Freelance newscaster Hitoshi Kusano (80) appeared on Tetsuko Kuroyanagi's long-running talk show "Tetsuko's Room" (TV Asahi) broadcast on February 10. He talked about the incident that led him to change his patriarchal ways and his daily muscle training routine.
Kusano joined NHK in 1967 and got married the following year. His wife is a good cook and worked as an assistant to a Chinese cooking teacher before they got married. She cooks homemade meals quickly. "She was a typical old Kyushu man who would make the excuse that men should focus all their energy on their work and never help with housework," he recalled.
There was a big moment when I started to reflect on that way of life. That was when I left NHK after 18 years and became a freelancer at the age of 41.
"I realized that working is a very tough experience. (My job at the time) was for a program that started at 7am, so I had to get up at 3am at home. When I got up at 3am, the lights were already on in the room, and in winter the room was warm, and tea and fruit were ready. That's when I realized for the first time that my wife had woken up before me and was making those kinds of preparations."
He realized that without his wife's cooperation, his family would not be in good shape. "I gradually changed my attitude from being a patriarchal husband to being a normal husband," he said, revealing his own change. Since then, he has been trying to convey his gratitude to his wife in detail, saying, "I try to tell her, 'You are the MVP of our family,'" he said with a shy smile.
Kusano-san continues to work out every day. "If we leave it alone, our muscles will just weaken, so I have to do a little bit. I have the basic equipment at home and I do strength training with dumbbells," he said.
"About 15 years ago, I went to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building to interview Ishihara Shintaro. One day, Ishihara told me, 'Once you turn 60, your blood vessels can burst, so stop lifting heavy weights.' From that point on, I made the dumbbells much lighter, focusing on 15kg. I've been able to maintain my physical condition really well since then," he said.
