The Asahi Shimbun conducted a face to face survey on the Japanese opinion about pets. The survey was done on June 8 and 9, 1997, for 3,000 votes and got effective response from 2,248. Proportion of male vs female was 49% : 51%.
Q1: What do you think of a pet ? (Choose one)
| Toy |  7%
|
| Fashion | 3%
|
| Decoration | 2%
|
| Cute friend | 37%
|
| Substitution of a child | 7%
|
| Support of soul | 25%
|
| Nuisance | 12%
|
| Others/NA | 7%
|
Q2: What do you think is a good point of a pet ?
| Gives charm and relief in life | 36%
|
| Amusement for aged people | 8%
|
| Gives children tender heart and imagination | 19%
|
| Good gatekeeper | 11%
|
| Helps to kill time | 5%
|
| Makes family conversation richer | 7%
|
| Makes human relations better | 6%
|
| Others/NA | 8%
|
Q3: Then, what do you think is the problem about pet ?
| Noise and smells | 19%
|
| Danger to hurt human | 6%
|
| Brings parasites and epidemics | 11%
|
| Bad manner of owners | 40%
|
| Costs too much | 4%
|
| Imports rare animals | 6%
|
| Many people are not sympathetic about pet | 11%
|
| Others/NA | 3%
|
Q4: Do your neighbours have good manners in owning a pet ?
| Yes | 49%
|
| No | 42%
|
| Others/NA | 9%
|
Q5: How do you think about having pets in condominium ? Do you hope it is permitted to have them ?
| Hope to be permitted | 34%
|
| Do not want to | 54%
|
| Others/NA | 12%
|
| Yes | 67%
|
| No | 30%
|
| Others/NA | 3%
|
Q7: What do you think about dressing pets ?
| Cute | 15%
|
| Pitiful | 70%
|
| Nothing special | 9%
|
| Others/NA | 6%
|
Q8: What do you think if you see a cat dreaming on a fence ?
| Envy | 54%
|
| Eyesore | 11%
|
| Nothing special | 28%
|
| Others/NA | 7%
|
Q9: Then, what do you think of a person who feeds a homeless cat every day ?
| Tender | 38%
|
| Trouble of neighbour | 42%
|
| Nothing special | 10%
|
| Others/NA | 10%
|
Q10: Do you think you and your pet can understand each other if you love the pet ?
| Yes | 88%
|
| No | 7%
|
| Others/NA | 5%
|
Q11: Do you think you feel happy often if you were a pet ?
| Feel happy often | 28%
|
| Rarely | 59%
|
| Others/NA | 13%
|
Q12: Do you have any pets in your home ?
| Yes | 39%
|
| No | 61%
|
| Others/NA | 0% |
Q13: (For those who have pets) Then, what do you have ? (Choose at most three)
| Dog | 21%
|
| Cat | 10%
|
| Rabbit, squirrel or hamster | 4%
|
| Bird | 5%
|
| Tortois, snake etc. | 1%
|
| Fish | 7%
|
| Others | 1%
|
| NA | 0% |
Q14: (For those who do not have pets) Do you want to have a pet if you have a chance ?
| Yes | 24%
|
| No | 37%
|
| Others/NA | 0% |
Q15: Which do you prefer between dog and cat ?
| Dog | 65%
|
| Cat | 15%
|
| Both | 10%
|
| Neither | 8%
|
| Others/NA | 2%
|
| Can enjoy having pet easily | 7%
|
| Regarding soul as a toy | 13%
|
| Just a game and totally different from a pet | 70%
|
| Others/NA | 10%
|
Source: The Asahi Shimbun, June 28, 1997
NOTE: I tried to translate the essence of texts, but not aiming at word-by-word precision. In opinion polls, subtle change of wordings may generate different results. Thus, you should be careful in reading this page, understanding that your impression from the text might not be the same as those of who responded this survey.