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There are only so many hours in the day, and in Japan it’s not all that unusual for salarymen to end up spending half of them or more at the office. But hey, in Japan responsibility to the group always takes precedence anything else, right?
So when Internet portal My Navi News polled Japanese business men and asked them “If your wife or girlfriend asked you ‘Which is more important, your job, or me?’” you might imagine that work would be the landslide winner. However, it turned out that the majority of the salarymen said they value their sweetheart more than their profession, with 60.2 percent declaring their wife/girlfriend is more important to them.
Their reasons for picking their lady loves included:
“The connection between two people is stronger than any business ties.”
“I don’t want to work so hard that it destroys my family life.”
“Family comes first.”
“In the end, it’s not your company that’s going to take care of you.”
However, almost one in five men, 18.7 percent, felt no shame in saying “Don’t come between me and my business, babe.”
“I think they’re both important, but if I had to pick one, it’s my job.”
“Can’t keep myself fed and clothed without a job.”
“If she’s asking me which is more important, I feel like she’s not being considerate enough about my economic situation, so I’d say ‘my job.’”
“I don’t really feel any affection for my wife anymore.”
Of course, what with “Sorry, I can’t do overtime tonight because I want to go home and be with my wife” being a statement you’ll pretty much never hear in Japan, the survey’s numbers don’t quite tell the whole story. Even among the 60-plus percent who said their wife/girlfriend is more important, odds are many of them regularly sacrifice large chunks of their personal/family time for to work-related reasons, since romantic partners tend to be more understanding and flexile about appointments than taskmaster bosses and demanding clients.
Maybe that’s why 21.1 percent of the surveyed salarymen said they couldn’t simply pick one as more important than the other. “They both have to be important to you,” said one respondent, with another adding “I couldn’t support my wife without my job, but if I didn’t have her support, I wouldn’t be able to keep doing my job,” showing that even when they accept the harsh realities of working life in Japan, a lot of salarymen wish they could be spending time with the woman they love.
Source: My Navi News via Livedoor News via Jin
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-- Japanese women asked what best job for a husband is, may be looking for romantic-comedy lead
-- “Common habits of Japan’s low earners”: What this survey tells us, and what it doesn’t
-- Cuddles or cash? 7 in 10 Japanese 20-somethings choose money over love
- External Link
- https://soranews24.com/2019/12/30/is-work-more-important-to-japanese-salarymen-than-their-girlfriends-survey-investigates/
13 Comments
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JonathanJo
I take it there aren't any salarywomen in Japan.
geronimo2006
You could turn this around and ask women if they would choose to date a man with no job / money. I bet many wouldn't.
Wesley
Even before I clicked on the link, I already knew ....from the way the title is phrased .....that it just had to be written by a Westerner
Is a salaryman's salary more important to Japanese women than quality time with their boyfriends?
rcch
of course each person and couple is different, but (generally speaking) they should also ask Japanese women, especially housewives, how much they like to stay at home or to go out with their friends, having lunch, shopping (especially shopping), etcetera. i,m pretty sure most of them don,t care whether their husband/boyfriend loves the job more than them. if fact, in some cases i,d bet that some women don,t even want to spend time with their men, they just want money and stability. (financial) stability is everything in Japanese society. it works both ways, both for men and women and in many cases they,re both happy even if in some cases they don,t spend much time together, because that,s Japanese society, but all of that brainwashing is slowly disappearing and the survey shows that. people (especially Japanese men) are realizing that they can be whoever they wanna be and they can do whatever they wanna do.
Serrano
almost one in five men, 18.7 percent, felt no shame in saying “Don’t come between me and my business, babe.”
Jeez, that really narrows the field of potential mates, doesn't it? No wonder Charisma Man is popular, hehe.
Arrrgh-Type
The Japanese birth rate should tell you the answer to this question.
Michael Machida
I think so.
talaraedokko
The salary serves the couple. Of course money is Important. But to say money is more important isn’t human. I think the question is not either or. Everyone wants both..if at all possible. Financial stability is as important as love or a home. It’s not intelligent asking an either or question. Being a servant / slave to a company vs a partner to your spouse should more easily clarify need vs desire. We’re not talking about broken homes of course. Our job pays for our home moments.
starpunk
Nobody should be a slave / servant to any company. It's not worth it. You shouldn't have to sell your soul or sacrifice love for that. It's unhuman.
rcch
(about the previous two comments) the thing is... nowadays in many Japanese workplaces men are still supposed to put the company ahead of everything else... so it,s not about the way things should be (because that,s the same as saying the water is wet) but about the changes that need to happen in many old shachous minds.