About 70% of elementary and junior high school students in Japan say they enjoy reading, but more than 70% spend less than an hour a week reading books, according to a survey released ahead of the country’s annual Book Week, which started Tuesday and runs through Nov. 9.
The survey was conducted online on Aug. 9 by the Hakuhodo Foundation’s Child Research Institute. It collected responses from 1,200 students nationwide who are between the fourth grade in elementary school and the third year in junior high school, as well as their parents.
Manga, picture books, encyclopedias, photo books and how-to books were included as books in the survey, as well as digital books and audio books.
Of the students surveyed, 12.8% said they love reading, while 69.3% responded they like it or enjoy it to some extent.
However, 17.4% said they did not read books at all during a typical week, while 55.2% spent less than an hour reading. Fewer than 30% read for an hour or more per week.
The survey also found that junior high school students were less likely than elementary school students to enjoy reading and tended to spend less time on books.
When asked about their attitudes toward reading, 76.5% said watching videos or playing games was more enjoyable than reading books, exceeding the 63.9% who said reading was fun.
The findings suggest that even children who enjoy books may be spending less time reading because they prefer videos and games.
The survey also examined parents’ reading habits. In families where parents spend at least an hour a week reading, 91.8% of the children said they liked books.
Nearly 89% of parents whose children said they loved reading said they actively encouraged it by providing books that interested their children, while 67% among all parents surveyed did so.
The survey found 83.7% of parents whose children are book lovers regularly read aloud to them, while the percentage was 50.8% for all parents surveyed.
More than 80% of the parents whose children noted they love reading said they frequently visit libraries and bookstores with them, while the percentage was around 50% for all parents.
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