0. MARKETING RESEARCH LANDSCAPE IN JAPAN
Prepared by
Japan Marketing Research Association

1. MARKET RESEARCH INDUSTRY IN JAPAN

2. Market Research Turnover by Region & Country
Source: ESOMAR

3. Market Research Turnover in Asia Pacific Region
Source: ESOMAR

4. Market Research Turnover Against GDP

5. Sources of Market Research Revenue in Japan
Source: JMRA

6. Data Collection Methods for Ad-hoc Research in Japan (Total Ad-hoc Expenditures = 100% )
Source: JMRA

7. Top 10 MR Companies in Japan in 2001 (MR Sales: Million)
Source: Top 10 Sales – The Senden Kaigi
Total MR Sales in Japan – JMRA

8. Top Global MR Organizations in Japan
Source: Larry Gold, Inside research and Research World September 2002
Global rank is based on research revenues in 2001
* = Japanese companies located in Tokyo. Their subsidiaries / affiliates in Japan are not listed.

9. International Research Revenues
Source: JMRA
5.5%* and 2.2%** of JMRA members’ revenue, respectively

10. JAPAN MARKET RESEARCH ASSOCIATION

11. Japan Marketing Research Association (JMRA)
Established in 1975
Number of member companies : 98 (as of January, 2004)
Having ISO accreditation:
Having Privacy Mark:
Chairman: Yasuo Miki
Secretary general: Tadaaki Takayanagi
No.1 Magami Building, 1-1-5, Koraku, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, , Japan
Phone: Fax:
URL:

12. JMRA: Quality and Ethical Standard
JMRQS
The JMRA Marketing Research Quality Standard sets out quality standards for clients and safeguards respondents’ anonymity and privacy and member companies are required to comply from April 2002
JMRA Guidelines
Protection of privacy, project arrangement, central location testing, street intercepts, telephone interviewing, mail survey and group discussions.
Internet survey guideline is in preparation
Privacy Mark
JMRA is one of the examination organization issuing permission to use the Privacy Mark
31 of JMRA 89 member companies were permitted to use this mark by end of 2002

13. Personal Information Protection Bills
The first comprehensive legislation by the Government to prevent leaks and the unlawful use of personal information (May, 2003)
Covers private firms, government organizations and independent administrative agencies, who handle a large volume of personal information, including client lists
The law obliges:
To prohibit obtaining personal information through unlawful measures or providing them to third parties without consent of those on the lists
To take safety measures to prevent such information from being leaked and to quickly process complaints about misuse of information
Up to six months in prison or a fine of not more than \300,000

14. Some Points to Note (1)
Japan accounts for 7% of global research turnover and is by far the largest market for market research in Asia Pacific. However, research spends as a proportion of GDP is low (0.03% of GDP).
Japan is still a product and technology rather than consumer oriented country. Business place more confidence in information collected by their own staff than in marketing research.
Ad-hoc projects accounted for 67% of all 2001 sales of which 87% were quantitative and 13% were qualitative. Continuous projects, such as consumer panel and retail store panel, accounted for 33%.
Qualitative has grown in the past two decades and is now the primary information source for product / advertising concept development and consumer understanding.

15. Some Points to Note (2)
Face-to-face including both in-home and hall and street, accounted for 42% of ad-hoc quantitative research projects in In-home interviews continued to fall to 24%. CAPI accounted for 3%.
Phone surveys are not prevalent and few agencies have CATI facilities. In 2001, telephone interviewing was used in 11% of ad-hoc surveys, 3% by CATI and 8% by Non-CATI.
6% of ad-hoc sales are from online research in 2001 compared to 3% in 2000.
Incentives are absolutely necessary for respondent participation. Doctors and professionals command particularly high incentives.
For survey research proposes, respondents are generally categorized by annual household income levels. Social Grade common in European countries i.e. A, B, C1, C2, D is not applicable in Japan.

16. JAPAN COUNTRY NOTE

17. Change in GDP, Ad Expenditure, MR sales and Deflator in Japan Year-on-Year Change %
Source: GDP and Deflator – Cabinet office, Japanese Government
AD Expenditure - Dentsu
MR Sales – JMRA (The Japan Marketing Research Association)

18. Countries with Large Population Total Fertility per Woman
Japan In the World (1)
Countries with Large Population
(Unit: 1,000 persons) [2001]
Total Fertility per Woman
Source: Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare
Source: United Nations

19. Per Capita GDP in 2001 (Nominal) Real Economic Growth Rate
Japan In the World (2)
Per Capita GDP in 2001 (Nominal)
(Unit: US$)
Real Economic Growth Rate
Source: Cabinet Office
Source: Cabinet Office

20. Population Pyramid M F 1st Baby Boomer Born: 1946-1951 Age: 51-56
2nd Baby Boomer
Born:
Age:

21. Population Ranking of Cities (2003)
The population of Tokyo / Osaka / Nagoya urban areas constitutes about 44% of the total national population ●1
2 ● ●3 ●4 ●5 6● ●7 ●8 9●
●10
●11
12●
13●
●14
＊indicates prefectural capital
Source: Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs,
Posts and Telecommunications

22. Internet Internet users and Household Diffusion Ratio
(Unit: 10,000 persons, %)
Internet users (Private statistics)
Internet users (Government statistics)
Household diffusion ratio
Internet Users by Medium (At the end of 2002)
(Unit: 10,000 persons)
By mobile phone, PHS and portable
information terminals
2,794, 402%
By PC
5,722, 82.4%
By mobile phone, PHS and portable
information terminals only
1,061, 15.3%
1,633
23.5%
By PC only
3,884, 58.0%
Total 6,942
By video game terminals and TVs
864, 5.2% 24
0.3% 76
1.1%
129,
1.9%
By video game terminals and TVs only
135, 1.9%
Note: The ratio is of Internet users of the age of 6 and older.
Source: Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs,
Posts and Telecommunications

23. Ownership of Durable Consumer Goods
Note: The 1970 data is as at February. From 1980 on, the data is at March.
Source: Cabinet Office