Less is more

My Voice held their 8th survey of sake drinking habits in Japan between 1 and 5 February 2024, attracting responses from 9,581 people.

44% of respondents reported that they drink sake. Slightly less than 10% drank sake once a week or more, and many of those were in their 60s and 70s, with few men in their 20s choosing sake. 

The results for 2024 were presented with those from 2022, 2019, 2016, 2014, 2012 and 2010, and the responses show some sobering trends between 2010 and 2024.

• “Do not/cannot drink alcohol at all” increased from 15.9% to 28.6%.
• “Do not/cannot drink sake” increased from 23.5% to 27%.
• “Drink sake one day a month or less” fell from 30% to 26.5%.
• “2–3 days a month” fell from 9.7% to 6.3%.
• “One day a week” fell from 6.6% to 4.3%.
• “2–3 days a week” fell from 7.2% to 3.6%.
• “4–5 days a week” fell from 2.8 to 1.6.
• “Almost every day” fell from 4.4% to 2.0%.

When asked when they wanted to drink sake, just under 30% of replies cited “with a special meal” and “on holiday”, and just under 20% mentioned “to enjoy a meal”, “with an ordinary meal”, “at home” and “when meeting friends”. The response “with a special meal” was particularly common from women. (Respondents could choose multiple answers.)

The next question was about volume of sake purchased. Respondents were asked what size container they bought frequently. (Respondents could choose multiple answers.)

• One-cup size: increased from 8.5% in 2014 to 11.4% in 2022, falling slightly to 11.2% in 2024.
• Bottles under 300 ml: increased from 5.5% in 2014 to 9.4% in 2022, falling slightly to 9.2% in 2024.
• 300 ml bottles: increased from 6.9% in 2014 to 11.2% in 2024.
• 500 ml bottles: increased from 7.5% in 2014 to 9.4% in 2024.
• 720 ml bottles: the most popular, increasing from 29.6% in 2014 to 40.1% in 2022, falling slightly to 39.4% in 2024.
• 1.8 L bottles: fell from 26.6% in 2014 to 19.5% in 2024.

[It would have been interesting to see responses about non-glass packaging as well…]

Asked what was important to them when choosing a sake, “flavour” came in in first place with 66.1%, followed by “sweet/dry” and “price” at just under 40%, “easy to drink” with 37.5%, and “junmai or not” at 29.9%. Women were more likely to look at “flavour”, “sweet/dry” and “easy to drink”, and respondents in their 20s and 30s were least likely to care about whether a sake was “junmai or not”, “sweet/dry” or “label”.

Of those who responded that they drink alcohol, 55% said they wanted to drink sake. The strongest response was from men in their 60s and 70s with nearly 60% saying yes to sake, whereas only around 40% of women in their 20s and 30s were interested. 93–95% of those who drink sake 2–3 days a month would continue to do so, while only 9% of those who currently do not drink sake would try it.

The last question was on sake‘s image. 54.6% saw it as “traditional” (up from 48.2% in 2019), and 24.1% thought it was “for adults”. [Which could mean “sophisticated” or “strong” or something else – it’s a tough one to translate.] 10–15% said sake “smells good”, “makes you sick/causes bad hangover”, is “high in calories” and is “easy to drink”, while those who do not/cannot drink sake often replied that it “makes you sick/causes bad hangovers” or “has a harsh smell”. The top 3 responses from those interested in drinking sake were “traditional”, “smells good” and “easy to drink”.

A selection of comments include:

• “I often dilute it with Calpis concentrate to make it easy to drink” (22 year old man)
• “I want to meet up with other friends who like sake and just talk about what we’re drinking” (38 year old man)
• “I find I want to drink sake when having a Japanese meal with family or friends, people who aren’t business contacts” (38 year old man)
• “I like to taste and enjoy sake slowly in a relaxed atmosphere. I don’t mind where, but I don’t want to drink in rowdy places with lots of people” (74 year old man)
• “I want to drink it with fish. And try local sake when I’m travelling” (24 year old woman)
• “I want to gather a few friends and drink kanzake on a cold winter’s day” (41 year old woman)
• “I can’t handle alcohol and get drunk straight away so I almost never drink. But I kind of want to try sparkling sake to see what it’s like” (60 year old woman)

(PR Times, Japanese)
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So, although sake is making inroads as an exciting drink promoted by chefs and sommeliers outside Japan, its domestic image still seems to be a bit stuck in the past. Although the survey was probably vulnerable to the usual risk of only attracting a subset of people to take it, the trends are still interesting and not particularly optimistic.