I’m Kotaro Inoue (40), living with my wife Misato (35), son Sosuke (6), and daughter Mashiro (1.5). I got hooked on an idol and wanted to take the whole family to her concert. But when I said that, Misato snapped, “I’m not going.” I tried to calm her by saying, “I’ll just take Sosuke then!”—which only made things worse…
I was told, “If you can look up idol info on your phone, you can look up parenting stuff too”—and I had no comeback. While I ignored my own kids right in front of me, I was glued to strangers on a screen. No wonder Misato was fed up. I’d been dodging responsibility and putting myself first. Meanwhile, Shimizu said he’d “check with his wife” before making plans—putting family first. Of course our wives treat us differently. That’s when I finally realized I was in the wrong.