[steven]

From what I've seen, most guys don't really do that house kind of stuff. Some younger guys do, but I've never really seen older guys take care of that kind of thing. While I'm sure there are many exceptions to this rule, that is generally how I've seen it. I do want to put emphasis on the fact that younger couples seem to be more balanced (in the western point of view) in my opinion.

As far as women go, once they have kids I've heard it's almost more economical to get a part time job than to take on a full time one (unless the full time job pays really well). What I've heard is that this has to do with tax issues. In otherwords, taxes become more leniant for part-time working mothers. Therefore monetarily speaking it doesn't make that big of a difference to work part time instead of full time. So that extra time can be spent with the kids, doing stuff around the house, or getting a hobby (like sewing or narai-goto [classes], etc). Also, when a woman gets pregnant, they can usually take like a year off (I think I've heard of two years before... but I think a year is pretty average with a year and half sometimes as well). After that is done, I think some people go back to work and some people get part time jobs.

And dogsbody, although I think that things might be changing in Japan (due to the economy as well as other reasons I'm sure), I've noticed that a well paying salary job can cover a family. I'm sure the cost of living is cheaper where I am, but that's how I've seen it. I think that there have been some cuts though... from what I've heard people used to get more money based on whether they had kids or not and those kinds of general circumstances. I guess that hasn't been happening as readily lately.

I bet Nyororin has a lot to say about these things actually. I'm looking forward to seeing what she has to say about this. I was wondering if the tax thing applies to all of Japan or if it's just a more local thing. Do you know the specifics about that?