Abstract
In October 1985, we surveyed the use of time and life-styles of Tama New Town families with both parents employed. A follow-up survey was conducted in September 1987, focusing on the time use and home life of the children of these families.
Distribution and collection of the questionnaire was done by house visits with a brief interview at the time of collection. Effective responses were obtained from 75 families including 105 children.
The results can be summarized as follows :
1) The children spend long hours on extracurricular lessons as well as attending private prep, or cram schools, leaving little time for helping around the house.
2) The elementary school children in lower grades have longer play time, spent more indoors than outdoors; especially their time for watching TV and playing with family computer games has increased.
3) Fathers spend almost no time during the week with their children.
