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As a hardcore carnivore (not omnivore – I literally only eat meat), I’m not big on potato chips personally, but Japan is a surprisingly junk food-obsessed country and potato chips are as ubiquitous as the Pocky and Koala March candies that otaku across the globe are familiar with.

There are a huge variety of flavors, thicknesses, textures, shapes and designs to Japanese potato chips, and the industry is apparently so lucrative that consulting firm My Voice Communications – which has absolutely no affiliation with the potato chip industry – put together an insanely exhaustive and, frankly, thoroughly boring survey about Japanese potato chip preferences.

We yawned through the full survey so that you don’t have to. Here are the major takeaways, with all most of the dull stuff cut out:

People prefer to purchase their potato chips at (gasp!) grocery stores.

Convenience stores took the logical second spot of popular places to purchase potato chips, while drug stores came in last, because potato chips aren’t generally considered medicine by sane people.

85.2% of people purchase potato chips at least once in a while.

Of those that do, it’s a pretty even split between those that buy them “once or twice a month,” “once a month,” and “once every few months.” We were curious about the really hardcore potato chip geek demographic and exactly how many bags they purchased per month, but the survey apparently wasn’t that detailed. We’re going to ballpark upwards of 50.

Most people prefer a particular flavor from a single brand

As opposed to the adventurous 25.5% who said they try to buy different flavors from different brands every time, which means that 25.5% of the potato chip eating Japanese population have probably tried some really weird flavors in the past.

▼ Why not Pepsi flavor?

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66.6% of people are selfish potato chip hoarders 

That’s the percentage of potato chip eaters who said they primarily buy chips for snacking by themselves. Others said they tend to eat chips at parties or when at gatherings with friends. How frikkin’ exciting is this survey, you guys?!

The most popular drink to go with potato chips is green tea

The second most popular is coffee and the third most popular is beer. A small population with apparently iron stomachs even preferred their chips together with milk, although that combo sounds suspiciously like some kind of folksy hangover cure to me.

The most popular potato chip brand is Calbee

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Honestly, I didn’t even know other brands exist!

Finally, My Voice Communications took some general comments about people’s attitudes towards potato chips, such as how some people try to avoid them because they’re fatty and others find them too strong tasting and want a brand to introduce a lighter version. They also encountered one person who was munching away on a bag of chips as they approached and who smelled suspiciously like reefer, who commented, “Have you ever, like, really looked at your hands? They can touch anything but themselves. Whooooaaaa…”

Okay, we made that last bit up.

Source: Itai News
Photos: RocketNews24