Osaka-based market research firm Cross Marketing recently conducted a survey of 1000 residents aged twenty to sixty-nine in the greater Tokyo metropolitan area (Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama), to determine their drinking habits.
The results revealed that beer was the beverage of choice for both men and women. Sake was third for men, after beer and shochu, while sake was fifth on the list for women, after beer, wine, malt-liquor-based beverages and cocktails. While this would not seem to bode well for sake, nearly half of participants at least professed to liking sake.
The age break-down, however, was most interesting. Men and women over the age of sixty professed liking sake more than any other demographic. Second place went to men in their fifties and…. (drum roll) women in their 20s!
Going even deeper, Cross Marketing determined that while 43.2% of all respondents do not drink sake, at least 23.6% wanted to explore it. Amazingly, over 40% of women in their 20s who had not tried sake wanted to try it, accounting for the largest demographic of “sake curious” by far! Second place was women in their 30s (27.8%).
It sounds to us like sake breweries and retailers have a rich demographic just waiting to be courted. And if these trends hold true, then sake definitely has a bright future of new female drinkers waiting in the wings.
(Sake Today news reports are summaries of articles published in Japanese vernacular newspapers or websites. They are summarized and include additional commentary under Fair Rights usage)
Source: http://news.livedoor.com/article/detail/11463238/
