Japanese Workers Put Time and Money Ahead of Relaxing Lunch Breaks

In a survey conducted in Japan by Asahi Group Foods looking into working people’s lunchtimes, at 56.3%, the majority of respondents stated that there were some days when they could not take an adequate lunch break. Asked how often this was the case, 33.6% said “one to two days a week” and 25.8% answered “three to four days a week.”

Of those who were not getting enough time for lunch, even though they ideally wanted to take on average 63.1 minutes, their actual break time, where they did not do any checking of emails or looking up information, was 44.3 minutes; a gap of 18.8 minutes. Meanwhile, 9.8% of respondents did not even get a full 15 minutes of actual break.

With work encroaching on their breaks in such a way, respondents were asked what they considered important regarding lunch on work days. The most common answers were “doesn’t take too much time” with 27.6%, and “value for money” with 25.8%, while “good taste” and “nutritional balance” took a back seat.

The survey also revealed that 52.4% of respondents buy lunch from a convenience store at least once a week, and 38.4% of women and 48.2% of men did so at least three times a week.

The top three lunches that people bought at convenience stores were onigiri (rice balls), sandwiches, and bread or pastry, and at 49.3%, nearly half of the respondents had lunch at least one working day a week where their lunch was just a type of staple food like rice, bread, or noodles and nothing else.

The survey, held online in March 2023, targeted 800 working people aged between 20 and 59.

(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo © Pixta.)