Last year, LINE, Japan’s equivalent to WhatsApp, conducted a national survey with a huge sample size to find out which topics were most important during 2021.
National hero and professional baseball player Shohei Ohtani ranked #1 with the men, while many women chose the Italian pastry maritozzo, a soft brioche bun filled with whipped cream.
Younger respondents tended to favor popular anime and manga or Netflix’s blockbuster hit Squid Game.
2021 LINE Survey of More Than a Half Million People
No matter how you cut the data, that’s a huge sample size.
LINE Survey results were collected via smartphone, Image Sourced from Gigazine.
Results of the 2021 LINE Survey
Ubiquitous SNS platform LINE used its own app to reach out to users during the 3-day period from November 29 to December 1, 2021, to ask which topics were of most interest during 2021. LINE gathered valid responses from 548,460 people, which certainly qualifies as being statistically significant. All respondents were at least 13 years old and included men and women from all parts of Japan. The results were weighted by both gender and age.
The results indicate that the top three topics of greatest interest overall were as follows:
Rank
Most Popular Topics among All Respondents
%
1st
Baseball Player Shohei Ohtani (大谷 翔平)
34.3%
2nd
Maritozzo (マリトッツォ), a traditional dessert from Rome
28.0%
3rd
Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralymics
26.9%
Top Three most popular topics from the 2021 LINE Survey (% rounded to the nearest 10th of a percentage), n =548,460
The results varied, however, by both gender and age.
“It’s ‘Sho(w)-Time!’” for the Guys
Major League baseball stand-out Shohei Ohtani, Image Sourced from NHK.
27-year-old Shohei Ohtani topped the list for men in all age groups.
In terms of gender and age, Ohtani ranked first in all age groups for men, from their teens to over 60s. The percentage increased as the age group increased, with more than 50% of men in their 60s.
Ohtani personifies the ideal sports figure in Japan due to his unrivaled skill as both a pitcher and home run king, reserved demeanor, popularity overseas, and willingness to put in hour after hour of practice. He has a lot of female fans, too, but it seems even baseball legends are no match for Italian pastries and fruit sandwiches.
Italian Sweets Topped the List Among Women
While the guys were focused on baseball, women across the country were caught up in last year’s trend that fueled the popularity of the Italian pastry maritozzo. It was more popular among women than men, ranking first among women in their teens to 40s.
Lots of ladies had a famous dessert from Italy on their mind during 2021, Image Sourced from Porta
About 40% of those in their 20s to 50s voted for the traditional Roman confectionary that is, essentially, a sandwich made out of whipped cream. This trend originated in Yamanashi and has quickly spread throughout the country.
Another long-running favorite, the somewhat less exotic, home-grown fruit sandwich, also ranked in the top five among women in their 50s, 60s, and older. Overall this fixation on fruit sandwiches—as measured separately from #2 maritozzo—was enough to rank #8 at 9.6% overall.
Other Results from the 2021 LINE Survey
Below the Top Three topics of interest, the results become more fragmented. A few themes stand out, though.
Societal Issues
It was no surprise that the Tokyo 2020 Olympics & Paralympics ranked #3 overall. After a year’s delay, Japan basked in collective national pride, as so many of its athletes excelled across a wide variety of sports.
The global pandemic continued to affect life around the country. The need to eat in silence and mask up at the dinner table came in at #4 overall with 15.2% of the vote.
The trending buzzword SDGs, meaning “sustainable development goals,” ranked #6 overall at 12.2%. It is, essentially, the more up-to-date version of the term eko (エコ), meaning “ecologically friendly.”
Japanese Penchant for Canned Beer
The packaging innovations of Asahi Beer’s new version of Super Dry captured a lot of attention, Image Sourced from Asahi.
Japan is a nation of beer lovers, and perennial favorite Asahi caught their attention by launching a new version in its Super Dry line of canned beer (アサヒ スーパードライ 生ジョッキ缶) last April. What made it such a hit was the unique packaging which makes it possible to tear off the entire top of the can. The concept was to make the beer drinking experience similar to what it is like to drink a regular draft at a bar or restaurant for only 219 yen ($1.91 U.S.) for a 340ml can.
The inside of the lid also features tiny bumps, which are supposed to produce more foam. Although there was no change to the content of the actual beer, the packaging innovations were enough to cause the brewer to capture the #5 ranking at 12.6%.
Anime and Manga
The youngest respondents voted overwhelmingly for their favorite anime/manga, including the series Tokyo Manji Revengers, Image Sourced from Spice
Coming in at #7 with 9.8% was the hit anime/manga series Jujutsu Kaisen (呪術廻戦). It was especially popular among female teens and 20-somethings, along with another popular anime/manga series called Tokyo Manji Revengers (東京卍リベンジャーズ). Although it looks like a counterclockwise swastika, the character manji (卍) in the title of this series is, by the way, actually a symbol from Buddhism and has no connotations to Nazi Germany.
Both anime/manga series were also ranked No. 1 in the survey of trends among the younger generation.
Detailed Listings from the LINE Survey
The overall results were as follows:
Rank
Most Popular Topics among All Respondents
%
1st
Baseball Player Shohei Ohtani (大谷 翔平)
34.3%
2nd
Maritozzo (マリトッツォ), a traditional dessert from Rome
28.0%
3rd
Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics
26.9%
4th
Dining in Silence While Masking Up for the Coronavirus (黙食・マスク会ショック)
15.2%
5th
Asahi Super Dry Canned Beer (アサヒ スーパードライ 生ジョッキ缶)
12.6%
6th
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
12.2%
7th
Jujutsu Kaisen (呪術廻戦)
9.8%
8th
Fruit Sandwich (フルーツサンド)
9.6%
9th
Tokyo Manji Revengers (東京卍リベンジャーズ)
9.5%
10th
Boy Band BTS from South Korea
9.0%
Top Ten most popular topics from the 2021 LINE Survey (% rounded to the nearest 10th of a percentage), n =548,460
The breakdown by both gender and age were as follows:
Top Five most popular topics among men in their 30s from the 2021 LINE Survey (% rounded to the nearest 10th of a percentage), n =21,473
Rank
Most Popular Topics among Women in Their 30s
%
1st
Maritozzo (マリトッツォ), a traditional dessert from Rome
40.1%
2nd
Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics
21.6%
3rd
Baseball Player Shohei Ohtani (大谷 翔平)
19.1%
4th
Boy Band BTS from South Korea
14.3%
5th
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
12.2%
Top Five most popular topics among women in their 30s from the 2021 LINE Survey (% rounded to the nearest 10th of a percentage), n =68,006
Rank
Most Popular Topics among Men in Their 40s
%
1st
Baseball Player Shohei Ohtani (大谷 翔平)
39.9%
2nd
Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics
28.5%
3rd
Maritozzo (マリトッツォ), a traditional dessert from Rome
21.5%
4th
Asahi Super Dry Canned Beer (アサヒ スーパードライ 生ジョッキ缶)
17.9%
5th
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
13.5%
Top Five most popular topics among men in their 40s from the 2021 LINE Survey (% rounded to the nearest 10th of a percentage), n =43,079
Rank
Most Popular Topics among Women in Their 40s
%
1st
Maritozzo (マリトッツォ), a traditional dessert from Rome
38.9%
2nd
Baseball Player Shohei Ohtani (大谷 翔平)
26.9%
3rd
Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics
24.5%
4th
Dining in Silence While Masking Up for the Coronavirus (黙食・マスク会ショック)
14.6%
5th
Boy Band BTS from South Korea
14.4%
Top Five most popular topics among women in their 40s from the 2021 LINE Survey (% rounded to the nearest 10th of a percentage), n =103,159
Rank
Most Popular Topics among Men in Their 50s
%
1st
Baseball Player Shohei Ohtani (大谷 翔平)
47.1%
2nd
Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics
33.6%
3rd
Maritozzo (マリトッツォ), a traditional dessert from Rome
19.6%
4th
Asahi Super Dry Canned Beer (アサヒ スーパードライ 生ジョッキ缶)
18.6%
5th
Dining in Silence While Masking Up for the Coronavirus (黙食・マスク会ショック)
15.3%
Top Five most popular topics among men in their 50s from the 2021 LINE Survey (% rounded to the nearest 10th of a percentage), n =48,196
Rank
Most Popular Topics among Women in Their 50s
%
1st
Baseball Player Shohei Ohtani (大谷 翔平)
37.8%
2nd
Maritozzo (マリトッツォ), a traditional dessert from Rome
37.0%
3rd
Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics
29.3%
4th
Dining in Silence While Masking Up for the Coronavirus (黙食・マスク会ショック)
19.1%
5th
Fruit Sandwich (フルーツサンド)
15.2%
Top Five most popular topics among women in their 50s from the 2021 LINE Survey (% rounded to the nearest 10th of a percentage), n =94,438
Rank
Most Popular Topics among Men in Their 60s
%
1st
Baseball Player Shohei Ohtani (大谷 翔平)
56.0%
2nd
Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics
38.5%
3rd
Dining in Silence While Masking Up for the Coronavirus (黙食・マスク会ショック)
21.8%
4th
Asahi Super Dry Canned Beer (アサヒ スーパードライ 生ジョッキ缶)
20.5%
5th
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
18.6%
Top Five most popular topics among men in their 60s from the 2021 LINE Survey (% rounded to the nearest 10th of a percentage), n =22,534
Rank
Most Popular Topics among Women in Their 60s
%
1st
Baseball Player Shohei Ohtani (大谷 翔平)
52.3%
2nd
Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics
35.5%
3rd
Dining in Silence While Masking Up for the Coronavirus (黙食・マスク会ショック)
28.8%
4th
Maritozzo (マリトッツォ), a traditional dessert from Rome
27.2%
5th
Fruit Sandwich (フルーツサンド)
16.6%
Top Five most popular topics among women in their 60s from the 2021 LINE Survey (% rounded to the nearest 10th of a percentage), n =33,806
The LINE survey is certainly a useful tool for recording the historical pulse of the Japanese people during 2021. The sample size is unprecedented, and the firm is to be commended for publicizing its data. Check back this time next year to see which topics were trending throughout 2022.
For more trending topics in Japan from 2021, check out which new words were added to the Japanese dictionary last year!
Mark Kennedy is a native of Chicago who has spent more than 20 years living, studying, and working in Japan. By day he is Country Head - Business Development, Nexdigm - Japan but becomes a writer after work. Mark is a lifelong student of the Japanese language and culture. He loves to travel throughout the country. Mark also is the author behind the "Real Gaijin" Substack, countryroadsjapan.com, as well as the Country Roads Japan and Coastal Sailing Japan YouTube channels. Photo supplied courtesy of the author who had stopped to check out the free-roaming horses and cows about half-way up to the summit of Mt. Aso, an active volcano in the center of Kyushu.