In a country searching for a thousand alternative formulas to combat the national demographic crisis and unstoppable aging, one man has gained traction in the country by going against the tide and sparking some controversy in the process. Name: Ryuta Watanabe. Mission: To become the “god of marriage”, surpassing Tokugawa Ienari, the shogun of the Edo Period.

We are happy. “I just love women, so I found myself in this situation without even realizing it. Dog lovers will understand me. If you raise a puppy, wouldn’t you want to raise another puppy? I like women and I love them all equally.” With this statement, Ryuta Watanabe introduced himself on Japanese television. Is he an outcast, a crazy man, or a sign of the new times and the diversity of alternative family formulas? That there is nothing wrong and everyone is happy.

Presentation data. Watanabe, a 35-year-old Japanese man living in Sapporo on the island of Hokkaido, attracted the attention of the country’s media and television channels by living a life that is as controversial as it is different from others. He has four wives and two girlfriends and is ambitious to become what he calls the “God of Marriage.”

As of this writing, the man has 10 children and lives in the same house with his three wives and two children. He hasn’t had a job for 10 years; Officially, he lives on the salary earned by his wives and girlfriends, who are responsible for covering their monthly household expenses, which he says is 914,000 yen (about $6,000).

Japanese polygamy. Watanabe’s spouses are considered “common-law spouses” because they are not legally married to him, but as Watanabe explains, their relationship is based on long-term cohabitation and shared responsibilities, which is considered an unofficial union in Japan.

Watanabe, on the other hand, takes on the role of “housewife” (in her own words), taking care of the housework and taking care of the children. His wives each have their own room, and Watanabe maintains “rotating relationships” with them, claiming to have sex more than 28 times a week. According to the man, there is no jealousy between their partners who get along well and act like friends.

Because. This is a big question. He told national media that he became depressed and dependent on welfare after his girlfriend left him six years ago. He says this incident motivated him to change his perspectives.

So he started using dating apps to meet many women. Since then, he has maintained this polyamorous lifestyle and maintains that as long as the love between him and his partners is balanced, there will be no problems in their relationship.

A big challenge. We said it at the beginning. In the background, Watanabe has a clear goal: to surpass the record of 53 children held by Tokugawa Ienari, the Japanese shogun of the Edo period, and thus achieve historic status in Japan. As he emphasizes, the number of 54 children will enable him to enter the books and solidify his idealized role as the “God of Marriage”.

Illegality of the plan. A situation arises in Watanabe’s story. Polygamous marriage has been banned in Japan since the Meiji period (1868-1912), when many reforms were made to modernize the country. However, previously polygamy was a common practice among the upper classes, including nobles and samurai, but was not widely practiced by the general population.

In this regard, these relationships were mostly polygamous (a man has several wives) and their purpose was to have children and preserve families. This being the case, Watanabe’s plan does not seem very clear.

A flawed plan. As highlighted, the man’s lifestyle fits better with the loopholes associated with unions that are not officially registered. Although polygamy is illegal, some cases of polyamorous relationships or cohabitation, such as that of Watanabe, who maintained relationships with more than one woman under “de facto union” agreements, suggest that unconventional family forms may exist in Japan.

However, they do not have legal recognition or legal protection in case of conflict. Since Japan only recognizes one marriage between two people at a time, people who choose such relationships do so without being able to formalize multiple legal marriages, a choice not followed by the law.

Upstream. Regardless, the controversy sparked by Watanabe’s lifestyle couldn’t be further from reality in Japan. We’ve been counting this for months: The population has aged so much that the country is closing thousands of schools and encouraging extraordinary initiatives to (re)fill an emptying “space.”

Watanabe’s story and the quest for that “record” is a pretty twisted and surreal one in a society where there’s a scarier truth than the number of old people dying alone: ​​how long it takes to find them.

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