Actor Taiyo Sugiura, known as a loving wife and devoted father, married Nozomi Tsuji in 2007, has won the Ikumen of the Year award many times, is now a father of four, and gives talk shows on housework and childrearing throughout Japan.

　He has also taken advantage of his cooking skills to appear on cooking shows and write recipe books. We interviewed Mr. Sugiura, a representative of fathers who love to cook, about the family communication that is fostered through cooking and the growth of his children.

Cooking is a growing skill

　I have been told that I am a good cook and a good husband, but before I married, I was not like that at all, but rather was proud of my husband’s husbandly nature.

　However, as I got married, had a child, and accompanied my wife on her regular checkups, I gradually became more aware of myself as a father, and I began to help my wife, who seemed to be having a hard time, by cooking and doing household chores.

　Originally, neither my wife nor I were very good at cooking or housework, and we gradually improved as my mother and mother-in-law taught us. Through my work traveling around the country with professional chefs, I was able to learn a kind of culinary equation, which is probably why my cooking has improved.

　As I gradually became able to do both childcare and housework, I was able to cooperate well with my wife from about the time our third child was born, and we have been able to enjoy a fulfilling child-rearing life.

Communication fostered in the kitchen

　Some dads are just not very good at cooking or don’t enjoy it. But first, make an effort to stand next to your wife.

　”Shall I wash the dishes?” Shall I peel?” and stand in the kitchen naturally. Even if you can’t cook, you can help with these tasks.

　This naturally creates time for conversations with my wife. “What happened to the kids today?” “How was your day?” This is an important time to get to know the couple and their children.

Cooking Time for Parents and Children

　My oldest daughter became interested in cooking after her favorite Youtuber was cooking. It started with instant desserts that even kids can make easily, and now she has grown up to make bread for us like a baker (laughs). (Laughs) In our family, we cooperate with our children’s interests without denying or interfering with them. For example, when it came to baking bread, I accepted my child’s requests, such as “I want this flour,” or “I want this yeast,” and I bought all the ingredients. Instead, I let them think and make the bread on their own. This naturally led to a passion for baking bread, and gradually to a love of cooking.

　We also started a vegetable garden in the Corona Disaster and grow many vegetables such as tomatoes, garland chrysanthemum, rosemary, broccoli, and Chinese cabbage. When we cook, we let the children help with the harvest, which makes them feel involved in the cooking. Perhaps because of this, my oldest son bought his own kind of growing kit, grows his own shiitake mushrooms, and cooks them on the grill and eats them (laughs).

　Also, by taking him fishing, which is my hobby, my oldest son has learned to fish. He can now taste the process of removing the head, gutting, cutting, and eating a living creature. This process of tasting a living creature increases his sense of satisfaction, and it also serves as food education, and he becomes more interested in life and food.

　If you think it might be a bit of a hurdle to start with these, start with something simple, such as letting them break an egg.

Looking forward to when I have grandchildren.

　It is the children who have made the couple parents through housework and childcare. I am now introduced to them as a loving couple, but when I first became a father, we fought a lot and had many differences. I wanted my wife’s approval, and I wanted to be in touch with my children. If you work according to your own timing and rhythm, you will become complacent, which in turn will bother your wife, and in many cases, it will not work out. What I have learned is to “adjust to my wife’s point of view. For example, if the dishes are piled up and my wife is doing something else, I finish the dishes. If she is about to give the children a bath, I will go ahead and wash the bathtub.

　At first I, too, envisioned a proud father figure who would say, “Follow me,” but you don’t need such a thing. If you can do household chores such as cooking, you can even celebrate family anniversaries with surprise dishes.

　There are many challenges that you will definitely have to go through once you have children, but it is exciting to think that when you get over this and reach old age and have grandchildren, you can have the conversation with your own children, “Grandpa, can you take care of the kids for a minute? So, if you can do both housework and childcare while you are still able to, you will have a lot to look forward to.