世論 What Japan Thinks

goo Research recently performed a survey, reported on by japan.internet.com, into keeping track of the family budget, a job in Japan that usually falls upon the wife.

Demographics

etween the 25th and 28th of September 2013 1,090 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.8% of the sample were male, 13.5% in their teens, 15.4% in their twenties, 21.6% in their thirties, 17.3% in their forties, 14.7% in their fifties, and 17.5% aged sixty or older.
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It is the tradition that the wife manages the family budget, and that the husband merely gets a pocket money allowance, but this recent survey from iShare looked at the current situation regarding money management.

Demographics

Between the 1st and 5th of April 2010 1,275 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 55.3% of the sample were male, 31.1% were in their twenties, 33.5% in their thirties, and 35.2% in their forties.

I was watching a program on general money-related advice a couple of days ago, and they said that actually not giving the husband an allowance is better, or if there is an allowance, make it a percentage of salary (including bonus!) as an incentive. To illustrate the point, they interviewed a few people on the street and the guys with allowances were asked what they did when their pocket money ran out. The answers broadcast included buying stuff with credit card instead (presumably the wife didn’t check receipts) or borrowing money from their parents!
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iBridge Research Plus recently conducted a survey into family phone bills, which was reported on by japan.internet.com.

Demographics

On the 12th of January 2010 300 married female members of the iBridge monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 6.0% of the sample were in their twenties, 38.3% in their thirties, 34.3% in their forties, 15.7% in their fifties, and 5.7% in their sixties.

Both our phone bills come out of the family budget. I personally run up 2,600 yen per month on just about the cheapest plan going, wifey 8,000 yen or so depending on how many voice calls she makes.

Without knowing the number of people with school-aged mobile phone owning children, it’s difficult to judge if the 41 people in Q1SQ1 who pay children’s bills is large or small.
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