My wife and I encouraged each other through our “firsts” every day.

　My son is 10 months old now (*at the time of the December 2024 interview), and no, it’s been a long time! It feels like 10 months at last. The first time something happens for the first time, it feels like a long time, doesn’t it? Especially in the first three months, I had to do everything for the first time, and it was very difficult to gather information. No matter how much I did, the next challenge kept coming up. My wife and I would encourage each other, and after a month, we would say, “Let’s work hard for one more month! We gradually got used to it, setting short goals as we went along. In the beginning, we were doing milk every three hours together, but then we thought, “If we don’t do this, we’ll both fall ill! I thought, “If I don’t do this, they will both collapse! We also tried various ways of putting the baby to sleep. I recorded the sound of a plastic bag making a shuffling sound, which is said to be effective in stopping crying and calming babies, and played it to them. From around 4 months of age, I started letting my baby drink milk in a dark room after taking a bath, and he would sleep until morning, allowing me to sleep soundly until morning as well.
　Now, when I am at home, I try to watch them as much as possible. I usually have milk at 7:00 a.m., baby food at 10:30 a.m., milk at 3:00 p.m., baby food at 6:30 p.m., bath at 9:00 p.m., milk at 9:30 p.m., and bedtime.

Appreciation for customers strengthened by child-rearing experience

　Until now, when I heard from my seniors and juniors about the birth of their children, I had no idea that this kind of thing was going on behind the scenes. It is really amazing that all the parents in the world are having a hard time every day, but they all don’t even show their faces.
　Recently, even at live shows, I see parents watching while holding children as young as ours. Some of them are even watching while giving their children milk. In the past, I might have had the feeling, “Why milk now?” But now I can understand, “This is the time for this child to have milk! I have come to understand. When I see people who come to the mall with their children on holidays, I wonder if they left home with enough milk for two servings in anticipation of the concert, or if the people who line up early in the morning to get numbered tickets are thinking, “Maybe Dad left home first, while Mom got ready to go to the store to meet him. I imagine that everyone is trying to make the most of their precious time to live. Everyone makes up their precious time to come to the concert. I feel even more grateful to our customers.

Time management and utilization of services to support both

　Since the birth of our child, there have been a lot of changes in my work and my life. Before, the office would give me a schedule and I would share it with the couple, but now I ask them to let me know as soon as they decide on a schedule, or I ask them for more time off. I used to have to stay overnight in the country half of the month at the most, but now I have it adjusted to about one-fifth.
　In terms of my daily life, I have learned to plan my activities more carefully, such as counting backwards from my milk supply when going out and leaving early in advance. It takes time to use a stroller when traveling by train, so it is essential to check the route, such as the location of elevators at transfer stations.
　I also research and use various government and private services, such as babysitter support and temporary childcare services.

Why I value our alone time with our children.

　Since my wife usually watches the children, when I am home, I encourage her to go somewhere to play with them while I watch them. I want my wife to spend time separately from the children so that she can refresh herself during that time. Otherwise, my wife will end up watching them with me, and even if I am doing something, she will naturally pay more attention to my immature ways, which tends to cause stress for both of us.
　Also, when I watch the children alone, my senses are sharpened! I have a bad nose, so until then I didn’t immediately notice when my child pooped, but when I was watching alone, I realized, “Oh, he just pooped! I noticed it when I was watching my child alone. That made me realize that it is important for me to spend time alone with my child.

Live experience is not helpful⁈ Trying to make children smile

　One of my strengths in parenting is reading to my children. When I read picture books to them, I say things like, “Oh, stars, shiny, shiny! I try to be as emotional as I can (laughs). (Laughs.) When I say, “Good evening, Mr. moon,” they are happy when I do that. Acrobatic play is also very responsive. For example, “high, high, high! However, I don’t know if my experience in live performances for children has helped me in raising my own children. (Laughs.) When I tried to make my child gag, he didn’t respond at all at first. Finally, after about 4 or 5 months, he started to respond a little bit. Recently, while holding her in my arms, I say things like, “peee-ya, peee-ya,” and “die-job die-job,” and I’m pretty serious about it (laughs).
Conversely, what I’m not very good at is washing my child’s face. On the contrary, I am not good at washing children’s faces. My wife is good at washing right up to the edge of the eyes. I am afraid to do it, so I stop just before. I sometimes worry that if I bathe them all the time, the dirt around their eyes will accumulate (laughs).

My “nameless chore” is “Nume-bearing.

　You call chores that don’t have a specific name but are essential to your life “chores without a name”. It’s been a hot topic for a while now.

(Related article: Let’s spread the word about “Housework with No Name! Catch-phrase decided – I gave a name to “Housework with No Name”)

　In our case, I’m the “slime-remover. I’m in charge of removing slime from the drains in the bathroom. I am also in charge of keeping bugs out of the room. I’m in charge of getting bugs, which my wife hates, out of the room. I also take out socks. We have a dog, and he is usually cute, but for some reason he is obsessed with socks. We call him the “sock zombie.” When he finds a sock, he gets really excited and turns into a monster, so when we take the laundry out of the dryer, we take the socks out.
　We try to remember to say “thank you” to each other when we do something for each other. And lately, when I do something myself, I make sure to say, “I did this for you! I also try to say “I did this! Sometimes people don’t notice if I don’t tell them, so I tell them without sounding condescending (laughs).

Recommendation for “peers” who do not compare themselves too much with others.

　I now think that first time parenting is often overloaded with information, but it’s okay not to worry about it too much. Don’t compare too much with others, but with “peja. The gag “peja” was originally started because I thought the word was funny, but I later added the meaning of “stop comparing” with “peja. For example, when a child reaches a certain number of months, weaning or starting to eat twice a day, and so on…. But each child has his or her own growth speed. When they get older, they will have to take entrance exams. I think people tend to think “because everyone around me is doing it” or something like that, but we should keep the spirit of “pee-ya” and “die-job, die-job” in mind. Rather than worrying about comparing them to others, I would rather cherish the time I can spend with my children and notice what they like to do and what they want to do.

My goal for the future is to convey the appeal of vegetables through the power of laughter.

　One of my future goals in my work is to promote vegetables. For more than 10 years, I have been singing a series of “vegetable songs” for children, such as “Song of Tomato,” “Song of Burdock,” and “Song of Green Pepper,” at live performances and in videos, incorporating the appeal and knowledge of vegetables. In 2024, I will host the “Vegetable-1 Grand Prix,” a comedy contest using vegetables as a theme, in order to promote vegetables with the power of laughter. I would like to make it an even bigger contest.
　In my private life, I want to lead a life where I am not pressed for time. I don’t want to make too much homework for myself. Ideally, I would like to have a life where I can say to myself, “What am I going to do today? My dream is to live in Northern Europe in the summer and in a tropical country in the winter.