Is it true that in Japan the husband’s salary is transferred to the wife's account?

Information is popular on the Internet that Japanese people receive a spouse's salary on their bank card. We decided to check if this is so.

About the Japanese custom, according to which the husband’s salary “for convenience” is immediately transferred to his wife, often write on various forums, entertainment And Information Portals, c Collections facts about the country of the rising sun. Some at all They saythat this state of affairs is enshrined at the legislative level and married Japanese do not have their own bank cards at all. This topic is popular among users of social networks (for example, "VKontakte" Tiktok, Twitter, "Classmates"), YouTube And Platform blog.

The assertion that the salary of husbands in Japan is immediately transferred to the accounts of their wives was spreading relatively recently in Runet. Judging by the search for Google, until 2015 there were practically no such messages. The first mention of the unusual rule, which “verified” was found, is published on March 13, 2015 fast Polina Katsuro, who had lived in Japan for many years and even released book About this country. In her “living magazine”, she talks about the Institute of Marriage in Japan and gives excerpts from conversations with the Japanese themselves and their wives. The blogger claims that in this country "the husband’s salary is traditionally transferred to the wife’s bank card." 

The next mention we found is reportage The Mir TV channel dedicated to the closure of Japan's Week in Moscow in July 2019. The heroine of this plot, Maria Grigoryeva, who has long been living in the Land of the Rising Sun, says: “Every month on the 25th, the husband’s salary is transferred to me to the card. This is a standard in Japanese families. ” Then her Japanese husband confirms that his wife really disposes of finances, and he does not need to think about loans or other payments. Mary’s words can be interpreted in two ways: perhaps she had in mind that her husband, having received a salary, immediately transfers her to his wife, and not his employer directly. Nevertheless, viewers could understand the words of the heroine differently. However, it was not possible to establish whether this plot, an earlier post in the “Live Journal” or other publication, was not the basis for the dispersed statement. In any case, it became popular only in 2022.

At the same time, the opinion that Japanese wives receive the salary of husbands at their own expense is mainly widespread in the Russian -speaking segment of the Internet. In English -speaking, users usually ask whether it is true that husbands in Japan themselves give the money earned money. And this is really for the most part truth. For example, in 2012 BBC told The stories of several Japanese, who gave almost everything that they earned, to the wives, leaving only a small part for pocket expenses. The article with reference to the study of SoftBrain Field stated that such a way was accepted in 74% of Japanese families. 

In 2023, scientists from Germany and Japan Published The results of the study of this phenomenon. They argue that financial management in the house is traditionally a female role in Japan, so in the 1970s 97% of Japanese people living in cities, and 66% of rural residents of the country disposed of their husbands, allocating small amounts to them-growing up-for personal spending. By 2019, the share of families adhering to this tradition has decreased markedly, but is still more than 50%. 

Journalists The Japan Times They talked in detail about this system in the 2011 article. In addition to the concept of growing up in Japan, there is a Hesokuri - this is the money that the wife hides from her husband (either on a black day or on personal spending). The article states that "the Civil Code prohibits joint bank accounts, so households who do not have their own income are usually forced to take costs for the household from her husband's account." At the same time, “if the husband earns money, this money always belongs to him”, and Hesokuri can even be interpreted as theft.

Blogger Marina Chizhova She lived in Japan for 20 years and published two books about this country. In one of them - ""Japan from the inside" - She writes that among the Japanese, it is indeed accepted to give his wife the entire salary, leaving only a small part to minor expenses, but the employer simply cannot transfer money to the wife of his employee, as this affects taxation issues. And this is logical, because if the wife really receives the money, the question arises of who should pay taxes: the person who earned them but did not receive, or the one who received them actually, but from the point of view of the employment contract has nothing to do with them?

The same impressions are shared and Torichyanchannel - A blogger telling YouTube about life in Japan. She moved there from Ukraine 11 years ago and married the Japanese. In one of his videos, a blogger, like Chizhova, refutes The statement that the husband’s salary is at the expense of his wife. However, according to her, often the husband’s card is really physically located with his wife, but men are given voluntarily so as not to take the duties of budget management.

Thus, the very first references to the fact that in Japan her husband’s salary enters the wife’s card, appeared in the stories of Russian-speaking Internet users who moved there and, according to them, faced with this custom. However, this statement is refuted both by articles in the Japanese media and the stories of other people who have long been living in this country. Therefore, we can conclude that in Japan, as in Russia, the salary enters the card to the person who is officially employed in the company, and not at all his wife or anyone else. However, traditionally in Japan, wives were engaged in the family budget, so many men there really give the money earned to their spouses, leaving themselves only small amounts for pocket expenses. Perhaps some of those who came to Japan and encountered this tradition, incorrectly interpreted its essence, deciding that it was not her husband, but directly his employer to his wife’s salary.

Photo on the cover: pexels.com

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