Why male Japanese wage-earners have only 'pocket money'

[Bonobo]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19674306


Mariko Oi reports on the 74% of Japanese household budgets that are controlled by women

Double income
So why don't men start controlling the household budgets themselves?

"I don't think many men hand over their entire salaries happily," says career consultant Takao Maekawa of FeelWorks.

"But they feel it's their obligation to earn money for the family even if it means they have to suffer themselves."

Traditionally, it was a combination of hardworking salarymen, as white-collar businessmen are called in Japan, and stay-at-home mothers or housewives which supported Japan's economic growth after World War II.

"He actually tried to handle the household budget once," says Masami Nozawa whose husband Yoshihiro lives on 30,000 yen a month.

"But he said it was too time consuming so returned the task back to me," she says.

Yoshihiro agrees: "I know how much I make and I now understand how difficult it is to allocate the money".

"Even if I get a pay rise at work, I am not too hopeful that my pocket money will go up."

Today, more families are seeking out a double income simply because they cannot afford not to.

But for now, Yoshihiro and Taisaku look for cheap enough bars where they can still have some drinks without blowing all of their monthly pocket money at once.