RETIRED HUSBAND SYNDROME OF JAPAN

 

RETIRED HUSBAND SYNDROME OF JAPAN

Abhijit Bannerjee, Nobel winning economist writes in the Times of India of 2^nd February 2026

Women in Japan, faced with the impending retirement of their husbands, start to feel worried and depressed. It can even turn into high blood pressure, ulcers and rashes. The problem comes from the specific lifestyles of the Japanese ‘Salarymen’ in a generation when relatively few women worked outside the home. Workdays and commutes were long, and men mostly socialized with their colleagues and male friends..As a result, the couple never really needed to spend a lot of time together.

But once retired, it is hard to avoid his presence in the narrow confines of the typical Japanese apartment.

She wants to behave well, to be welcoming and friendly. But after 35 years of limited intimacy, it is starting life all over again with an almost stranger, a confrontation of her or his idiosyncrasies (easily concealed so far) with each other.