When Japanese kids from kindergarten to sixth-grade were asked what they wanted to be when they grew up, baseball player came out as the boys' top choice, while cook or restaurant owner was ranked top among girls for the fourth straight year, according to a nationwide survey by Dai-ichi Mutual Life Insurance Co. Soccer player was the boys' second choice. Although the rankings among boys remained unchanged from the last survey, there is a clear difference between the two results. This year's result shows that the popularity of baseball is rising. 15.5% of boys said they wanted to be a baseball player, a big increase from the last survey's 11.9%, while 8.2% wanted to be a soccer player, down from 11.4% last time. This trend may be due to the outstanding performance of Japanese baseball players in the U.S. Major League.

The choice of scholar or researcher rose to third place by winning 6.1% of boys' votes. The insurance company suggests that this popularity is due to animal scholar Shoichi Sengoku, who makes very interesting comments on a popular TV program about animals. Sengoku, a graduate of Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, is the chief researcher of the Japan Wildlife Research Center. He is known for his many studies on reptiles and amphibians during his research trips around the world.

Carpenter, still popular among Japanese boys, was fourth with 5.2%. The ranking for cook or restaurant owner dropped to fifth place, alongside that of fire fighter/rescue worker, which rose to 4.0%. Police officer/detective fell from fourth to seventh place with 3.0%.

Pilot, which had been outside of the best-ten rankings for the past few years, made a comeback to eighth place, alongside schoolteacher and toyshop owner with 2.7% of the vote.

Among girls, cook or restaurant owner came top with 16.4% of the vote , while nurse (8.2%) and florist (8.0%) were ranked second and third, respectively, followed by kindergarten teacher (7.9%). Singer or television personality was the fifth choice with 5.5%. A recent trend is that doctor has dropped out of the best-ten rankings among boys but is newly ranked at eighth among girls.