Results of Survey on Time Use for Japan by Detailed Activity Coding

Overview of Survey

The 2001 Survey on Time Use and Leisure Activities was conducted in October 2001 by the Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. The purpose of the survey was to study the way in which Japanese citizens used their time and in which leisure activities they participated, in order to get a picture of the way in which they lived their lives and obtain basic information for use in the making of various administrative policies.
The Survey on Time Use and Leisure Activities was first conducted in 1976 and has been conducted every five years since then. The 2001 survey was the sixth survey.
In the 2001 survey, in addition to Questionnaire A (after-coding system1)), which is the same form as the questionnaire in the former surveys, Questionnaire B (pre-coding system2)) was newly introduced. The results disclosed this time are the results on the distribution of time use by detailed activity coding which was based on Questionnaire B. The number of the sample households of the survey was approximately 4,000 randomly chosen from the entire population of Japanese households. The actual number of people surveyed was approximately 10,000. These people were the usual household members and were 10 years of age and older.
The results based on questionnaire A were released by September 2002.

Overview of results

Time spent on housework	When broken down by kind of housework, males spent 16 minutes on shopping which was the longest, females spent 1 hour 39 minutes on management of meals such as cooking which was the longest.
Time spent on second job	The rate of those who participated in second job was 1.2% for males and 1.7% for females. The females' participation rate therefore was higher than the males. Time spent on second job was 4 hours 14 minutes for males and 3 hours 4 minutes for females. Males spent longer time on second job than females.
Time use of child	58.0% of children ate meals with their fathers and 91.8% with their mothers. When broken down by days of the week, children spent longest time with fathers and with mothers on Sunday.
Time spent on the Internet	When broken down by kind of activity, Internet was used the longest time in doing main job, and it was 2 hours 27 minutes.

Terminology

1) After-coding system	The system the respondent was asked to write each activity in the questionnaire like writing a diary, then the coding was made during the tabulation procedure.
2) Pre-coding system	The system the respondent was asked to select the activity classification written on the questionnaire.

Summary of results

1. Time spent on housework

Males spent most on shopping while females spent most on management of meals such as cooking.

Time spent on housework3)by ages 10 years and over per day is 2 hours 25 minutes, and males spent 49 minutes while females spent 3 hours 56 minutes.
When broken down by kind of activities, males spent 16 minutes on shopping which was the longest, followed by household upkeep such as cleaning (11 minutes), management of meals such as cooking (8 minutes).
Females spent 1 hour 39 minutes on management of meals which was the longest, followed by household upkeep (41 minutes) and shopping (35 minutes). (See Figure 1)

3)Housework refers to those activities included in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Average time for all persons spent on activities related to housework by sex (10 years old and over)

Husbands spent 47 minutes longer and wives spent 43 minutes shorter on Sundays on "Taking care of a baby and a little child" compared to weekdays.

When time spent on housework by husbands and wives of "Household of husband and wife with their child(ren) of younger than 6 years old" is broken down by days of the week, husbands spent longest on many kinds of housework on Sundays. On weekdays, wives spent most on "Management of meals" and "Taking care of a baby and a little child" etc, while on Sundays they spent most on "Teaching the child" and "Shopping".
As to taking care of a baby and a little child, on weekdays husbands spent 25 minutes while on Sundays they spent 1 hour 12 minutes, and the latter is 47 minutes longer than the former. Wives spent 2 hours 43 minutes and 2 hours respectively, and the latter is 43 minutes shorter than the former. (See Figure 2)

Figure 2: Average time for all persons spent by husbands and wives in the "Household of husband and wife with their child(ren) younger than 6 years old" on activities related to housework by days of the week

2. Time spent on second job

More females participated in second job while males spent more time on second job.

Out of working persons, the rate of those who participated in second job on the day of survey (participation rate) was 1.4% and its time (average hours of participation) was 3 hours 29 minutes, with 4 hours 14 minutes for males (1.2%) and 3 hours 4 minutes for females (1.7%). Thus, more females participated in second job while males spent more time on second job.
When the participation rate is broken down by sex and age group, both males and females showed the highest at the age group of ages 55 to 64 (2.2% for males and 3.9% for females), followed by ages 15 to 24 (1.6%) for males and ages 65 years and over (2.5%) for females. (See Figure 3)

Figure 3: Average time for participants and participation rate for second job by sex and age group (working persons)

3. Time use of child

Sixty percent of children ate meals with their fathers and ninety percent with their mothers.

Out of children with ages from 10 to 14, the rate of those who spent their meal time with their parents on the day of survey (participation rate) and it's time (average time for participants) were 58.0% (48 minutes) with their fathers and 91.3% (1 hour 2 minutes) with their mothers. When broken down by days of the week, they spent longest time for meal on Sunday with their fathers (1 hour 15 minutes, 70.7%) and with their mothers (1 hour 23 minutes, 89.9%).
About the time parents stayed with the children while the children did their homework, it was longest on Sundays, fathers spent 1 hour 11 minutes (12.0%) while mothers spent 1 hour 25 minutes (15.6%). (See Figure 4)

Figure 4: Time spent with parents and participation rate by days of the week (10 to 14 years old)

4. Time spent on the Internet

People used the Internet longer on weekdays than on weekends.

The population of ages 10 years and over used the Internet 1 hour 42 minutes (average time for participants) per day, and the rate of using the Internet on the day of survey (user rate) was 10.7%. When broken down by sex, males spent 1 hour 57 minutes (user rate: 13.2%), and females spent 1 hour 18 minutes (8.3%).
When broken down by days of the week, the longest was 1 hour 48 minutes on weekdays, and its user rate was the highest of 11.4%. (See Table 1)

Table 1: Time spent on the Internet and Internet user rate by sex and days of the week (10 years old and over)

Table 1

Internet was used longest in doing main job.

When the rate of Internet usage on the day of survey is broken down by kind of activity (user rate), 4.6% of population used it in doing hobbies (collecting and computing), followed by 3.3% in doing main job, and 2.7% in communication by computing and correspondence.
The usage time for these activities (average time for participants) were 1 hour 12 minutes, 2 hours 27 minutes, and 41 minutes respectively, thus the longest was in doing main job and the time used in hobbies (collecting and computing) was about a half of it. (See Figure 5)

Figure 5: Time spent on the Internet and Internet user rate by kind of activity (10 years old and over)

Inquiries:

Research and Analysis Section,
Labor Force Statistics Office, Statistical Survey Department,
Statistics Bureau,
Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications

19-1 Wakamatsu-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8668 Japan

TEL: +81-3-5273-1163 (direct) FAX: +81-3-5273-1184

URL: http://www.stat.go.jp/data/shakai/

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