this is a day in life of a Japanese
working mom with two
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kids this is hifumi 27 years old a
working mother of two in Tokyo and her
morning always starts earlier than
everyone else in the
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family while her kids and husband are
asleep she quietly gets ready for the
day ahead once her kids are up she has
little time for herself so she takes
advantage of this
time wow this closet is packed is this
for the entire
family where's the kids
stuff and your husbands
he must be
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tiny so how much time you spend on
makeup wow that's
quick hium and her family live in this
two-story house moving here 3 years ago
prior they lived in Shibuya one of the
busiest cities in Tokyo but her and her
husband found it too crowded to raise
their children and found this quiet
place only a few stations away quite
common as Japanese on average move three
to four times in their lifetime damn
that's a strong sticker
game Cool Frozen
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rice now she starts with her family's
morning breakfast preparation although
she works so does her husband but with
longer working hours so they must share
the house chores with her taking a bit
more responsibility including breakfast
interestingly in Japan recent studies
show that these days 75.9% of mothers
work which 30 years ago was less than
50% so do you like
cooking do you at least have a
specialty so growing up she was never
really interested in cooking but learned
a lot by using recipes so that she can
make her kids
happy what what are you doing
now the kids aren't up by 7 she wakes
them up apparently they were up late
last night so it's probably going to be
a slow morning for them that's Nana
hii's 6-year-old daughter good morning
and that's Hy her three-year-old son he
looks so sleepy oh that's her husband
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morning so the kid usually go to nursery
on 8:30 on weekdays so mornings are a
bit more chaotic on top of her regular
work schedule which starts shortly after
she drops them off and continues until
the afternoon but since today is a
weekend there's a slower Pace to things
nonetheless hipi still has to balance
some of our work today while also taking
care of the
kids oh it looks like the kids are
watching Tik Tok in Japan it's pretty
common for kids these days to watch this
or YouTube to pass a time and pretty
common for working parents to welcome
the assistance so how much do they watch
can they watch anything they
want nice I guess he is eating yogurt
with a lot of
toppings wow you eat super
healthy seriously that's crazy you must
have had to change your entire wardrobe
that's
fresh oh they're both working while they
eat so HEI owns and runs a churo
business and recently opened her second
shop so she's been a bit more Under
Pressure to manage both her home and
work life hence between taking care of
the kids and the house Shores you'll
find her working is it usually like
this are you okay on
time oh he's got to
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hurry today is such a nice day so she
decided to take the kids to OA after
going by her shop to do some work
guess her husband's leaving for work
now me so what do you think the toughest
part about raising kids
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is oh Hai broke one of the
ornaments so do you ever yell at your
kids she says that when she's exhausted
she easily gets irritated but tries to
zone out to calm herself so she doesn't
yell at them for the wrong reasons
so the kids are old enough now to play
on their own so eumi makes use of this
time to tidy up the
house oh that's a Kum bag do they
go what do they study
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nice what are you bringing
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n good morning everyone I'm back with
another day in the life I have a fun one
for you today we are following a working
mom with two kids kids we're going to
hifumi's house right now let's see how
she's doing good
morning did you sleep
well
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dope in Japan law requires that all kids
under age of six are secured in a car
seat but nana and Hai are not too fond
of this law and usually struggle to get
in but today it's not so bad
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mama so hifumi took several years off of
work after giving birth as she struggled
mentally to take care of them on her own
while her husband worked to support
their family financially in Japan it's
common enough for women to completely
handle the child rearing
responsibilities that the term one ope
was coined meaning one parent operation
But ultimately she decided being a
housewife wasn't for her and eagerly
took a production job and eventually
started her own
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business it seems like Nana wants to buy
a drink from the vending machine what
did you
get and that's her churro shop palm tree
right by the yoga train station it opens
around noon and that's when her staff
arve but she usually comes in beforehand
to clean up the shop this morning though
she has to make some churros for an
early delivery order from one of her
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customers oh that's her mom Tomo AKA M
friend that you got to know after
opening the
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shop do you often take your kids to
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work wow that looks amazing apparently
she was taught this recipe from one of
her Michelin Chef friends and now she
serves these light and crispy churros at
her shop in various flavors her dream is
to expand even more in Japan and
eventually to have a shop in Hawaii in
all creating a better future for her
children how are the sales in the
beginning so what did you do
being a working mom in Japan isn't easy
but she definitely prefers being a
business owner compared to working in a
job for someone else like when she
worked in production now she's able to
better manage and dictate her schedule
so she can be flexible with her kids
activities nice I guess she's done
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oh no I think both of them want to be
held in Japanese dco it's pretty common
for a kids to fight for attention and
although she wants to carry both kids
all the way back to the car it's
physically out of the question so
although she feels guilty she's forced
to choose the younger one while the
older one has to understand the
situation it must be tough
oh no her
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pants Oh another battle in the car I
guess all she can do is
laugh working love with kids doesn't
always go as planned so she makes sure
to have some extra time buil to into her
schedule so she can also attend to her
kids oh it seems like she has to take a
call from work this is all a part of
being a working
mother finally they're heading to OA one
of our favorite places to take her kids
in
Tokyo now here they can spend some
quality time together although she
worked this morning and is always on
call in case her staff need her this is
essentially her day off with her kids
out of
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Nursery originally from Fukushima she
has a deep appreciation for nature and
wants to share that with her kids so she
often takes them to places like
this so this is what it's all about
being able to work as well as take your
kids to the beach HEI is there anything
you're especially careful of and raising
her
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kids oh no n's getting upset again
because her mom is taking too much time
to wash her
brother are you okay
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now she tries to peacefully take the
kids to lunch at the nearby shopping
mall do you eat out often with the
kids in Japan especially in major cities
like Tokyo even if you can take the kids
out it's typical for parents to research
restaurants in advance when eating with
kids surprisingly there are many highend
restaurants that are kids friendly while
there are also local restaurants that
aren't suitable for kids not at all
apparent by just looking at the entrance
of the restaurant you're so busy
so wait you're not
eating in Japan this is very typical for
moms it's part of Japanese table manners
to finish all the food that's served on
the plate and kids are taught that
leaving any food would be rude to the
farmers and Chef the culture is changing
a bit due to fast food and new eating
Trends but cleaning one's plate is still
deeply rooted in Japanese
culture after lunch she takes them to
adashia a traditional style Japanese
vintage penny candy shop snacks sold at
at the gasia are cheap starting from 10
Yen about 8 cents back in the day kids
would visit this neighborhood shop after
ear earning a few coins from doing House
tours these shops have all but
disappeared locally until recently when
they've been nostalgically recreated as
Amusement shops in large Mall
areas on the way back she makes a quick
stop at a supermarket for tonight's
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dinner they're fin back home but
hifumi's day doesn't end here as she
still needs to prepare dinner take care
of some chores and work again if she
gets a
chance what you store the rice in the
fridge apparently it's recommended in
Japan to store rice in the vegetable
compartment to maintain its taste twice
as
much while the kids play on her own she
gets to take advantage of this time to
fold the day's laundry
how much laundry do you have every
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day bath time in Japanese families is
usually after dinner but today since
they played in the beach she's decided
to have their bath together
beforehand how was the bath
dinner isn't ready yet but the kids are
hungry so she cuts the watermelon for
her family dinner prep is a tireless job
so how much do you spend on
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food oh that's on the higher side as the
average family food expense in Japan for
a family of four is about $887,000 Yen
about $660 per month well it looks like
they're satisfied for the time being now
he feel me can finally focus our
attention on cooking what are you
making now that the menu is decided she
quickly prepares the food as she knows
the kids are going to be hungry again
soon and that's their Curry dinner she
serves the kids first to avoid any
screaming fits from Hunger apparently
her kids are pretty picky eaters and it
doesn't help that her husband and her
try to eat as healthy as possible which
means she usually has to prepare at
least two meals for dinner some nights
she gets so busy that she's not able to
eat at the table and ends up eating in
the kitchen on her
own it's your day and I guess on a
working non-working day like this
there's nothing like having a cold beer
with dinner to take it all in PS
hi oh her husband's back but apparently
he's only here to have a quick meal
before he has to return back to the
office how's work so
far
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nice around 10: p.m. hifumi finally puts
a kid to bed in Japan it's very not only
for parents to sleep with the kids in
the same bed but for parents to lie in
bed with them until they fall asleep
called
so it usually takes quite a while but
let's see how she does
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tonight are they
asleep now she finally has time for
herself usually using this time to work
her study tonight being no exception as
she's pressed on finishing her new menu
design that she was working on earlier
in the
day so it looks like Ki is going to be
working for just a little bit longer
probably go to sleep at midnight or
maybe 1:00 but that's pretty much a day
in the life of a working Japanese mother
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one