Japan is a very patriarchal society. It's still very hard for a woman to reach the higher ranks of a company, and most women become stay-at-home mothers after giving birth. However, one critical aspect of life where women are overwhelmingly in charge is 家計 かけい kakei - household finances.
The wife is typically in total charge of the household budget; while the husband will have a say in big-ticket purchases, his main role is to be the family earner. (The typical scenario: the husband hands over his entire pay packet to the wife, who promptly deposits in the bank or puts it in a safe place. The husband is given some pocket money for his personal expenses. Nowadays of course most people get their salaries by direct bank deposit, but the principle is the same.) One of the basic skills a young woman is supposed to have is how to keep a household account book, called 家計簿 かけいぼ kakeibo. I'm not sure if they still teach 家計簿 keeping skills, but in our home economics classes in junior high we had a couple of sessions on the subject, along with cooking and sewing. A 家計簿 is considered to such a necessity that the major 'housewife' magazines include a free one every year as a supplement in their December issues. You can also buy them at any bookstore, and of course these days a lot of people keep their 家計簿 on a PC, using spreadsheets or dedicated software. Here's the Amazon Japan search results page for 家計簿.
Keeping a 家計簿 is for 家計管理 かけいかんり kakeikanri - household budget management: It helps with 節約 せつやく setsuyaku - saving money, 予算立て よさんだて yosandate - making budgets (budget (noun) is 予算 よさん yosan) as well as make 計画 けいかく keikaku - plans. One critical part of a household budget is the 食費 しょくひ shokuhi, food expenses.
Here's a list of the words mentioned:
- 家計 かけい kakei - household finances
- 家計簿 かけいぼ kakeibo - household account book
- 家計管理 かけいかんり kakeikanri - household budget management
- 節約 せつやく setsuyaku - save money (not in the banking sense but in the 'use coupons and buy stuff on sale' sense)
- 予算立て よさんだて yosandate - budget making
- 予算 よさん yosan - budget
- 計画 けいかく keikaku
- 食費 しょくひ shokuhi
Hello,
Do you know of an English version of a kakeibo?
Posted by: J | 2009.01.15 at 03:18 AM