this is a day in the life of a Japanese
mom and baby
This is Moe.
A 27-year old new mother living in Tokyo and her day
starts earlier than most salarymen in
Japan. While her husband and baby are
still sleeping she must quietly start the
laundry making sure not to wake her baby
[Music]
in the morning she silently prepares a
bento lunch for her husband a
traditional Japanese bento is made of
several dishes which take some time and
effort to prepare. In today's bento, she
includes tamagoyaki grilled fish some
side dishes and rice while she cooks she
also prepares Rinyushoku which means
baby food in Japanese. Handmade baby
food is more common as store-bought baby
food is expensive in Japan to save time
though moms will prepare a lot at once
freeze it into ice cubes and heat it
when needed but also Japanese mothers
tend to feel guilty for not making it at
home oh no the baby's crying one thing
about being a mom is that our house tasks
are often distracted by our kids oh good
her baby stopped crying
nice I guess today's bento is a Noriben
Ooh, there's a whole lot of love in that
bento box
Ohayo
than that
[Music]
this is Sutan, Moe's nine month old
daughter and this is how she starts her
day
so changing Sutan's diaper is the very
first thing Moe does when the baby wakes up
up oh and our husband is finally up.
When did she start eating Rinyushoku?
So, Sutan is eating Porridge with Natto, Broccoli and Bonito flakes. In fact, Natto which
In fact, Natto which
is fermented soybean is one of the most
popular foods to feed babies in Japan.
this is Motoki and he's gonna go for a
morning run before he starts his workday
[Music]
Alright, so Moe should be up right now
with Sutan. Let's go see how they're
doing
Good Morning
I guess feeding babies in any country is
an everyday challenge is it always like
this?
You don't feel like eating, huh?
now she can finally have her morning
coffee
wait you can drink caffeinated coffee?
In addition to baby food, Moe must also make time to
regularly breastfeed her baby now she's
changing her diapers for the second time
today how many times you usually change
diapers in a day?
She also says she spends about $90 a month on diapers
spends about $90 a month on diapers what
would be the average in your country? so
this is pretty much at the start of the
day she prepares the food for Sutan and
now she's preparing for herself and her
husband it's almost 8:30 so she's been
already three hours getting the day
ready I'm kind of excited to see how the
rest of the day is gonna go before that
let's ask her a few more questions. When
you give birth how long did you stay in
the hospital?
Oh in the US it's usually about a day
and a half yeah so in Japan most births
are given naturally without anesthesia
or painkillers in fact most hospitals in
Japan don't give mothers the option
do you do laundry every day?
In Japan, hanging laundry outside to dry instead
of using a dryer machine is still very
common so much so that most houses and
apartments are designed with a laundry
hanging space oh wow she has a little
urban vegetable garden in her yard now
this is not so common especially in
Tokyo since most people in the city live
in apartments with no yards.
So, Moe's husband runs several restaurants in
Tokyo and is usually very busy on nights
and weekends
but she says he does what he can to help
take care of Sutan. oh wow Sutan is
watching TV but in English. Moe also
believes that it's important for her
baby to learn English so she has more
opportunities in the future but she
exposes her to English as much as she
can you speak English?
[Music]
Now, Moe finally gets to eat her
breakfast since Sutan didn't eat much
earlier, Moe is feeding her again.
Wow, it's already nap time for Sutan. Moe shuts
out light completely with a crib cover
and uses a white noise device to help
put her baby to sleep again
Again, Moe needs to be ultra quiet during this
time in order not to wake Sutan. This is
all part of the baby's daily routine as
her mom trains her to eat and sleep at
specific times during the day so that
her mom can manage her own schedule
better. So Moe has lunch plans with her
friend so she needs to quietly get ready
while Sutan is taking a nap this is a
traditional Japanese drawer called Kiritansu
which is crafted specifically to store
kimonos a traditional Japanese garment
in fact more used to be a Geisha
apprentice known as a Maiko in Kyoto
for six years until she turned
twenty-one kimonos are what initially
drew Moe into becoming a Maiko and it's
still a large part of her life as she
even teaches how to wear kimonos to
private customers the reality is many
Japanese these days especially younger
generations don't know how to put on a
kimono many Japanese today hire
professionals like Moe to help them wear
a kimono for weddings tea ceremonies and
other special formal occasions now that
she's finished getting dressed she has
to pack a baby bag and prepare the baby
stroller for travel
it's suppose to rain today so she needs
to attach the rain cover so it looks
like a lot of preparation is required
before leaving the house with the baby
So while Sutan sleeps, she has a little bit of free time to
to do her own hobbies. Let's go see what she's doing
oh it seems like Moe is posting her
kimono picture on her Instagram.
Moe is quite aware that infancy is a critical
time for a baby's learning and
development so she actively talks to her
baby as much as possible.
How much did it cost you to give birth?
the amount of government financial
support depends on the city or ward
where you live but no matter what
there's generally some form of financial
support the national average is about
four hundred and twenty thousand yen
about thirty eight hundred dollars so in
Moe's case, she would be paying about half
is child birth in your country this
expensive?
so trains are the main form of
transportation in Tokyo so Moe walks to
the closest train statiom from her house
in order to meet a friend today many
Japanese moms say it's stressful to
travel on trains with small kids
for example using strollers on
escalators are prohibited so moms must
find elevators to use which are often
inconveniently located or on the other
side of the station which requires them
to plan extra time for the travels also
mom say it's nearly impossible to get on
trains at during rush hour with the
stroller. She's having lunch at Casita in
trendy Omotesando and rather
conveniently it's one of the several
restaurants her husband runs. Moms in
Japan especially in large cities like
Tokyo usually need to check in advance
with restaurants to see its kids-friendly.
So, going to her husband's
restaurant is one less thing she needs
to worry about
oh boy his friend and her three-year-old
oh Moe's friend and her three-year-old
son have just arrived
I guess she brought packaged baby food
for Sutan from home. It's apparently
easier to pack than homemade food on
outings like this. although she wants to
enjoy time with her friend she still
needs to feed Sutan in order to maintain
our baby's routine.
So basically, this is what it's like having lunch with friends and like
you have kids around if you have to
attend to the kids too while you're also
having lunch
since Moe's husband runs this place
let's explore a little bit and let's ask
him to show us around
[Music]
Wow his restaurant has a secret VIP room
hidden behind a bookshelf and it also
has a hidden private karaoke room. what
an amazing spot.
Oh, no. Her friend's kid is not listening. He doesn't want to
leave it seems like he's having Iyaiya-ki
which in English is known as the
terrible twos I suppose in a few years
Sutan will be in the same phase. I hope
Moe's ready for it.
Now, she's back at her home station she's gonna do some quick
grocery shopping on the way back home
[Music]
so what are you doing now?
So, it looks like this is the fourth time she's
breastfeeding Sutan
It looks like she to go back out and pick up the dry
cleaning
[Music]
So, Moe says she didn't know how to cook
at all when she was working so she went
to cooking classes for about a year and
from what I see the classes have paid
off.
Do you have to watch her all the time?
Oh no, Sutan is crying again. I guess she wanted her diaper to be changed
Sutan is having porridge with spinach
Shirasu fish, Bonito flakes and
seaweed so healthy.
On nights when her husband comes back home late, she eats
dinner alone with Sutan, and makes
something she can quickly prepare for
her husband when he returns
in Japan it's common to have an
automatic bath that fills the tub to a pre-set
level and desired temperature.
So, it's about six o'clock right now and Moe is
giving Sutan a bath right now and
then after that I think she's gonna go
to sleep and then finally Moe is gonna
have our own time to herself
oh and one thing, if you guys love these
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So before going to bed, Moe reads Sutan a children's book.
As part of Sutan's training, and to get her to sleep at a specific time,
Moe starts a timer she ignores her
baby's cries for a set duration until
the baby goes to sleep
Moe takes advantage of this time by
completing house chores and taking a
bath then any time after this becomes her
free time
How was the bath?
Oh her husband's home early tonight but
he also needs to be quiet so he doesn't
wake Sutan
Alright, so we're gonna have to be quiet with this one because Sutan is sleeping right now and we
don't want to wake her up
what did you guys think of a day in the life of a mom and a baby?
How does it compare to your country?
if you wanna check out Moe's Instagram or
you wanna check out her husband's restaurant
restaurant then I'll leave a link in the
description and the polls have started
in a second channel called Tokyo Zebra. If
you want to see what Maiko and I are
doing on the daily then check out that
channel and if you guys wanna see more
day in the life videos, hit the subscribe button
and the bell button and I'll catch
you guys in the next one