世論 What Japan Thinks

Sompo Japan DIY Life Insurance (yes, that is a strange name!) recently released a survey of 500 housewives of salarymen from all around the country regarding the 2005 winter bonus and the family finances, performed over three days at the start of December. The respondents were evenly distributed by age, 125 in each decade of age from their twenties to fifties. Thanks to Mari’s Diary for initially writing about it and bringing it to my attention.

To help explain this survey, there are a few cultural notes that are important. First, Japanese women do tend to run the family budget, giving their husbands a usually rather small pocket money allowance. Next, in Japan most companies have a summer and winter bonus for full-time employees, where the employees usually receive two months salary, plus or minus some amount that reflects company performance, so effectively adding about a third onto the average person’s salary. There is often little or no performance-related element within this bonus. Also, many home loans have low monthly payments plus a twice-yearly bonus element that can be up to 6 months-worth of payments in one go. Finally, note that although it is well-known that one does not tip in Japan, there is an established system of giving those who do things for you gifts of money or other items; for example, even after paying hospital fees, it is quite common to give your surgeon a few hundred thousand yen, in addition to gifts to anyone who came to visit you when in hospital. Perhaps it is this point of view that is responsible for one of my pet hates, game shows being packed with celebrities who almost never give the money to charity, even on big money shows like Who Wants to be a Millionaire.
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