Day in the Life of a Japanese Mom and Baby in Tokyo

This is a day in the life of a Japanese mom and baby This is Moe. 27 year old new mother living in Tokyo and her day starts earlier than most salary men in Japan While her husband and baby are still sleeping, she must quietly start the laundry making sure not to wake her baby In the morning she silently prepares a bento lunch for her husband A traditional Japanese Bento is made of several dishes which take some time and effort to prepare In today's bento she includes Tamagoyaki, grilled fish, some side dishes and rice While she cooks She also prepares Rinyushoku which means baby food in Japanese Handmade baby food is more common as store-bought baby food is expensive in Japan. To save time though moms will prepare a lot at once Freeze it into ice cubes and heat it when needed but also Japanese mothers tend to feel guilty for not making it at home. Oh no, the baby's crying. One thing about being a mom is at our house tasks are often distracted by our kids. Oh good, her baby stopped crying Nice, I guess today's Bento is noriben. There's a whole lot of love in that Bento box This is Sutan, Moe's nine month old daughter and this is how she starts her day So changing Sutan's diaper is the very first thing she does when the baby wakes up Oh and now her husband is finally up When did she start eating Rinyushoku? Sutan is eating porridge with natto, mashed up broccoli and Bonito flakes. In fact Natto which is fermented Soybean is one of the most popular foods to feed babies in Japan So this is Motoki and he's gonna go for a morning run before he starts his workday All right, so Moe should be up right now with Sutan. Let's go see how they're doing Good morning Damn. I guess feeding babies in any country is an everyday challenge. Is it always like this? You don't feel like eating huh? Now she can finally have her morning coffee. Wait, you can drink caffeinated coffee? In addition to baby food Moe must also make time to regularly breastfeed her baby Now she's changing her diapers for the second time today. How many times do you usually change diapers in a day? She also says she spends about $90 a month on diapers. What would be the average in your country? So this is pretty much the start of the day She prepares the food for Sutan and now she's preparing for herself and her husband. It's almost 8:30 So she's been already three hours getting the day ready I'm kind of excited to see how the rest of the day is gonna go. But before that Let's ask her a few more questions. When you give birth how long did you stay in the hospital? Five days?! Oh in the US it's usually about a day and a half So in Japan most births are given naturally without anesthesia or painkillers In fact most hospitals in Japan don't give mothers the option Do you do laundry every day? In Japan Hanging laundry outside to dry instead of using a dryer machine is still very common so much so that most houses and apartments are designed With a laundry hanging space Oh wow, she has a little urban vegetable garden in her yard Now this is not so common, especially in Tokyo since most people in the city live in apartments with no yards So Moe's husband runs several restaurants in Tokyo and is usually very busy on nights and weekends But she says he does what he can to help take care of Sutan Oh wow Sutan is watching TV but in English. Moe also believes that it's important for her baby to learn English So she has more opportunities in the future, so she exposes her to English as much as she can. Can you speak English? Now Moe finally gets to eat her breakfast since Sutan didn't eat much earlier Moe is feeding her again Wow, it's already nap time for Sutan. Moe shuts out light completely with a crib cover and uses a white noise device to help put her baby to sleep Again Moe needs to be ultra quiet during this time in order not to wake Sutan This is all part of the baby's daily routine as her mom trains her to eat and sleep at specific times during the day So that her mom can manage her own schedule better. So Moe has lunch plans with her friend So she needs to quietly get ready while Sutan is taking a nap This is a traditional Japanese drawer called Kiritansu which is crafted specifically to store Kimonos A traditional Japanese garment In fact Moe used to be a Geisha apprentice known as a Maiko in Kyoto for six years until she turned twenty-one Kimonos are what initially drew Moe into becoming a Maiko and it's still a large part of her life as she even teaches how to Wear Kimonos to private customers. The reality is many Japanese these days, especially younger generations Don't know how to put on a kimono. Many Japanese today hire professionals Like Moe to help them wear a Kimono for weddings, tea ceremonies, and other special formal occasions Now that she's finished getting dressed, she has to pack a baby bag and prepare the baby stroller for travel It's supposed to rain today so she needs to attach the rain cover So it looks like a lot of preparation is required before leaving the house with the baby So while Sutan sleeps she has a little free time to do her own hobbies. Let's go see what she's doing. It seems like Moe is posting her Kimono picture on her Instagram Moe's quite aware that infancy is a critical time for a baby's learning and development So she actively talks to her baby as much as possible How much did it cost you to give birth? The amount of government financial support depends on the city or ward where you live But no matter what there's generally some form of financial support The national average is about four hundred and twenty thousand yen about thirty eight hundred dollars So Moe's case she would be paying about half. Is child birth in your country this expensive? So trains are the main form of transportation in Tokyo So Moe walks to the closest train station from her house in order to meet a friend today Many Japanese moms say it's stressful to travel on trains with small kids. For example using strollers on escalators are prohibited So moms must find elevators to use which are often inconveniently Located or on the other side of the station. Which requires them to plan extra time for the travels Also moms say it's nearly impossible to get on trains during rush hour with a stroller She's having lunch at Casita in trendy Omotesando and rather conveniently It's one of the several restaurants her husband runs. Moms in Japan Especially in large cities like Tokyo, usually need to check in advance with restaurants to see if its kids friendly So going to her husband's restaurant is one less thing she needs to worry about Oh Moe's friend and her three-year-old son have just arrived I guess she brought packaged baby food for Sutan from home. It's apparently easier to pack than homemade food on outings like this Although she wants to enjoy time with her friend, she still needs to feed Sutan in order to maintain her baby's routine So basically this is what it's like having lunch with friends and like you have kids around, its like you have to attend to the kids Too while you're also having lunch. Since Moe's husband runs this place, let's explore a little bit and let's ask him to show us around Wow, his restaurant has a secret VIP room hidden behind a bookshelf And it also has a hidden private karaoke room. What an amazing spot Oh no! Her friend's kid is not listening. He doesn't want to leave It seems like he's having Iyaiya-ki which in English is known as the terrible twos I suppose in a few years Sutan will be in the same phase. I hope Moe's ready for it Now she's back at her home station. She's gonna do some quick grocery shopping on the way back home So what are you doing now? Hey...whatcha doing? Ya coming closer? So it looks like this is the fourth time she's breastfeeding Sutan Looks like she has to go back out and pick up the dry cleaning So Moe says she didn't know how to cook at all when she was working So she went to cooking classes for about a year and from what I see the classes have paid off Do you have to watch her all the time? Oh Oh no, Sutan is crying again. I guess she wanted her diaper to be changed Sutan is having porridge with spinach, Shirasu fish, Bonito flakes and seaweed. So healthy! On nights when her husband comes back home late She eats dinner alone with Sutan and makes something she can quickly prepare for her husband when he returns In Japan it's common to have an automatic bath that fills up to a preset level and desired temperature So it's about six o'clock right now and Moe is giving Sutan a bath right now And then after that, I think she's gonna go to sleep and then finally Moe is gonna have our own time to herself Oh and one thing if you guys do you love these Day in the Life videos then check out the ones that I've already made I think this is probably like the ninth or tenth video, but I also have so much more coming So definitely hit that subscribe button. And if you guys wanna help support the channel then check out the Tokyo merch So before going to bed Moe reads Sutan a children's book As part of Sutan's training and to get her to sleep at a specific time Moe starts a timer She ignores her baby's cries for a set duration until the baby goes to sleep Moe takes advantage of this time by completing house chores and taking a bath then any time after this becomes her free time How was the bath? Oh, her husband's home early tonight but he also needs to be quiet so he doesn't wake Sutan All right we're going to have to be quiet for this one Because Sutan is sleeping right now and we don't want to wake her up. So what did you guys Think of the Day in the Life of a Mom and baby? How does it compare see our country? And if you wanna check out Moe's Instagram or you wanna check out her husband's restaurant Then I'll leave a link in the description And I've also started a second channel called Toyko Zebra If you want to see what Michael and I are doing on the daily then check out that channel And if you guys wanna see more Day in the Life videos hit that that subscribe button and the bell button and I'll catch you guys in the next one

Channel: Paolo fromTOKYO

Views: 14,227,221

Rating: 4.9259834 out of 5

Keywords: Paolo, japan, tokyo, day in the life, day in the life japan, japan day in the life, day in the life tokyo, japanese mom, japanese housewife, japan housewife, japanese baby, japan baby, japanese mother, mom life, japanese family, average japanese family, japanese kids, japanese baby food, life in tokyo, life in japan, family in japan, family in tokyo, day in the life mom, mom, baby, japanese home, japanese house, typical japanese family, family, raising japanese baby, japanese

Id: RrniEJHByV4

Length: 15min 56sec (956 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 14 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/dingok8]

Interesting video- also that baby is super cute.

[u/realtinyfangs]

Frankly, I'm exhausted lol

[u/duckface08]

Her shibori kimono was gorgeous <3 Also, that baby is adorable.

But yeah, the "day in the life of" seems about the same as most new moms (not a mom myself, but most of my friends are moms with young kids/babies) - basically, just non-stop work! There's a reason why the only "child" I have is an old cat.