Thus, Japanese elites have socially constructed the cultural idea that if a male has time to help the female, then he is obviously suffering from idleness and is not sufficiently contributing to society. This particular phenomenon has, unsurprisingly, splintered off into myriad pathologies. Japanese men simply do not spend time with their children, which means that they literally do not know their children. If they do spend time with their offspring, it is seen as a service or a favor. On the woman's end, meanwhile, raising children has become a joyless task.
Mothers get little break from it.
Meanwhile, hiring baby sitters is rare, largely because it is socially frowned upon. It hasn't always been this way in Japan. In traditional Japanese society, the father was much closer to the children. In the Tokugawa Era of the nineteenth century, for instance, the father played a very significant role with the children, especially as a role model, trainer, and educator of his sons. But the post-war obsession to prove Japan's economic potential has changed all of that.