Japanese men 'shirk housework'

Japanese men work long hours, but neglect housework

Japanese men are among the laziest in the world when it comes to housework, according to a survey.

They spend only a quarter as much time on household chores as American men, and only one-sixth of the time spent by Swedish men.

The study, by the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research, said Japanese men do only four hours of cooking, cleaning and other chores a week.

Japanese women spend 29 hours a week on housework.

The study was based on results from Canada, Russia, Finland and Hungary as well as Japan, Sweden and the US.

TV fans

Not surprisingly, the survey showed that most people rate routine housework as the least enjoyable use of their time.

Despite that, American men are doing more housework than they used to - 16 hours a week, up from 12 in 1965. But that is still a lot less than Swedish men, who do 24 hours of work.

Among other findings, the study showed that leisure time is greatest in Japan, Sweden and the US and lowest in Hungary, for both men and women.

Japanese people spend more time watching television than people in the other countries studied, especially women, the study said.