Quote:
Originally Posted by MMM
Really? Subjected to being just stay-at-home moms, more Japanese women choose to not be moms at all. Calling a women "Christmas Cake" (unmarried by age 25) was common in the 80s. Now most people under 40 don't know what that term means. Hence the "greying of Japan" as families go from an average of +2.5 children (growing society) to -1.5 (shrinking society). The population in Japan peaked in 2006, and a lot of the reason for that is 1) economy but also 2) women flexing their rights.
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I heard that saying from some of my female Japanese friends. (For those that don't know, it's referring to the fact that the Japanese eat Christmas cakes on Dec 25, and any unsold cakes on the 26th are suddenly rather worthless and deeply discounted, same as unsold Christmas trees would be in the US.) However, those women also mentioned some sayings they have for Japanese men, such as the "Gokiburi husband" ("Men are like cockroaches... you don't want either of them in your kitchen"), which highlights just how little the Japanese men are taught about cooking, laundry, and other things. As you said, many tend to live at home until they get married, so they never have to learn to fend for themselves. A lot of Japanese men I knew told me that they had never made anything more complicated than toast or instant ramen in their lives. If the wife was ever away for any reason, they'd eat out at a restaurant. (It's like the Carl's Jr commercial's motto... "If it weren't for us, some guys would starve.")