself feel to be romantic. For example, having dinner or a date with a member of the opposite sex, a wedding anniversary dinner, and so on.

Among all the 21 countries covered, Japanese males and females respectively scored lowest for rarely having such daydreams, almost half the worldwide average (See Table 1). Too busy? No one attractive enough to have a fantasy about? Too much group-oriented activity putting a crimp on one-to-one daydreams?

When asked where they find themselves indulging in romantic daydreams or fantasies, Japan once again is significantly different from the rest of the world. For women in particular, home is the leading location (63%). At work (6%) is quite low, presumably because of the lack of privacy in most Japanese offices. The largest single daydream location for men was "while commuting" (45%, see Table 2). With an average 1-hour commute packed in like sardines, at least some of those commuters you see nodding off in the trains may in fact be lost in their own fantasy world. Crowds actually provide a sense of privacy, and there is little else one can do in such a crushed environment.

In response to a question on what is the best setting for a romantic daydream or fantasy, the top choice for a majority of both Japanese males (54%) and females (56%) was "the beach," well above the world average scores for "beach" (see Table 3). This may be a useful hint for advertisers wishing to position a product in an aspirational setting.

When asked which gender has romantic daydreams/fantasies more often, 33% of Japanese men said "males," well above the world average of 18%, and the highest score for any of the 21 countries in the survey. In a similar vein, 41% of Japanese women also said "males," well above the world average of 15%, and the highest score among all the countries in the study (see Table 4). Do we have a nation of closet male romanticists whose true nature is well understood by the females of the species?

However, when asked whether they had ever tried to act out a romantic daydream or fantasy, only 34% of Japanese males and an even fewer 17% of Japanese females replied in the affirmative. This was well below the world average for males and females. Note that in the world average figures, women are as likely as men to act out their romantic fantasy, which is not the case in Japan (see Table 5). Could it be that, in Japan, interactive electronic games have become a substitute method of acting out fantasies? Nevertheless, among the small group of Japanese who did act out their fantasy, 70% reported that it went more or less according to plan.

Let us now move on to love at first sight. 68% of Japanese males claimed to have had an experience of love at first sight versus 54% for the world average for males. For females, the figures were 48% for Japanese and 50% for the world average. So love at first sight, or the perception thereof, is not an uncommon experience in Japan.

Those who claimed to have experience of love at first sight were asked what the first thing was that they noticed about the other person. For Japanese females, the eyes (52%) were the first thing noticed, with the score for eyes being the third highest among all countries surveyed. Among Japanese males, the smile (32%) scored highest, with this score being the third highest among all countries surveyed (see Table 6).

Interestingly, body/physique was, at 4% for both Japanese males and females, the second lowest score among all countries surveyed. Washboard abdomens are apparently not the attraction they are in other countries. And, despite all the money spent on advertising for hair care products, not one Japanese male gave "hair" as the first thing noticed.

For the most part, the love-at-first-sight experience did not lead anywhere. Only 6% of Japanese males are now married to the person they fell in love with at first sight. The figure for Japanese females is 17%, which is closer to the worldwide average of around 20% for both males and females, a relatively high one case in five.

As for why it didn't work out, the main responses for both Japanese males and females were "The attraction turned out to be strictly superficial" (36%), "We had a passionate affair but it ended" (33%), and "Although I was interested in him/her, he/she wasn't interested in me" (17%).

Respondents were asked whether they felt they were the type who could fall in love easily at first sight. Worldwide, there was a relatively similar breakdown of results between males and females, with about one-third claiming to fall into this category. Japanese males (31%) were close to the male worldwide average, but the majority of Japanese females (57%) considered themselves not to be the type to easily fall in love at first sight (see Table 7). What do Japanese females see (or not see) in Japanese males that makes them so cautious?

Finally, respondents were asked whether they believed in happy endings. (By way of interest, the Japanese word used in the questionnaire was happi endo, another example of the increasing role of katakana English in the Japanese language). Overall, three quarters of both Japanese males and females believe in happy endings, a little above the world average.

So where does that leave us? It would appear that Japanese males are secretly more romantic than they might seem to be on the surface. On the other hand, Japanese females, while still believing in happy endings, appear to be more pragmatic about romance.

Fortune telling is already one of the most widely used services on Net-enabled cellphones. Internet dating clubs have sprung up. Is there a business opportunity here for some smart entrepreneur able to figure how to use biometrics to foster romance skills and improve the chances of success in romance? Such an entrepreneur might even be able to get government funding if he/she can demonstrate that the approach leads to an increase in the birthrate, albeit preferably within wedlock.

William Hall (williamh@isisresearch.com) is president of the ISIS/RBC/CORAL Group, which provides market research and consulting services in Tokyo.