The policy of the shorter working time has been conducted by the Japanese Government. It is questionable whether that policy improves the quality of life of the family members equally.
This paper examines the effect of the paid work on the rhythm of everyday life of husband and wife. I used the data of 1991 Survey on Time Use and Leisure Activities conducted by Statistics Bureau Management and Coordination Agency Japan. The effect of weekly working hours and regular holidays in a week on time use of husband and wife was analyzed by the day of the week.
Long working hours have effect on the use of time of both husband and wife. Husbands with the longest work week have almost same free time as wives with the shortest work week. Five day week decreases the work week. It decreases the working hours of wives not only on Saturday but on weekday, but increases the working hours of husbands on weekday. Husbands of five day week spend more time on housework on Saturday and Sunday. Their wives, however, do not have shorter housework time.
The shorter working time has given good effects on the rhythm of everyday life of husband and wife. But some problems of the time use balance among family members and between weekday and weekend has been left.