That was exactly what I was thinking! It is so refreshing to see women who can work successfully yet choose instead to raise children (which I think is more difficult, anyway).

I have students who are excellent at English and they excel in everything from arts to history, but if asked they still reply they’d still like to be moms when they get older. They’d readily give everything up to focus on rearing their own kids.

I know how hard it is to balance a career and a family, and it can sure lead to one being neglected. It’s really sad when it is the family that is sacrificed. So that being said, I was just hinting that I admire Japanese women for being traditional in that respect, being selfless and accepting the inevitable role women take, that of wife and/or mother.

Women (or men) who stay home improve the quality of life for the people they live with immensely. I know because my husband worked 4-6 months a year for 8 years while I worked full-time for 12 years and the months when he was a “househusband” made my life a lot easier during those years because he cooked, cleaned and shopped. For the last two years, he’s been working full-time and I’ve been working part-time and we’ve changed places and it makes his life while working easier. The two-income, two-career family mainly enriches life materially and tends to be detrimental in many other ways.

Personally, I believe the obesity epidemic in the U.S. is closely linked with the lack of stay-at-home parents as the first thing to suffer when you’re tired and worn out from work is food shopping and preparation and the next thing that follows is fatigue-based eating (sugar for sugar energy boosts).

I hope that Japan maintains a positive outlook on both housewives and working women and they don’t go the way of the west in belittling how women who choose to stay home are regarded. The next step is to view men favorably for making the same choice so there can be a flexibility in who fills that role.

im a canadian “indian” and i got married at 19. this seems to be the way it is around here, most of my friends are married now and most r happy.

now that i think of it, a good percentage of people in my age range (20-24 yrs) are married, well in my part of the country.

Although a lot are happier single, some still would like to be married. Like Shari mentioned, the marrying age seems like it has moved to 30-35 but many women still haven’t given up hope of finding a suitable partner and having kids.

I have asked some friends why they’d like to marry if they’re happy being single, but all they say is that they’d like to be married… strange but I guess it’s part of life here?

Traditional roles?

Out of 100 or so students, about 60 are women and most of the married ones are not happy and almost all the single ones are happy.

I love the route women are going right now. Modern men welcome…traditional men , keep living with mommy!

I’m on a short holiday, but I will resume writing when I return

That being said, I think most women would still like to get married though now the age where they draw the line is between 30-35. Mainly, they feel this way because they want the option of having children.

Your blog is very interesting and I look forward to continuing to read it. Keep up the good work!