JAPAN: Corporate Samurais Try to Prove Their Mettle At Home

By Suvendrini Kakuchi Reprint | | Print |

Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO, Jun 19 1995 (IPS) - When Haruki Murase dumped his successful business career for an apron and kitchen gloves 15 years ago, he did not realise his decision would eventually lead to a minor revolution in Japan’s staid society.

“The reason why I opted to stay at home was purely to please my wife,” says Murase, now 51. “I did not realise the wider consequences of my decision.”

But in the land of the samurais and workaholic salarymen, Murase’s decision came as a shock to even people who knew him well.

Indeed, he admits being considered “strange” by relatives, friends and neighbours when he told them he had decided to wash the dishes and look after the children while his wife pursued a full-time career.

“You may not believe it but the word ‘househusband’ first entered Japanese dictionaries when I wrote my book,” says Murase with a laugh.

That book, ‘Kaiketsu! Househusband’, became an instant bestseller when it first hit the bookstands in the mid-1980s. (‘Kaiketsu’ is Japanese for ‘change’.)

And according to statistics compiled by the Prime Minister’s Office in 1990, there are 427,000 men who fall into the category of ‘househusband’ in Japan, a sharp rise from the 20,000 recorded in 1985.

But sociologists caution that many of these men are over 60 and retired. They argue that statistics alone are not enough to prove that Japanese men are changing their attitudes about their roles in the family, as well as that of their wives.

Still, Murase and his wife, Yumiko Nagai — whom he calls his “partner in life” — have become a celebrated couple in Japan, with hundreds flocking to talks by Murase about men taking responsibility for ‘home concerns’.

Murase and Nagai, however, have gone even further since they made their first bold step in 1980. What Murase’s audience hears during his talks are not only about his experiences at home, but also his quest for equality between the sexes.

Says Murase: “The message I want to get across is not that men should be househusbands but that modern couples can be happy if they share their work and respect each other’s rights.”

Murase says it took him three years of pure househusbanding before he realised that what he and his wife had achieved was basically just a reversal of roles — not the equality that he says should be the ultimate goal of couples.

With his wife agreeing to share in the housework, Murase began to look for a job again. But Japan’s corporate world has days that stretch well into the nights, and Murase had to make do with part- time work just so he could put in the needed hours at home.

“My jobs included working as a caddy on golf courses and helping carpenters before I became a writer and lecturer,” he says.

Murase’s experience illustrates what experts call the biggest hurdle to equality between the sexes in Japan. Notes women’s studies professor Keiko Fukuzawa: “Apart from social norms, women tend to leave careers to the men because of the daunting workload (at home and in the office).”

Murase meanwhile points out that 90 percent of the men in Japan are company employees who are expected to put in long hours at work. “How on earth do you expect them to share the family chores with schedules like that?” he asks.

Human sciences professor Kimio Ito of Osaka University agrees, saying: “Men suffer a lot of inconvenience in this male-centred society. It’s time for men to cast off the yoke of masculinity and live as they wish.”

To help them do so, Ito in 1991 began the Men’s Liberation Research Group that lobbies companies to respect a man’s right to actively participate in child-rearing as well as in housework.

The organisation of about 70 men has since expanded to include a successful telephone counselling service that advices callers on child care and the principles of gender equality.

Ironically, Fukazawa says some of the resistance to the ‘transformation’ of the men come from Japanese women themselves. Despite their eagerness to have men share the housework, many wives want their husbands to keep working because Japan’s employment system pays men better than women, she explains.

Nevertheless, there is a rising awareness among more men and women to discard old gender stereotypes in pursuit of more fulfilling lifestyles.

Recent surveys indicate a greater tolerance to sharing household duties and child care, especially among the younger generation of men.

Murase says the economic recession has helped in fostering new attitudes. Men are either being laid off or finding time to come home early. This definitely helps when it comes to doing some of the household chores, he says.

Schools now report that more fathers are actively participating in parents’ projects that were once the domain of the mothers.

Local media also carry stories on the rising number of young couples who are opting to live in the countryside where men can spend more time with their children.

Sociologists say the strongest prod to equality in Japan comes from the ageing society which will force companies, that tend to shun women for men, to start changing in order to cope with a labour shortage.

Already, there are new corporate laws encouraging men to take paid leave for childcare and looking after their aging parents — milestones in the fight for equality between the sexes.