In 2001, the Sasakawa Sports Foundation (SSF) carried out a nationwide survey, believing that
understanding the current status of participation in sports among boys and girls was urgently
necessary for the promotion ofSport for Everyone

program in Japan. The survey revealed

bipolarization in the status of participation in sports and physical activities. Since then, the survey has
been conducted every four years until 2009 in 2005 and 2009, and from 2011 every two years, whichmakes the 2015 survey sixth one.
The survey was conducted from June 27 to July 31, 2015, using household drop-oﬀ survey methodwith a questionnaire. The subjects were 3,000 randomly selected boys and girls aged from 10 to 19
years throughout the country. The survey questions included the current situation about sports andphysical activities (such as frequency, time, and intensity), available sports facilities, sports clubs,sports spectating, sports volunteering, and lifestyle habits (such as breakfast and sleeping). The
number of valid responses was 1,712 (a response rate of 57.1%). The following is a summary of themain survey results.

1Participation in sports and physical activities by frequency

Concerning the question on the frequency of participation in sports and physical activities among
respondents aged between 10 and 19 years, 13.2 % answered that they had not participated in any sports andphysical activities at all in the previous one year (Figure 1). Although the frequency had maintained anupward trend, with 12.5% in 2001, 11.7% in 2005, 14.4% in 2009, and 14.5% in 2011, the percentage dropped
to 13.0% in 2013, and remained at the same level in the survey this time. The proportion of respondents whodid sports and physical activities less than once aweek was 11.5%, which was a 1.2 percentage point
increase from 10.3% in the 2013 survey. In contrast,
the proportion of respondents who did sports andTable 1 Deﬁnition of frequency level
Frequency
Participation in sports and physical activities
level

physical activities seven times or more was 35.5%, a0None over the last twelve months （0 times/year）

3.1 percentage point decline from 38.6% in the 2013

−1Less than once a week （1 to 51 times/year）

survey. Including the 7.2% of respondents who did＋1

1 to 2 times a week （52 to 103 times/year）

sports and physical activities at least ﬁve times a week＋2

2 to 3 times a week （104 to 155 times/year）

but less than six times a week, and the 10.1% of＋3

3 to 4 times a week （156 to 207 times/year）

respondents who did sports and physical activities at＋4

4 to 5 times a week （208 to 259 times/year）

least six times a week but less than seven times a＋5

5 to 6 times a week （260 to 311 times/year）

week, almost half the teens were found to have done

＋6

6 to 7 times a week （312 to 363 times/year）

sports and physical activities at least ﬁve times a week.

＋7

7 or more times a week （more than 364 times/year）

2011（n=1,951）（％）
45

2013（n=1,848）

2015（n=1,712）
38.6
35.5
33.2

40
35
30
25
20
15

14.5

13.0 13.2

10

11.4 10.3 11.5

5

10.8 10.710.1
5.6 6.3 6.6

6.0 5.0 5.1

5.3 4.9 5.3＋1＋2＋36.1

4.7 5.4

7.1 6.5 7.2

00−1＋4＋5＋6Fig.1 Participation in sports and physical activities (by frequency level)＋7 frequencylevel2

Types of sports and physical activities

In the frequency survey on sports and physical activities that were performed over the last one year,soccer had the highest participation rate at 25.6%, basketball was second at 23.4%, playing tag was third at
19.7%, badminton came fourth at 18.2%, and, then, jogging/running came ﬁfth at 17.6% (Table 2).
In terms of gender, soccer at 44.0%, basketball at 27.3%, and baseball at 23.0% were popular with boys,and badminton at 24.5%, playing tag at 23.5%, and volleyball at 20.8% were popular with girls (Table 3).

Table 2 Participation rates by sports and physical activities (multiple answers permitted)
Rank

2011（n=1,668）

％

Rank

2013（n=1,608）

％

Rank

2015（n=1,486）％

1

Soccer

23.7

1

Soccer

28.2

1

Soccer

25.6

2

Basketball

21.2

2

Basketball

21.5

2

Basketball

23.4

3

Jogging/running

17.0

3

Playing tag

21.3

3

Playing tag

19.7

4

Swimming

16.1

4

Jogging/running

19.3

4

Badminton

18.2

5

Baseball

15.3

Dodgeball

17.1

5

Jogging / Running

17.6

6

Badminton

13.7

Swimming

17.1

6

Dodgeball

17.2

7

Muscle building

13.4

7

Badminton

16.7

Swimming

14.5

8Playing tag

13.2

8

Muscle building

15.1

Volleyball

14.5

9

Volleyball

11.2

9

Baseball15.0

9Muscle building

14.1

10

Dodgeball

10.4

10

Volleyball

12.4

10

Table tennis

13.7

5

7

Table 3 Participation rates by sports and physical activities (by gender：multiple answers permitted)
Rank％

Rank

1

Soccer44.0

1

Badminton

24.5

2

Basketball

27.3

2

Playing tag

23.5

3

Baseball23.0

3Volleyball

20.8

Dodgeball

17.7

4

Basketball19.1

Jogging / Running

17.7

5

Jogging / Running

17.4

6Playing tag

16.3

6

Skipping rope (including long rope)

17.0

7

Table tennis

15.5

7

Dodgeball

16.5

8

Muscle building

15.4

8

Swimming

14.7

9

Swimming

14.4

9Muscle building

12.7

10

Badminton

12.6

10

Walking

12.6

3

Membership of sports clubs

4Boys（n=779）

Girls（n=707）％

According to the ﬁnding of membership status to sports clubs at schools, private-sector sports clubs, andsports clubs in local communities among respondents, 57.3% of them were current members of sports clubs,
and 42.7% of them had never joined any sports clubs (Figure 2). The percentage of current members of sports
clubs rose by 6.8 percentage points from 50.5% in the 2013 survey.

Currently a member
2001（n=1,355）

46.7

53.3

2005（n=1,801）

46.0

54.0

2009（n=1,989）
2011（n=1,944）

49.3

60.0

50.5

2015（n=1,710）
0

50.7

40.0

2013（n=1,821）

49.5

57.3
20

Never joined

42.7
4060

Fig.2 Sports club membership

80100（%）

4Sports volunteerIn the previous one year, 15.0% of respondents had volunteered to assist with sports (Figure 3). Watching
the transition of volunteer rates in the previous surveys, there had not been any change at around 13%, in thepast 10 years, with 13.3% in 2005, 12.7% in 2009, 13.9% in 2011, and 12.8% in 2013. In the survey this time,
the percentage reached an all-time high of 15.0%. Looking at the volunteer rates by gender, 18.0% of boys
and 12.1% of girls had been involved in
sports volunteer work. The percentage ofboys was higher than the girls .
The volunteer work that attracted mostvolunteers was refereeing or helping referees,

All (n=1,708)

15.0

which was at 49.4%, followed by helping out
at sports events at 41.6%, and coaching orBoys (n=863)

18.0

helping coaches at 33.9%. When respondents
were asked whether they wanted to try or

Girls (n=845)

12.1

continue sports-related volunteer work in the0future, 8.4% of them answered absolutely,
29.9%

repliedmaybe,

29.1%

answeredmaybe not, 14.0% responded absolutely not,24681012141618 20（%）

Fig.3 Participation in sports volunteer activities(overall, by gender)and 18.6% answered not sure.

5

Attendance of spectator sports

The percentage of the respondents who watched sports at gymnasiums or stadiums in the last one year
was 42.4%, which was 5.5 percentage points higher than 36.9% in 2013 (Figure 4). The most popular sport
was professional baseball (NPB) at 15.6%, the second-most popular sport was high school baseball at 11.4%,
J.League (J1, J2, and J3) soccer came third at 7.1%, followed by amateur soccer (high school, university, Japan
Football League (JFL)) at 5.1%, and coming in ﬁfth was basketball (high school, university, NationalBasketball League (NBL)) at 5.0%.

2001（n=1,304）

38.5

2005（n=1,804）

40.9

2009（n=1,988）

46.1

2011（n=1,943）

47.3

2013（n=1,826）

36.9

2015（n=1,691）

42.4

0

10

20

30

4050（%）

Fig.4 Attendance rates in spectator sports

Sasakawa Sports Foundation (SSF)
Address: 1-12-32 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-6011, Japan

Programs and Services:

TEL: +81-3-5545-3303

1. Research and Surveys

FAX : +81-3-5545-3305

URL: http://www.ssf.or.jp/ E-mail : data@ssf.or.jp

2. Research grants and human resource development

Established: March 1991

3. Collaboration with local governments

Purpose: To promote Sport for Everyone

4. Public relations