White Paper on Consumer Affairs 2013 (Summary) -Table of Figures-

Part 1 : Today's consumer issues and consumers' behavior/attitude

• Chapter 1 : Consumer-related socioeconomic situation and consumers' behavior/attitude

  • Figure 1-1-6 Steadily aging Japanese population
  • Figure 1-1-9 Household spending via the Internet is increasing
  • Figure 1-2-1 About 90% of consumers focus on price and function when choosing products/services
  • Figure 1-2-3 About 70% of consumers check the actual product before buying
  • Figure 1-2-4 More than twice as many consumers in their twenties love new things than those in their seventies
  • Figure 1-2-5 More than 60% of consumers try to closely examine and understand product labels and directions
  • Figure 1-2-6 Consumers become more inclined to buy eco-friendly goods as they grow older
  • Figure 1-2-7 Nearly half the consumers have shopped online in the past year
  • Figure 1-2-8 The elderly shop online less often than other generations

• Chapter 2 : [Feature]Consumer problems faced by the elderly

  • Figure 2-1-2 Households with older heads have much money in savings but earn less
  • Figure 2-1-7 Elderly men living alone are more likely to have no one to rely on when in trouble
  • Figure 2-1-8 Elderly people living in large cities are more likely to have no one to rely on when in trouble
  • Figure 2-1-9 Elderly people put priority on health-related spending
  • Figure 2-2-2 The number of consumer affairs consultations for the elderly is growing faster than the elderly population
  • Figure 2-2-3 In FY 2012, elderly people were harmed most often by cosmetics and healthcare services
  • Figure 2-2-4 Nursing-care bed rails continue to cause accidents leading to death and/or serious injury
  • Figure 2-2-8 Telemarketing sales show a notable increase as the source of problem for the elderly
  • Figure 2-2-14 Elderly people's consultation cases involve more money on average than those 10 years ago
  • Figure 2-2-18 Consultations on financial products for elderly people tend to concentrate on specific products for specific periods
  • Figure 2-2-20 The number of elderly people subjected to "secondary damage" has been on the rise since FY 2010
  • Figure 2-2-21 Average payments made by elderly people in "secondary damage" cases have increased notably since FY 2010
  • Figure 2-2-27 In FY 2012, elderly people's consumer affairs consultations on negative-option marketing of health food increased 5.6-fold from the previous year
  • Figure 2-2-28 More elderly consumers are consulting about funerals
  • Figure 2-3-1 When elderly people or minors are victims, people around them tend to ask for consultation instead of them
  • Figure 2-3-2 Among consumer problems affecting elderly people, only 30% were handled by the very person involved
  • Figure 2-3-3 More than 70% of elderly people recognize local consumer affairs centers

• Chapter 3 : Trends in consumer issues

  • Figure 3-1-1 A total of 12,729 consumer accidents were reported to the Consumer Affairs Agency in FY 2012
  • Figure 3-1-2 Registration of consumer affairs consultation cases with PIO-NET has been declining since its peak in FY 2004
  • Figure 3-1-7 About 26% of consumers are dissatisfied with products/services
  • Figure 3-1-8 About 30% of victims did not consult or tell anyone about their damage
  • Figure 3-1-10 Slightly less than 40% of those who did not consult anyone say they thought it would be no use
  • Figure 3-1-11 About 10% of those who have ever purchased via cross-border trade experienced problem
  • Figure 3-1-12 Cases involving "goods not delivered" and "receiving of counterfeit goods" account for almost 60% of all consultations on problems associated with cross-border trade
  • Figure 3-2-1 Collection of information on accidents related to life and health
  • Figure 3-2-2 Fire accounted for about 80% of serious accidents reported in FY 2012
  • Figure 3-2-3 Poisoning accounted for almost half of non-serious accidents affecting life or health in FY 2012
  • Figure 3-2-5 Information on damage accounts for a growing part of consumer affairs consultation cases gathered in PIO-NET
  • Figure 3-3-1 The number of property-related cas-es declined 20% from a year earlier
  • Figure 3-3-2 Services account for a larger part of property-related cases than products
  • Figure 3-3-3 Transport & communications services account for a growing part of total consultations
  • Figure 3-3-6 Consultations on SNS are increasing
  • Figure 3-3-7 Consultations on online games soared in FY 2012, with troubled consumers having paid more than double the year-ago level on average
  • Figure 3-3-8 Undeletable billing messages displayed on the screen account for about 30% of consultations on adult websites
  • Figure 3-3-9 About a quarter of consultations on dating websites are about those using a benefit-driven approach
  • Figure 3-3-12 Age breakdowns of Internet-related consultations vary by topic
  • Figure 3-3-13 Among those solicited through door-to-door sales and through telemarketing sales over the past year, respectively, about 40% have experienced illicit practices
  • Figure 3-3-14 More than 90% of consumers provided negative answers about unsolicited (unexpected) door-to-door sales and telemarketing
  • Figure 3-3-15 Consultations on door-to-door purchase of precious metals soared in FY 2010 to FY 2011
  • Figure 3-3-16 Slightly less than 20% of consumers said they have been visited by a "high-pressure buyer" in the past year
  • Figure 3-4-2 Consultations related to the 2011 earthquake concentrate on housing issues in the four disaster-hit prefectures and on food-related issues elsewhere
  • Figure 3-4-3 "Vegetables" topped the list of issues of radiation-related consultations after the disaster
  • Figure 3-4-4 Half of consumers want food with as low radioactivity as possible, in addition to meeting regulatory standards

• Chapter 4 : Development of consumer policy

  • Figure 4-1-1 Basic framework of consumer administration
  • Figure 4-1-2 Nearly 80% of consumers recognize local consumer affairs centers
  • Figure 4-2-4 Additional 223 local consumer affairs centers have been set up in the past 3 years
  • Figure 4-2-6 Budget for local consumer administration has been increasing after hitting bottom in FY 2008