Today's theme was "Household budgets". A research found that it is the wife who takes care of household budgets and she gives her husband monthly allowance in 60% of families interviewed. The non-Japanese people were surprised to know that the husbands give all of their income and have it under their wive's control. It was impressive that one Italian guy said "Receiving allowance is humiliating for Italian men" and a French lady "It's like you are treating your husband like a kid". That's understandable. On the other hand, there are approvals like "It's an effective way of saving money".
But when a husband wants to buy something expensive, how do they get that? Many answered that they would "ask their financial minister". It seems that Japanese men do not buy many things compared to those in other countries. Observing my colleagues, I also noticed that male workers are not particular about clothes, watches or shoes. They buy houses or big cars for his family but not so much for themselves. The only thing they spend a lot on is parties and drinks, though.
That is why it is said that ladies tend to be the target of marketing. They are the ones who control the money and purchase more things than men. Personally, I want to have the separate bank accounts as well as a joint account for daily expenses such as food and lifeline. With your own account you can save as much as you want and buy whatever you want. But we don't know what happens in the future so what we need is pliability.
And also, a housewife was featured in that program, who does manual hand-crafting work at home. She folds a paper and put it in a plastic envelop to seal, which will be distributed as a paper toy for kids. She earns 1.5 yen per each toy, and she completes 2000 per day while her son is in kindergarten. She has to do housework and take care of her children as well as that work. The reporter pointed that there is no facilities to nanny your kids when they are sick and so many women have to quit her job after giving birth. The support is not enough especially in big cities, where young couples live far away from their parents.
A Singaporean lady said that "There are many choices in Singapore. You can hire a made to help take care of your kids and you can also rely on the child care center". And American guy "If you attend a meeting when your kid is sick, your colleague will frown on you". He would be further surprised to know Japanese workers are very hesitant to take paid leave to take care of their sick children. They think that work is something public that must not be interrupted by your personal matters. So the women are feel pressured and think that they shouldn't cause their colleagues any trouble. That is what maintains the Japanese diligence and productivity, but there are sacrifices behind the success.
Very interesting to know different perspectives of foreign people with different cultural backgrounds. It tells me that the world is so huge and there are many many things out there that I have never seen or experienced firsthand.
Thank you for the interesting story. I have heard about the Japanese government efforts to promote Japan under the "Cool Japan" label.
ReplyDeleteAs a Canadian, it is always interesting for me to read how foreigners promote their countries. In this case the definition of "cool" seems a little broad. However, one part of the interest in studying foreign cultures is to learn how they differ in common word definitions. Foreigners visiting our country frequently use words a little differently from us. Anyway I learned from your article how foreigners use the word "cool" differently from us. Thank you!