Japanese women suffering from Retired Husband Syndrome

[democracyindanger]

Tokyo -- Sakura Terakawa, 63, describes her four decades of married life in a small urban apartment as a gradual transition from wife to mother to servant. Communication with her husband started with love letters and wooing words under pink cherry blossoms. It devolved over time, she said, into mostly demands for his evening meals and complaints over the quality of her housework.

So when he came home one afternoon three years ago, beaming, and announced he was ready to retire, Terakawa despaired.

" 'This is it,' I remember thinking. 'I am going to have to divorce him now,' " Terakawa recalled. "It was bad enough that I had to wait on him when he came home from work. But having him around the house all the time was more than I could possibly bear."
...
After several months, she developed stomach ulcers, her speech began to slur and rashes broke out around her eyes. When doctors discovered polyps in her throat but could find no medical reason for her sudden burst of ailments, she was referred to a psychiatrist who diagnosed stress-related RHS.
...
"I had developed my own life, my own way of doing things, in the years when he was never home," Terakawa said. She said she cannot even stand to look at her husband across the dinner table now and sits at an angle so she can stare out a window instead.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/10/18/MNGD9FA2VN1.DTL

[MountainLaurel]

1. Read this in the paper yesterday

It doesn't seem surprising that this would happen: These women lead almost entirely separate lives from the husbands, and then when hubby is home 24-7, it's a no-brainer that chaos would ensue.