世論 What Japan Thinks

This rather revealing ranking survey by goo Ranking looked at what expectant Japanese women hope their husbands can do regarding childcare. I think the average western person (both male and female) may be surprised at how basic many of the hoped-for actions are. The fieldwork was conducted between the 20th and 24th of July 2007, but no further demographic information was given. Do any of my readers have first-hand experience of Japanese fathers as I cannot really believe that such basic tasks need to be wished for!

Ranking results

Q: What do you hope your husband can do regarding childrearing?

Rank	Action	Score
1	Plays with the child	100
2	Bathes with the child	95.2
3	Anything that gives me time for myself	81.6
4	Returns home from work as early as possible	76.7
5	Responds to crying at night	76.7
6	Wants to listen to my moans	72.7
7	Changes nappies/diapers	70.3
8	Scolds, cautions the child	69.5
9	Cleans the house, throws out rubbish	66.8
10	Feeds baby milk, food	61.8
11	Puts the child to bed	61.8
12	Takes baby to hospital	56.1
13	Does the shopping	53.2
14	Washes the dishes	52.9
15	Changes baby’s clothes	49.5
16	Takes holidays for baby-related emergencies, etc	49.2
17	Takes photographs, videos	48.4
18	Cooks dinner	45.5
19	Takes child to nursery	44.9
20	Brushes child’s teeth	43.6