Tap Water Popular in Japan, but Bottled Water Still Ranks First
Bottled water topped a ranking of the sources Japanese people mainly use for drinking water, with convenience as the most popular reason for doing so.
Panasonic's April survey of 4,700 Japanese residents found bottled water to be the most popular daily drinking option at 44%. Convenience, cleanliness and taste were the top reasons cited for choosing bottled water over other sources.
In contrast, plain tap water came in second place at 35.8% usage. Japanese tap water enjoys strong public confidence due to stringent national water quality standards, making it a primary source of drinking water for most residents.
Tap water consumption varied widely across Japan's 47 prefectures. Eastern Japan showed the highest proportion, with Nagano (66%), Yamagata (56%), Fukushima (55%), Aomori (53%) and Iwate (52%) leading the way. By comparison, western Japan, including Okinawa (69%), Nagasaki (61%), Fukuoka (60%) and Saitama (60%), showed lower tap water usage rates.
The most frequent reason given for avoiding plain tap water was its chlorine smell and taste, reported by 64.3% of respondents. Other concerns included fears about the hygiene of residential plumbing systems and the presence of harmful chemicals like PFAS "forever chemicals" in some water supplies.
Written by urgent.news from Nippon.com's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
