Oshin

Nickname for domestic workers in Vietnam. (“Oshin” is a Japanese TV series, popular in Vietnam, whose title-character overcomes all manner of hardships to become a successful businesswoman and a model of patience and perseverance.)

Middle-class Vietnamese are missing their Oshins, according to Thanh Nien News:

Every Tet [Vietnamese New Year], the biggest worry for many young families is how to arrange housework while their Oshins are on vacation. On the first working days after Tet, women with housekeepers often commiserate together over the hardships of living without their maids. Some worry that their Oshins will not return after Tet, as is often the case when many housekeepers become homesick away from their families.

One employment agent told Thanh Nien News that “demand for maids and nannies increases four or five fold after each Tet,” and a schoolteacher admitted, “My housekeeper’s salary is now higher than teachers like me. But we can’t manage without them.”