[Ultimate Either-Or] A great conversation starter and a chance to get to know each other!
Have you heard of the ultimate either-or questions? They’re two-choice questions where it’s hard to pick one, but you have to choose, and they can reveal a person’s values and spark conversation.
They’re perfect as conversation starters with friends or partners and for getting to know each other.
In this article, I’ll introduce a collection of ultimate either-or questions related to life and personal values.
There are plenty of prompts that will make you agonize over which to choose, so have fun giving them a try!
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Two-choice questions on food, entertainment, and hobbies (1–10)
If you could only eat either meat or carbohydrates for a whole year, which would you choose?
The ultimate either-or question, “If you could only eat meat or carbohydrates for a whole year, which would you choose?” might have something in common with the low-carb diets that have become popular in recent years.
Cutting out carbs and eating only meat can help with weight loss, but it’s said to make body odor stronger, and your options for seasoning are limited.
On the other hand, carbohydrates offer a wide range of choices—rice, bread, noodles—so your diet can be more varied, but from a dieting perspective, they’re considered fattening.
It’s only for a year, but it’s an ultimate dilemma that would leave anyone torn.
If you could only eat one from now on, Kinoko no Yama or Takenoko no Sato, which would it be?
Meiji’s chocolate snacks “Kinoko no Yama” and “Takenoko no Sato” are a classic topic that always divides opinions.
Let’s have people answer which one they’d choose if they could only eat one of the two.
Since this question approaches the so-called “Kinoko vs.
Takenoko War” from a different angle than simply asking which they like more, it might lead to different kinds of answers.
Because the products differ noticeably in sweetness and texture, this question also seems likely to reveal what people prioritize when imagining eating them over time.
Everything you eat for the rest of your life becomes either spicy or sweet.
The ultimate either-or choice of “everything you eat for the rest of your life tastes spicy or sweet” is something that makes you think, even if you have a preference.
Please consider it purely as a matter of perceived taste—not about your stomach getting irritated from constantly eating spicy foods or your diabetes risk increasing from always eating sweet foods.
By the way, spiciness isn’t taste but pain, yet that doesn’t necessarily mean having a constantly sweet mouth would be better, either—so it’s a tough call.
The fact that it’s hard to answer quickly from every angle might be exactly what makes it a fun ultimate dilemma.
Which convenience store would you go to: the one that’s a 1-minute walk from home, or the one that’s a 10-minute walk?
When a facility is close to home, it feels more convenient because you don’t spend much time traveling.
Let’s picture a situation where there’s a convenience store near your house and think in detail about what the ideal distance would be.
The closer it is, the more convenient it seems, but if it’s just a one-minute walk, you might still be able to see your home, so it may not feel like you actually went out.
If you want at least a bit of that “going out” feeling, or prefer a distance where you don’t have to worry about running into people you know, then having it a little farther away might actually be ideal.
Two-choice questions on food, entertainment, and hobbies (11–20)
Which would you choose to be free for life: the arcade or the movie theater?
The ultimate either-or question, “If you could make either the arcade or the movie theater free for life, which would you choose?”, depends heavily on personal tastes—so please consider it under the assumption that you like both equally.
By the way, since movie ticket prices are generally stable while spending at arcades can vary a lot from visit to visit, going with the same frequency could result in a big difference in costs.
That’s why your usual way of thinking may strongly influence your choice.
It’s an ultimate either-or that might even work as a personality test, depending on which one you pick.
10,000 yen or your own hand—which would you use to wipe if there were no toilet paper?
A crisis situation where, after rushing into the restroom and finishing your business, you realize there’s no toilet paper.
Let’s have people imagine how they would decide what to do when their only options are a 10,000-yen bill or their own hand.
The key point is the 10,000-yen bill: it reveals each person’s values about whether that amount of money is expendable to overcome a crisis.
It could also be interesting to vary the assumed amount or the tools on hand and ask which ones they would use as a substitute for paper, observing how their behavior changes.
Which would you choose: ramen from a popular restaurant that you can only eat once a year, or cup ramen that you can eat every day?
Compared to ramen you eat at a shop, cup ramen tends to have a rather ordinary image.
With that image in mind, here’s a question: would you choose to eat ramen from a popular restaurant only once a year, or be able to eat ramen whenever you like but only in cup form? Whether you’d prefer to savor a painstakingly crafted bowl from a shop even if it’s limited, or have ramen anytime even if people say it’s ordinary—your attitude toward ramen really comes through.
For those who actually prefer cup ramen, this might feel like a question from heaven.