An online survey conducted by the Yano Research Institute Ltd. to 10,000 people between 15 and 69 years old in July, reveals that passionate idol fans are “the most active” in terms of how much money and time they spend on their interests compared to those with other hobbies. The study focused on people who identified themselves as otaku or were perceived as such by others.
Among the 30 hobbies covered in the survey, it was estimated that the “sleeve” was the most popular among otakus with 6.74 million fans across Japan, followed by “anime” with 6.57 million; “idols” with 4.29 million; “Console games” with 3.18 million; “mobile games” with 2.88 million; “pc games” with 1.78 million; “light novels” with 1.26 million; “figures” with 1.15 million; “dojinshi” or self-published print works with 1.1 million; and “model kits” with 890,000.
In terms of spending, most respondents indicated that they spent between 10,000 and 50,000 yen (approximately 70 to 340 dollars) per year in “otakatsu” (otaku activities). By hobbies, spending was highest among “build a PC or electronics” fans, who spent 105,652 yen ($720) a year on average, followed by idol fans who spent 81,085 yen ($550), and “maid and cosplay services” who spent 63,533 yen ($430).
Regarding the hours dedicated to their hobbies per weekfans of “Virtual YouTubers (VTubers)” topped the list with 15.7 hours, followed by gaming enthusiasts with fans of “PC games”, “smartphone games” and “console games” spending 13.3, 11.9 and 11.7 hours respectively.
Additional analysis of the relationship between time and money spent on otaku activities showed that idol fans were “the most active in spending both money and time.”. 25.3% of idol otakus responded that they spent “more than 10 hours a week and more than 50,000 yen a year” on their idols. About 30% of idol fans said they spent more than 100,000 yen (approximately $680) perr year in their activities, a higher percentage compared to otaku in other fields.
A deeper analysis of the characteristics of these fans revealed that the majority are women in their 10s to 30s, and around 25% are students, having relatively more time to devote to their hobbies. The Yano Research Institute concluded that “the average household income of idol otaku is not significantly different from that of other otaku and they tend to spend more of their disposable income on their activities.”
Fountain: Mainichi Shimbun
