TOKYO -- Regardless of working hours, many men in marriages barely do any housework, showing that women still bear the brunt of the burden, according to a survey by a Japanese labor union think tank covering the country's two largest metropolitan areas.

In the survey by the JTUC Research Institute for Advancement of Living Standards, which is associated with the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, 73.4% of women answered that they prepared meals six to seven days a week, compared to just 11.6% of men who said the same.

People aged 20 to 64 who live in the greater Tokyo or Kansai areas and work at private companies were surveyed online between Oct. 1 and 8. For the questions on housework, responses were received from 996 people, limited to those with spouses.

Regarding laundry, 66.1% of women said they handled the chore six to seven days a week, versus just 10.9% of men who said the same. Meanwhile, 75.4% of women and 26.5% of men said that they clean up after meals on the same amount of weekly occasions.

The survey also revealed that a greater ratio of the women did housework in all chore categories either four to five or six to seven days a week, regardless of their average number of weekly work hours.

An official with the thinktank stated, "Women's burden of housework has not gone down. We will look into the particulars going forward, but the results were the same whether the couples were single- or dual-earning."

(Japanese original by Satoshi Fukutomi, Business News Department)