April 1999Issue 311



Stressed spouses

Millions of women are worried about what they see as a threat to Japanese family life – having their husbands at home more often. Experts even have an official term for tensions caused by spouses seeing more of each other – Otto zaitaku shokugun – as the number of working hours drop due to the recession. In 1985 people were at work 175 hours per month whereas in 1998 working hours were only 158 per month in Japan. And this figure has fallen another half-an-hour per day as companies cut overtime. This, plus rising joblessness and less money available for men to go out on the town, means that they are home for much longer than ever before. But, despite the stress caused by these changes, Masahiro Yamada from Tokyo Gakugei University says this may be a positive social shift: ‘People will realize that to seek only economic influence is not necessarily good.’

World Press Review Vol 46 No 2




also by...
THIS AUTHOR

Police combat homophobia

Language Tools
Powered by Ultralingua

Join over 30,000 people just like you. Get e-mail updates about new content, action alerts, contests, and more!

other articles
FROM THIS ISSUE

Chopstick controversy
China is the biggest consumer, producer and exporter of chopsticks. It fells 25 million trees a year to make 45 billion pairs. Two-thirds are used in China and few are recycled.

Language lessons
English-only policies are under fire in the US.

The facts on War and Peace

Oysters help clean ocean
Oyster shells are being used to clean up polluted water in Japan.

Curiosity kills
The killing of journalists worldwide has doubled in 1998.

more articles
ON RELATED TOPICS

Oysters help clean ocean
Oyster shells are being used to clean up polluted water in Japan.

Polyp's Big Bad World – July 2005
A bedtime story from the IMF Book of Fairytales.

Polyp's Big Bad World – August 2004
The world as a game of (American) football.

Polyp's Big Bad World – May 2002
Cuckoo capitalism wets its nest.

Polyp's Big Bad World – April 1999
Inspirational leadership in today's globalized economy.

recently
IN THIS COLUMN

Best of the NI web
Favourites from the New Internationalist blog

Last frontier
Local communities fight mineral exploration and eviction in the Andes

Regime thumbs its nose at the world
The largest forced relocation since 1996-98

The road to recovery
A decade after independence, Timor-Leste’s people are still struggling to get justice

Named and shamed
Countries across the globe that are flouting international law and violating refugees’ rights.






Voices from the margins:

Multimedia: video, podcasts, and more.


Subscribe to NI now!