Ryuta Watanabe with some of his wives and children. - Photo: Instagram/watanaberyuta_official
TOKYO: A polygamous man who had relied entirely on the finances of his wives says he is now earning 1.25 million yen (US$8,000) each month as an influencer.
Ryuta Watanabe, 36, was widely reported last October by several Japanese media outlets to have led a polygamous gigolo life in northern Japanese prefecture of Hokkaido.
He lived with three wives and four children, including a pair of twins his third wife Chiharu’s is expecting, three pet dogs and two lizards.
Watanabe also has a fourth wife who lives separately and had an on-and-off relationship with him. He continues to date several other women.
He also has another seven kids. Some were born to women who used to date him and then left him for good.
Japan does not allow polygamy, and all his wives were in fact partners without registration.
All the household expenses were borne by the women.
Watanabe proudly called himself a himo otoko, a Japanese term that refers to an able-bodied man who is financially dependent on a woman.
In February 2024, Watanabe debuted as an online influencer, setting up personal accounts on various social media platforms.
In the first video he posted, he announced that each of his three wives would be responsible for an account.
Shueisha Online reported that Watanabe earned 1.25 million yen from his online channels.
He also launched a company in May, and planned to expand his business and sell clothes and hair care products.
The accounts document the family’s polygamous life and are filmed by Watanabe himself. He also recently held online interviews with applicants to be his fifth wife.
Watanabe, who dropped out of secondary school, said he tried more than 20 part-time jobs including mover, cleaner, waiter and male host, all lasting for just a month. He said he was born to be a gigolo.
He once dated up to 16 women at the same time and said his dream was to father the most children in Japan.
Watanabe said he wanted to have 54 children and break the record of Japanese shogun Tokugawa Ienari, who had 53 children with 27 concubines.
He said in a previous interview that he had sex more than 28 times a week, and never masturbated so as not to “waste his sperm”.
He told Shueisha Online that he was considering donating to a sperm bank to fulfil his dream.
“What he does looks nothing different from a cult religion, and it scares me,” one Japanese commenter said.
“I worry about their children’s wellbeing especially when they grow up and face criticism and even bullying from people who find their family strange,” said another.
A third online observer said: “I wonder if this man can be a good option for the hard-working women who do not want to get married and want to have children.” - South China Morning Post
