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2003
White Paper on Leisure—Potentials of the New Leisure
Market
(August 8, 2003)
Leisure Development Research Center |
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The
Leisure Development Research Center, installed within the
JPC-SED, has hereby published the 2003 White Paper on Leisure—Potentials
of the New Leisure Market. This white paper is the only
publication that comprehensively and chronologically analyzes
the state of leisure in Japan from both the demand and supply
perspectives. It is the 27th edition since the publication
of the first white paper in 1977.
The main points of the white paper are presented below. |
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Present state of leisure activities in Japan |
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With
little mitigation of financial and time constraints, the number
of people who can enjoy leisure activities is showing no sign
of increasing.
In 2002, working hours decreased in statistical terms, but
people were still burdened with financial and time constraints.
Their participation in 91 leisure activities that were regularly
monitored was even lower than in the previous year (2001).
The growth of “routine and personal type” leisure
activities (gardening, computers (games, hobby, communications,
etc.)) observed in the past few years has settled for the
time being. In their stead, “lottery” has increased
rapidly. It apparently matches businessmen’s desire to
buy a dream without spending much money or time. |
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Trends of the leisure market |
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The
leisure market expanded slightly, but the sports and tourism
sectors are facing a difficult situation.
The leisure market reached its peak in 1996 and has since
been following a declining trend. However, in 2002, it grossed
82.966 trillion yen, marking a positive growth of +0.5% over
the previous year. The major factor accounting for the increase
is the growth of the pachinko market (pachinko ball lease
fee), which showed an increase of approximately 1.4 trillion
yen, or a +5.1% growth, over the previous year. However, aside
from the pachinko market, the rest of the leisure market registered
negative growth for five consecutive years. In terms of sector,
the sports sector (-3.2%) and the tourism and amusement sector
(-0.9%) are in a difficult situation. |
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Potentials of the new leisure market |
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The
success of casinos depends on whether they can provide comprehensive
service as an urban-style leisure complex.
With a focus on 24 “new leisure activities,” their
conditions and market scale were investigated. As a result,
“hot bath facilities (393 billion yen),” “interactions
using mobile phones (1,838 billion yen),” and “pets
(568 billion yen)” were among the activities that are
attracting a large number of participants and have a strong
impact on today’s people. The overall scale of the new
leisure market is as large as approximately 5 trillion yen,
and many of the new activities can be expected to grow steadily
in the future.
With respect to casinos, it was found that roughly 30% of
the people “wish to go to a casino.” “Casino
supporters” who basically have no interest in pachinko,
account for 10% of this ratio, and consist primarily of young
men and women in their 20s and 30s. The success of casinos
therefore depends on whether they can provide comprehensive
service as an urban-style leisure complex and respond to the
needs of these young people. |
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