Work or Labor, or Work and Labor?

Sachiko once argued with her mother about the meaning of “shigoto (meaning work, labor, job, business, etc.).” The argument started as her mother said that Japanese calligraphy she had been doing for many years was “shigoto,” while Sachiko’s father and brother saying it as her hobby. Sachiko disagreed with any of them, but could not explain why. But she understood that her mother was trying to say that "because she worked (i.e., did calligraphy), she didn't have to do labor work (i.e., household chores).” 

This occurred just after the retirement of Sachiko’s father. One of his daily tasks after retirement was morning run. He wanted her to make his breakfast ready when he came home. However, for her, his retirement was her retirement and she had no longer obligations to do household chores, including cooking meals. Father insisted that their pre-marriage tacit agreement said that he would earn money while she would do household chores and that even if he had retired and completed his obligations, she still had her own obligations under the agreement. In other words, although he had earned sufficient money for the two of them to be able to live a comfortable life until they die and by this, his obligations had been fulfilled, her contractual obligations hadn't been fulfilled yet or they would be of nature which requires continued performance until she dies. There was another reason for him to say that calligraphy was her hobby. It didn't make money or money earned (if any) from calligraphy was never spent for household expenses. The breadwinner of the household was always her father. Sachiko's mom worked as a part-time accounting staff member for a few years to financially support the household, but this experience seems to her a bad memory that should be erased. 

Sachiko knew however that calligraphy was more than a hobby to her mom. Sachiko’s father was transferred many times for business reasons. This was good for him who was promoted each time being transferred to a new workplace, it wasn't for her. Transfers or relocations for her almost every year made her always pack and unpack boxes and made her mentally sick. Calligraphy saved her from collapsing.      

 
So, Sachiko didn't deny the value of calligraphy, but as a company employee for more than twenty years, she also felt uncomfortable about being asked by her mother to do calligraphy related errands as if they had been more important than her work. Sachiko also disagreed with her father’s view that only an activity which produces money of over a certain amount is qualified as "shigoto" and such a view made Sachiko wonder what “shigoto” was. So, Sachiko looked up the definition of “shigoto” in Japanese and found the following definition on a certain Japanese website:

‘“Shigoto” is something which is necessary for other people and for which consideration is paid.’

The definition was not incorrect, but something was missing. Then, Sachiko remembered something in “The Human Conditions” by Hannah Arendt. According to Arendt, three activities, i.e., labor, work and action, are equally necessary to a complete human life and are defined as follows (Source: Wikipedia):

-      Labor is human activity directed at meeting biological (and perhaps other) necessities for self-preservation and the reproduction of the species.

-      Work, unlike labor, has a clearly defined beginning and end. It leaves behind a durable object, such as a tool, rather than an object for consumption.

-      The third type of activity, action (which includes both speech and action), is the means by which humans disclose themselves to others, not that action is always consciously guiding such disclosure.

Sachiko applied this Arendt’s theory to her mother’s activities as follows:

Labor     Doing household chores (and the part-time accounting work)
Work     Writing calligraphy
Action    Holding calligraphy classes

Now, Sachiko understands why her mother is so devoted to calligraphy. She wants to have a complete human life! But Sachiko still finds something wrong with her statement that “because I work, I don’t have to do household chores." It means that because she writes calligraphy and holds classes (i.e., work and action), she does not have to do household chores (i.e., labor). Although labor was performed by slaves in Greece, her mother has no slaves and so, she frequently forces Sachiko to perform labor for her to meet her own biological and other necessities as her slave and this irritated Sachiko.  

Sachiko has recovered a sense of peace because she finally solved this long-time question and will be able to say “no” when she is asked by her mom to do her “labor work” next time. Sachiko also wants to tell her father that he should do his labor work, whatever it is, as well as find something which is “work” and/or “action” so that he can live a complete life.