世論 What Japan Thinks

On my recent post on buttering up your Japanese wife I had a question from Galerius about pocket money, so I decided to look up about how much Japanese men get each month. In two in three married couples it is the wife who controls the family budget (see Q8) and she gives her husband an allowance each month to cover his lunch, after-work drinking and other incidental expenses. So, I found a pair of surveys, one on how much pocket money fathers get, and another on how much of the family budget women secretly skim off to spend on themselves.

Demographics

For the women, between the 22nd and 24th of June 2009 1,180 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 58.6% of the sample were female, 10.3% were in their teens, 22.9% in their twenties, 31.5% in their thirties, 19.2% in their forties, 9.6% in their fifties, and 6.4% aged sixty or older.

For the men, between the 23rd and 25th of March 2009 1,043 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private online questionnaire. 52.2% of the sample were male, 7.8% in their teens, 17.1% in their twenties, 28.2% in their thirties, 24.8% in their forties, 11.4% in their fifties, and 10.7% aged sixty or older. Note that the score in the results refers to the relative number of votes for each option, not a percentage of the total sample. Also note that for the men it was only fathers who were asked, and for women it was either all married women or those with children; the stats aren’t quite clear,

I get as much or as little pocket money as I need to get, and usually use about 400 yen per weekday, plus charging lunch at the work canteen to my credit card.

Ranking results

Q1: As a father, how much pocket money do you receive per month? (Sample size=fathers from the initial survey group)

Rank		Score
1=	40,000 to 49,999 yen	100
1=	30,000 to 34,999 yen	100
1=	25,000 to 29,999 yen	100
4	15,000 to 19,999 yen	82.4
5	Under 10,000 yen	72.5
6	50,000 to 79,999 yen	68.6
7	20,000 to 24,999 yen	60.8
8=	Get given money whenever I need it	47.1
8=	10,000 to 14,999 yen	47.1
10	35,000 to 39,999 yen	41.2
11	Whatever I want	39.2
12	80,000 to 99,999 yen	29.4
13	Nothing at all	27.5
14	100,000 yen or more	19.6
15	However much money is left over after paying the bills	15.7
16=	Don’t get money but goods instead	0.0
16=	Bonus is my pocket money	0.0

Q2: How much secretly-obtained pocket money do you use per month? (Sample size=married women from the initial survey group)

Rank		Score
1	Use what needs to be used when I need it	100
2	5,000 to 9,999 yen	56.7
3	Under 5,000 yen	39.3
4	10,000 to 14,999 yen	28.0
5	15,000 to 19,999 yen	24.0
6	Nothing at all	22.7
7	20,000 to 24,999 yen	12.0
8	25,000 to 29,999 yen	11.3
9	30,000 to 34,999 yen	8.0
10=	50,000 yen or more	4.0
10=	35,000 to 39,999 yen	4.0
12	40,000 to 49,999 yen	2.7