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Day in the Life of a Japanese Housewife in Tokyo

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    This is a day in the life of a Japanese housewife.
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    This is Tomomi, a 38-year-old housewife living in Tokyo with her husband and daughter.
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    And this is how she starts her day.
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    Oh, and this is Tomomi's daughter, Karin. She's about to turn three years old.
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    You may have noticed earlier that they were all sleeping in the same bed. In Japan,
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    it's common for children before elementary school to sleep with their parents in the same bed.
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    And that's Tomomi's husband. He works as a freelancer and has a meeting this morning, so he's in a bit of a hurry.
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    As a Japanese housewife, it's Tomomi's first task to prepare breakfast. In Japan,
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    it's typical to prepare miso soup as it's a traditional Japanese breakfast dish.
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    So they live in a 2LDK apartment, meaning two bedrooms, living, dining, and kitchen. In their second room
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    they even have a kamidana which is a mini shrine.
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    Every morning Tomomi's husband follows a traditional Japanese custom of changing the water
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    providing an offering and then praying.
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    It looks like Karin's already watching Japanese children's shows on YouTube.
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    Apparently it's pretty common these days in Japan to allow kids to stream their favorite content on their mobile devices.
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    And in fact, this is Karin's own phone, which is one of her parents older devices.
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    So they're eating gomoku umami, which is an assorted stir-fried dish leftover from last night and natto miso soup and rice.
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    It's also typical to eat natto,
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    a fermented soy bean for breakfast in Japan. And since kids start eating it from when they're babies, they learn to love it.
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    It's customary in Japan to say itadakimasu
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    before every meal which loosely means "thank you for the meal".
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    Parents will ingrain this custom in their children as soon as they start eating normal food.
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    Uh oh
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    She's not supposed to watch YouTube during meals, but she couldn't help but tap that play button. Tomomi, does she often watch YouTube?
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    It's important for Tomomi and her husband to teach Karin proper eating manners but it looks like Karin's picking up quickly.
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    When did she start using chopsticks?
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    To help kids learn how to use chopsticks these days, some are given practice ones like this and help hold the chopsticks in place.
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    How long does it take you to wear makeup?
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    How old are you?
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    Are you really one?
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    I guess she's still a little shy so in a couple months Karin starts Youchien which means
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    Kindergarten. This is usually between the ages of three and five just before elementary school. In Japan,
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    there's also less formal nursery schools called Hoikuen intended for working parents, which accept children from zero to five years old,
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    but since Tomomi is a full-time housewife, it would be difficult for her daughter to enroll. In fact, in Tokyo,
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    it's been a massive problem where children are placed on enrollment waiting lists because simply there aren't enough
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    nursery schools for the demand and if you're a healthy housewife like Tomomi, it's almost impossible to enroll your child.
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    Karin, which one is your favorite toy?
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    KARIN: Banana...Apple
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    I noticed that Karin knows many English words.
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    Do you make her study?
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    So Karin is practicing getting dressed all by herself these days.
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    It seems like dressing a kid is the same all over the world.
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    After dressing up Karin and getting ready herself, she finally has time for the house chores.
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    She vacuums the apartment and washes dishes from breakfast.
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    At this age, Karin is old enough to play on her own, so Tomomi can focus on the chores.
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    So after finishing her morning chores, Tomomi has a little bit more time to hang out with Karin.
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    Let's see what they do for the rest of the day.
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    So, what do you do when you want to have a date night?
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    Using babysitters in Japan is uncommon so
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    Tomomi asks her mom once a month to help with Karin so she can go out with her husband.
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    So it looks like they're having a coloring session right now. While they're doing that
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    let's explore the house a little bit and let me show you around.
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    In Japanese homes, it's common to have mini fish grills below the stove.
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    But wait, what's this? You don't use the fish grill?
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    Because Karin is likely to play with it,
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    she's turned off the gas completely and uses IR stoves instead.
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    And this is their bath unit, with an automatic bath to fill the water to a desired level
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    and temperature.
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    So while Karin is playing on her own, Tomomi takes advantage of this free time to work on her blog.
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    So what's your blog about?
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    Once in a while, she even teaches seminars
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    on how to manage and be mindful of one's emotions in order to live a more positive life
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    for that person and for the people around them.
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    Oh! It looks like Karin wants to play with her now. As part of being a mother, Tomomi consciously
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    prioritizes Karin's needs so she often must quickly shift her focus in order to take care of her daughter.
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    Uh-oh, she doesn't want to clean up her toys.
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    Now they're ready to go to the park.
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    So Karin's at the age where she wants to do everything on her own
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    so Tomomi must exercise some patience to allow her daughter to grow into these experiences.
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    This could take some time though.
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    Finally! Out the door.
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    This is a "mamachari" meaning mom's bicycle.
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    It's marked by a lowered center frame allowing for easy mount and dismount.
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    In fact, people don't drive much in Tokyo so it's common to have a bike
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    and in recent years a lot of the newer mamachari's have been outfitted with electric pedal assist
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    motors making it even easier to transport kids.
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    In fact, you'll often see mothers with a baby in a child seat on the front handlebars and older children in the back.
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    As part of raising a child, Tomomi believes it's important to let her child play outside.
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    So she takes her daughter to the park regularly.
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    So, how long does she play in the park?
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    Wow, that's a lot of playtime. So moms do sometimes talk to other moms in the park
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    but, in Tokyo, people don't regularly talk to strangers. So it is harder to make friends.
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    Also, Karin often makes friends on the playground, but I guess she's not feeling it today.
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    So Karin wanted to bring her white shoes to the park
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    and her mom did want her to bring it because
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    they would get dirty.
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    And look what happened.
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    Now they're stopping by a local butcher shop
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    to pick up meat for dinner.
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    Awww. Karin's wiped from all that playing.
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    Do you have a policy on how to raise Karin?
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    Now she gets a little bit more time to work on her own stuff
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    so she uses it to build her new website for her business.
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    Oh! Her husband's back home. Tomomi says she really appreciates him being around to raise Karin together.
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    In fact, it's common in Japan for most housewives to do it alone.
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    So common that there's a term for it: "wanope ikuji". Short for:
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    "one operation child rearing" which also includes all of the house chores.
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    In point, recent surveys show that men in Japan on average do
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    18.3% of the house chores and child-rearing while women 81.7%
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    This is the highest percentage out of 33 major countries in the world.
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    Oh! It looks like they're making cake now.
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    Tomomi also believes it is important for her daughter to learn how to cook
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    so she involves her in the process; giving her mini-tasks that she can complete on her own.
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    Are you making a cake using a pan?
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    It's rare in Japan for kitchens to have built-in ovens due to the lack of space
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    so you'll find many innovative products like this as well as other creative ways to cook.
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    Oh no! Karin is a little fussy because she doesn't want to eat it without milk.
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    Maybe she's still a little tired from playing outside. Tomomi seems to be handling it really well though.
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    Now it's time to make dinner.
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    Karin volunteered to help so Tomomi is more than happy to accommodate and let her rinse the rice.
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    So before getting married, Tomomi almost never cooked,
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    but she says she later learned from her experienced mom friends.
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    So how do you decide what you're cooking every day?
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    So Tomomi's husband has to go out for work again, but someone's not happy about that.
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    (KARIN CRIES)
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    It's okay - Tomomi's around to comfort and play with her daughter.
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    And now, Karin's asking her to be a camera person.
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    The thing's moms will do.
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    TOMOMI & KARIN: Itadakimasu
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    For dinner, Tomomi uses the pork from the butcher shop to prepare a dish called pork napa cabbage mille-feuille
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    and a cute little onigiri for Karin.
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    So in Japan it's typical for families to share the same bathwater
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    even when there's several children with varying ages.
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    In the past, it was customary for the father to use the bath first and the wife last
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    but these days, the rule is less followed.
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    Now she puts away Karin's laundry for tomorrow and gets ready to put Karin to bed.
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    Oh no! Tomomi's having a hard time brushing Karin's teeth.
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    Apparently Tomomi must often find different ways to convince Karin to brush her teeth
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    It usually takes her about 15 to 20 minutes to put Karin to bed.
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    Once asleep,
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    Tomomi finally has a chance to complete the rest of her house chores
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    and any time after this, she can use it for herself. Such as planning for her next seminar, Gokigen Life.
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    And she also has time to work on her Instagram.
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    She tries to post every day to raise awareness about what she does.
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    So that's pretty much a day in the life of a Japanese housewife.
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    As you can see, she has her own free time right now.
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    Her daughter's already asleep.
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    So she has about two hours before she goes to bed at 12 o'clock.
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    If you guys want to see what she's doing, then I'll definitely leave links in the description.
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    Also if you guys wanted to see kind of my regular life,
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    I recently created a channel called Tokyo Zebra
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    and that channel also has my wife Maiko
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    and if you guys don't already know from the previous videos,
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    we have a baby on the way
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    so that channel have all of that stuff that's coming up
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    and if you want to see more, I have so many more Day in the Life videos to come
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    so definitely hit that Subscribe button and the
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    Bell button and I'll catch you guys in the next one.
Title:
Day in the Life of a Japanese Housewife in Tokyo
Description:

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Video Language:
English
Team:
Paolo fromTOKYO
Duration:
14:23

English subtitles

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