A survey by a leading Japanese advertising agency released on Tuesday showed that Japan still has a significant impact on pop culture in Taipei.
Hakuhodo, Japan’s second-largest advertising company, released the results of its Global HABIT survey on the popularity of Japanese, South Korean and Western pop culture in 10 major Asian cities. The definition of pop culture included anime, TV dramas, movies, music, make-up and fashion.
In Taipei, a significant majority of respondents preferred Japanese anime, make-up and fashion over similar products from South Korea and Western countries. About 61 percent of those surveyed in Taipei said Japanese anime is their favorite, while 52 percent said they prefer Japanese make-up and fashion.
In those categories, Taipei residents showed the greatest fervor for Japanese products among the 10 Asian cities surveyed, which averaged only a 27 percent preference for Japanese anime and 16 percent for Japanese make-up and fashion.
Taipei also had the highest favorability rate, at 45 percent, for Japanese dramas, compared with the the 10-city average of 17 percent.
However, the other categories demonstrated the limits of Japanese pop culture.
Taipei residents still overwhelmingly prefer Western movies (92 percent) and music (67 percent).
Although movies and music from the West reigned supreme in almost all 10 cities, Taipei residents showed the most enthusiasm, with the results far higher than the 10-city average.
Shanghai was the only city that bucked the trend, with slightly more residents preferring South Korean music to Western music.
The 10 cities were Taipei, Hong Kong, Manila, Bangkok, Shanghai, Jakarta, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City, Kuala Lumpur and Mumbai. A total of 6,591 males and females, between the ages of 15 and 54, took part in the survey from May to August last year.
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