Girl's Enrichment Lessons: One Out of Four Are Learning "English Conversation"
June 28, 2004
- Results of "Character and Children Market Survey"
[From the results of "Character and Children Market Survey"]
The Top 10 popular characters and the ownership ratio of the products
of those characters
(Surveyed April 2004)
| Total
(Boys & girls age 3-12) <Apr. 2004> |
|||
| Rank | Character name | Popular -ity (%) |
Owner -ship ratio (%) |
| 1 | Doraemon | 73.3 | 74.8 |
| 2 | My Neighbor Totoro | 65.7 | 55.6 |
| 3 | Winney the Pooh | 62.9 | 84.5 |
| 4 | Pokemon | 62.1 | 78.9 |
| 5 | Finding Nemo | 62.0 | 42.0 |
| 6 | Crayon Shin-chan | 61.0 | 23.6 |
| 7 | Qoo | 60.7 | 40.9 |
| 8 | Mickey Mouse | 60.4 | 86.9 |
| 9 | Atashi-n-chi | 57.0 | 8.3 |
| 10 | Sazaesan | 52.4 | 5.1 |
| Boys
(age 3-12) <Apr. 2004> |
Girls
(age 3-12) <Apr. 2004> |
||||||
| Rank | Character name | Popular -ity (%) |
Owner -ship ratio (%) |
Rank | Character name | Popular -ity (%) |
Owner -ship ratio (%) |
| 1 | Doraemon | 75.0 | 76.6 | 1 | Winney the Pooh | 80.4 | 95.4 |
| 2 | Pokemon | 74.1 | 86.9 | 2 | My Neighbor Totoro | 75.5 | 63.1 |
| 3 | Crayon Shin-chan | 70.3 | 27.8 | 3 | Qoo | 72.2 | 48.0 |
| 4 | One Piece | 63.1 | 46.6 | 4 | Doraemon | 71.6 | 72.9 |
| 5 | Kirby | 60.0 | 41.3 | 5 | Cinnamoroll | 70.9 | 62.4 |
| 5 | Detective Conan | 57.5 | 26.6 | 6 | Little Mermaid (Ariel) | 69.0 | 72.2 |
| 7 | Mickey Mouse | 57.2 | 82.8 | 7 | Finding Nemo | 67.6 | 46.4 |
| 8 | Finding Nemo | 56.6 | 37.8 | 8 | Ochaken | 67.3 | 61.1 |
| 9 | My Neighbor Totoro | 56.3 | 48.4 | 9 | Atashi-n-chi | 65.0 | 8.8 |
| 10 | Nintama Rantaro | 52.2 | 15.6 | 10 | Minney Mouse | 64.7 | 82.4 |
Enrichment Lessons
"English conversation," which was the second highest among girls,
accounted for 24%, which increased from the 13% in the result five years ago
by about 10 points. It seems that the interest for English conversation is increasing,
influenced by the fact that English was introduced as a theme for the Period
of Integrated Study.
Although its score is rather high among both boys and girls in higher grades
of elementary school, the number of girls who learn English conversation before
school age or while still in lower grades of elementary school seems to be increasing
largely.
| (%) | ||||
| Rank | Boys | 2004.4 | 1999.4 | 1994.4 |
| 1 | Swimming school | 23.1 | 27.2 | 24.6 |
| 2 | Cram school (incl. private preparatory school) | 16.6 | 18.1 | 20.4 |
| 2 | Soccer | 16.6 | 10.9 | 10.0 |
| 4 | English conversation/English lesson | 15.9 | 12.2 | 15.2 |
| 5 | Baseball | 8.8 | 6.6 | 7.4 |
| 6 | Piano | 7.5 | 5.6 | 10.0 |
| 7 | Karate | 5.0 | 2.8 | 3.6 |
| 8 | Calligraphy | 3.4 | 10.0 | 12.0 |
| 9 | Music (acoustic) lesson for children | 3.1 | 1.3 | 3.5 |
| 10 | Kendo | 2.8 | 1.6 | 3.6 |
![Changes in Top 5 Popular Lessons [Boys]](img/040628_1.gif)
| (%) | ||||
| Rank | Girls | 2004.4 | 1999.4 | 1994.4 |
| 1 | Piano | 27.1 | 27.5 | 31.6 |
| 2 | English conversation/English lesson | 23.5 | 12.7 | 13.1 |
| 3 | Swimming school | 20.9 | 22.2 | 24.4 |
| 4 | Cram school (incl. private preparatory school) | 14.1 | 18.0 | 17.2 |
| 5 | Calligraphy | 11.4 | 13.4 | 22.0 |
| 6 | Ballet | 7.2 | 6.2 | 6.2 |
| 7 | Music (acoustic) lesson for children | 4.2 | 3.9 | 4.8 |
| 7 | Dance | 4.2 | - | - |
| 9 | Drawing | 2.9 | 2.0 | 4.8 |
| 10 | Tennis | 2.0 | 0.7 | 1.0 |
![Changes in Top 5 Popular Lessons [Girls]](img/040628_2.gif)
English conversation/English lesson (by age)
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| 2004.4 | 19.6 | 11.4 | 14.7 | 23.7 | 21.4 | 26.1 | 23.9 |
| 1999.4 | 12.5 | 4.8 | 14.0 | 19.8 | 8.3 | 13.5 | 17.7 |
| 1994.4 | 14.2 | 9.9 | 19.0 | 19.2 | 8.9 | 15.0 | 17.6 |
| (%) |
