Shiga tops in volunteerism but Osaka in last place: leisure survey

Aug 28, 2017 | News On Japan

Aug 28, 2017 (Japan Times) - If you're the kind of person who prioritizes volunteer work, enjoys playing badminton and has an interest in studying, Shiga Prefecture might be your ideal home in Kansai.

On the other hand, if education and learning new skills are your top priorities, you're not too bothered about volunteer activities and you enjoy playing some sports, you might consider moving to neighboring Kyoto Prefecture.

And if you don't care at all about volunteer activities, but do enjoy learning, especially foreign languages other than English, you might want to consider Osaka Prefecture.

These are just some of the conclusions that might be drawn from the results of the latest survey by the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry on how people in Japan's 47 prefectures use their leisure time. Results for the fiscal 2016 survey, which drew responses from 200,000 people in about 88,000 households nationwide, were released last month.

For Kansai's prefectures, which compete with each other for business and tax revenue, the survey is a benchmark highlighting the more attractive places in the region to live.

Shiga was No. 1 nationwide in terms of the number of respondents (33.9 percent) who said they'd participated in volunteer activities over the past year. But only Fukui (32.2 percent) and Nara (26.8 percent) scored above the national average of 26 percent in this category, which was also Hyogo's average.

Osaka (20.6 percent) was dead last among the 47 prefectures in terms of volunteer activities.

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