In Japan, the working time has been decreasing. However, Japanese working people spend more hours per year to work than those in Western countries. The policy of the shorter working time is conducted by the Japanese Government in order that the working people get more free time.

This paper examines whether the shorter working time of working members in the family enrich the time use of the other members of the family. Especially, the effect of the shorter working time of husbands to wives will be analysed.

There are some characteristics about the relationship between the use of time of husband and wife. Those are the time pressure by dual role of the working married womem, the participation to the housework by husbands, and the use of time of housewives on Sunday.

It is concluded that the shorter working time of the husband will not necessarily be related to the improvement of the use of time of the other members in the family.