The story of a househusband with four wives and two girlfriends took the internet by storm a few months ago.
| @prime_ABEMA/YouTube
Ryuta Watanabe, a 35-year-old Japanese man living in Sapporo, Hokkaido, cohabits with multiple wives and three children. His family arrangement left the Japanese public in awe when it got featured on a popular Japanese news program, Abema Prime.
Watanabe, a househusband, has been unemployed for over ten years. His six partners contribute toward their shared family’s expenses, which goes up to 850,000 Yen a month. This includes rent, food, and other living costs. Watanabe, on the other hand, does his share by taking care of the household chores, including cooking, cleaning, and caring for his children.
Ryuta Watanabe with his wives and children | @prime_ABEMA/YouTube
The house where Watanabe lives has three separate rooms for his three wives. He takes turns going to each of them every night. The fourth wife and the two girlfriends live separately.
Talking about his polygamous living situation, Watanabe explained that he just “likes women” and realized that there would be “no problem” in living with multiple of them as long as he could love them equally. There is, however, another motive behind his current arrangement. Watanabe told the media of his desire to outdo a Shogun (military ruler) named Tokugawa Ienari from the Edo period, who had 53 children. “I will break the record by having 54 children,” he declared.
| @prime_ABEMA/YouTube
To fulfill this dream, Watanabe also announced that he was on the lookout for his seventh partner. His wives seem not to mind his ways, but the law of Japan does not recognize polygamy. The loophole, however, is that the law permits cohabitation, which allows Watanabe to continue on his “mission.”
