4. Leisure Activities during the Past Year (Questionnaire A)

Experiences on leisure activities engaged in during the past year (from October 20, 2000 to October 19, 2001) are obtained.

Activities covered are as follows; "Internet use", "studies and researches", "sports", "hobbies and amusements", "volunteer activities" and "travel and excursion". Frequency and/or purpose of activities are also surveyed to those who engaged in the activities.

a. Internet use

"Internet use" covered in this survey includes those performed in work, studies or during free time.

They are classified as follows

Exchanging information --- e-mail, chat, Internet telephony, etc.
Sending information --- creating or updating a web site, etc.
Collecting information --- net-surfing, obtaining data, etc.
Other --- answering a quiz question, entry, for a prize, filling in questionnaires, horoscope, etc.

Reserving or buying goods or services, making payments --- on-line shopping, banking, ticket reservations or trading stocks, etc.

b. Studies and researches

"Studies and researches" covered in this survey only include those performed during free time as a leisure activity or in preparation for work, and do not include those as an occupation. For example, study by students at school or as homework and research done by scientists as their occupation are excluded.

Kind of studies and researches
They are classified as follows:
- English language
- Other foreign languages --- French, Chinese, etc.
- Computing, etc. --- how to use computing software, programming, etc.
- Commerce and business --- commerce, management, book keeping, interpreting, shorthand, abacus use, etc.
- Caring --- caring at home, care visitors
- Home economics and housework --- home economics, knitting, handcrafts, etc.
- Humanities, social or natural science --- literature, history, philosophy, psychology, political science, sociology, economics, astronomy, chemistry, biology, medical science, measurement, electric engineering, civil engineering, construction, nursing, dental work, radiology, etc.
- Arts and culture --- art, pictures, sculpture, design, music, industrial arts, graphic design, theatrical, calligraphy, etc.
- Other
Purpose of studies and researches
The purpose of studies and researches are classified as follows:
- To gain employment
- Essential for current employment
- Self-improvement
- Other

c. Sports

"Sports" includes all kinds of athletic amusements done as leisure activities but excludes sports done by students as part of their educational exercises and by professional athletes as their work.

Kind of sports
Data are obtained for each of the following 16 kinds of sports.
- Baseball (including playing catch)
- Softball
- Volleyball
- Soccer
- Table tennis
- Tennis
- Badminton
- Golf (including golf practice range)
- "Gate ball"
- Bowling
- Fishing
- Swimming
- Skiing, snowboarding
- Jogging, marathon
- Taking a walk as a sport, light gymnastics
- Other

d. Hobbies and amusements

Excluding those hobbies related to course in regular school or study for business.

Data are obtained for each of the following 20 kinds of hobbies and amusements.

Watching sports games (excluding TV program)
Watching works of art (excluding TV program)
Watching plays, vaudevilles and dances (excluding TV program)
Watching movies (excluding TV program and video)
Going to classical music concerts
Going to popular music concerts
Playing musical instruments
Traditional Japanese music
Japanese flower arrangement
Japanese tea ceremony
Dress making, sewing
Knitting or embroidering
Cooking, or making cakes, cookies as hobbies
Gardening
Do-it-yourself carpentry
Reading books as hobbies
Playing "Pachinko"
Playing home use video games (including use of portable game machines)
"Karaoke"
Other

e. Volunteer activities

Volunteer activity is the act of providing one's own efforts, time, knowledge or skill for society or community without receiving remuneration for the work.

Kind of volunteer activities
Volunteer activities refer to the activities mainly performed for the sake of society, and are classified as follows.
- Health or medical related activities --- blood donations, visiting people in hospital, promoting safe foodstuffs, etc.
- Activities for the elderly --- assisting in daily life, recreation, etc.
- Activities for the handicapped --- sign language, braille, reading, helping the handicapped to take go out, etc.
- Activities for children --- child-raising support, manning bullying hot lines, etc.
- Activities related to sports, culture or arts ---sports instruction, promoting traditional Japanese culture, guiding at museums, etc.
- Local improvement activities --- cleaning up parks and roads, planting flowers, promoting the local community, etc.
- Safety promotion activities --- disaster and crime prevention, road safety, etc.
- Conservation or environmental activities --- bird watching, protection of woods and forests, promoting recycling and waste reduction, etc.
- Disaster related activities --- providing clothes and food, hot meals for disaster victims, etc.
- Other --- promoting human rights, pacifism, etc.
Type of volunteer activities
This is classified according to whether volunteer activities are performed as a member of organizations or not.
For "other" volunteer activities, this is not applied.

f. Travel and excursion

"Travel" refers to a trip of at least one overnight stay. "Excursion" refers to a day trip spending half day or more.

Travel is classified according to the purpose and the destination in the following way.

g. Frequency

Frequency refers to the number or the number of days that the activities were actually performed by the respondent in the past year.

The number of days are classified as follows:

1-4 days a year
5-9 days a year
10-19 days a year (1 day a month)
20-39 days a year (2-3 days a month)
40-99 days a year (1 day a week)
100-199 days a year (2-3 days a week)
200 days or more a year (4 days or more a week)

h. Persons doing together

Persons with whom the respondent shared the activity are classified as follows:

With family
With colleague(s)or classmate(s)
With neighbour(s)
With friend(s) or acquaintance(s), etc.
Alone

i. Participants in the activity

Those who actually engaged in the activity at least once during the past year.

j. Participation rate in the activity

(Participants in the activity) / (Total population) * 100 (%)

k. Average days for participation in the activity

Average days for participation in the activity in the past year is calculated by the following formula. For "200 days or more", 282.5 days are used as "the median of the frequency class".

1. Characteristics of Individuals

2. Characteristics of Households

3. Time Use (Questionnaire A)

5. Time Use by Detailed Activity Coding (Questionnaire B)

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