Japanese Love Leisure More than Ever but Turn Thrifty
Tokyo, July 16 (Jiji Press)--Japanese people's preference to leisure over work grew to an unprecedented level in 2024 while their tendency to save money became stronger amid rising prices, a private-sector report has shown.
In a survey, those who answered they attached importance to leisure rather than to work including study last year accounted for 67.8 pct of the total respondents, the highest reading since comparable data became available in 2009, the Japan Productivity Center said in its 2025 Leisure White Paper, released Tuesday.
Among respondents who took part in at least one spare-time activity in 2024, "domestic pleasure trip" enjoyed the highest participation rate of 48.3 pct, proving to be the most popular way of having fun for three years in a row.
However, the figure is lower than 48.7 pct in the previous survey and far short of the 2019 pre-pandemic level of 54.3 pct.
"Recent price spikes are believed to have made many people cautious about spending on travel," a JPC official said.
(2025/07/16-15:01)
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