When asked, “What is the most important thing in your life?”, Most people in the world would say family. Partners, children, parents, siblings. Even if you have a fight or feel annoyed, you are an irreplaceable existence.
I think my family is important for my own life. I’m really happy to find a partner I want to live with, have a new family with that person, and support them. I was not a Japanese partner, but a foreigner who was born and raised in a different environment. When I met him in Sri Lanka and felt something in common with each other, I got married, but I still often feel cultural differences. This time I would like to talk about the differences between me and his family values.
People in Sri Lanka appreciates the time with family
They don’t want to do overwork
People in Sri Lanka do not work overtime. I clean up the area around my desk about 10 minutes before the scheduled time, and when the scheduled time comes, I quickly go home. It is exactly “5 o’clock pita leave”.
In the case of Japan, there may be some wives who find it annoying if their husbands return on time. But in Sri Lanka this is the norm. Go home early and enjoy a good time with the whole family, eating and watching TV.
”Why?”
Until I got married, I worked overtime every day until around 9 o’clock. Rather, it was so commonplace that I once asked her husband, “Why do you leave the office on time?”
Her husband replied, “Because the company is not life.” She was asked, “Why don’t Japanese go home early and spend time with her family?” She remembers that she couldn’t say anything.
Communication over the phone call
Phone call from my father-in-law
My husband is the eldest son of four siblings and lives in a university dormitory away from other parents’ homes. Her husband’s father’s daily routine is called daily by calling her children after work. It seems that you are calling the eldest son, the eldest daughter, and the second son, how are you? Did you eat the rice properly? How is your job The question is the same every time.
Her eldest daughter seems to find the call from her father a little annoying, but she never gets sick of the call from her father. Calling children who were away from her parents’ home would be one of the few times her father could spend with his family.
Even I get a phone call
When my husband is away from home on a business trip, he calls me because he will be lonely. I still can’t speak Sri Lankan language well, so the conversation gets messy, but just listening to my voice seems to reassure me that it’s okay for the time being.
I am really grateful to my dad for accepting me as one of my children and calling me even if I can’t communicate well.
Difference of sense of ideas
The term work style reform has been coined, and more and more people are thinking of enriching their lives, and reducing overtime hours has become a major issue for companies.
Even at the company I work for, in order to reduce overtime hours, efforts are being made so that I can choose the working hours myself, and if the internet environment is in place, I can work without going to work.
However, Japan has just begun reforms. I hope that the time when leaving the office on time is commonplace like Sri Lanka will come, and the news of overwork and death from overwork will disappear.
My husband and her family taught me what to cherish in life and how to cherish it, and now I almost never work overtime.
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