There
is an interesting custom in Japan. Salaried men bring home their salary and
hand it over to their wives. She then hands him over a fixed sum of money as
his allowance for the month. This allowance is known as “Kozukai”. A survey in
2010 ( by Shinsei Financial Co Ltd) quotes the average monthly allowance amount
to Yen 40,600. In some cases the men retain a fixed percentage of salary as
allowance and handover the rest to their wives.
This
allowance is for men to meet their personal expenses during the month while the
wife takes care of the living expenses. The man uses his allowance for meeting
his expenses of eating out with co workers and friends, drinking, smoking and
lunch. All
other expenses for the family are taken care of by the wife, who manages the
family’s finances. If the woman manages to save any amount after meeting the
expenses, it is an allowance for her. This allowance is called “hesokuri” and
was generally kept aside for emergency needs.
When
I first heard about this custom, I thought it was a custom in few households. I
even joked about how I envied the Japanese women. The custom reminds me of the
pocket money or allowance that parents gave us when we were kids.
Recently I picked up an old copy of “Hiragana
times” from the library which carried an article about this custom. It said
that due to the current economic situation in Japan, the allowance for men had
decreased in the recent years. The article also said that because of the
decrease in allowance, more men have started carrying lunch boxes to work or
eating in the company cafetarias.
While
this might have changed in households where both partners are working, the
system continues in households with single earning member.
No comments:
Post a Comment