Polygamous Deadbeat’s Three Wives Speak Out on Their True Feelings
Ryuta Watanabe (37), active as a YouTuber and influencer and known as a pimp with multiple wives, lives with his first wife Hina, second wife Ayaka, third wife Chiharu, Hina’s second child Ema, Chiharu’s first child Aku, and newborn twins—making an eight-member household (his fourth wife is currently away).
The author met Watanabe through a media interview, later went on dates in Shinjuku, and even had casual drinks at their home. At the end of June, following Watanabe’s invitation to come experience a polygamous lifestyle! the author went to Hokkaido with their son without hesitation.
The “Polygamous Pimp” trilogy is as follows:
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Although the author had spoken with Watanabe many times in web interviews, meeting the wives for the first time was thrilling. Drinking together revealed many candid thoughts from the wives.
This report delves into the inner lives of these women who live in a polygamous household while being active influencers.
“Just a roommate now. He doesn’t treat me like a woman.”
Hiyori suddenly said, “I just don’t get along with Ryuta.” Despite spending so much time together, hearing her say we don’t get along made me laugh.
“By now, he doesn’t entertain us at all (laughs). He doesn’t treat us like women; we’re just roommates,” said Ayaka.
Since around May, Ryuta has been saying on YouTube that he plans to move to Malaysia, but Hiyori was firm: “Realistically, I’m not going.”
“I might go for sightseeing, but living there is impossible I have kids, and we’ll also keep a house in Hokkaido. Honestly, Ryuta often says ‘I’ll go!’ but then doesn’t, so it’s unpredictable.”
Ayaka, who joined the Malaysia trip, added, “Ryuta can’t even eat Malaysian food, so we wondered if he could really live there.” Chiharu said, “It would be fine for adults, but with kids, moving abroad is just unrealistic and difficult.”
Terms like roommate, he changes his mind constantly, and we don’t get along came up frequently as criticisms (!?). Yet all three wives agreed on one thing: “Ryuta is smart.”
“At first, we were working normally while Ryuta was a real freeloader (laughs). But since each of us had our own income, life wasn’t bad. Then suddenly he said, ‘I’m going to do a polygamy YouTube channel! All of us will show our faces!’ We opposed it, saying, ‘YouTube doesn’t make money anymore; showing our faces has no benefit.’ We definitely didn’t want to do it,” said Hiyori.
Chiharu and Ayaka were both strongly against being on YouTube, but even before starting, Watanabe confidently said, “There’s no competition, so we’ll definitely win!” True to his words, the YouTube channel, launched despite the wives’ lack of enthusiasm, became a huge hit. All three admitted, “We didn’t think it would go this well.”
“As Watanabe declared, ‘I’ll earn X million by this date,’ it came true. But it’s tough because our entire lives are on display. Meals, outings, even our marital quarrels are all being watched.
We’re very aware that we’re being exposed (laughs). There was even a time when I was walking around bare faced when not filming, and someone pointed at me, saying, ‘Ah! The third wife!’ I thought, ‘I’m just a regular person, this is strange’” (Chiharu).
Ayaka said, “If we stopped, everyone would forget us quickly. If we stopped updating for about two years, it would be like it never happened,” objectively reflecting on their situation. Yet compared to their working life, all three agreed that their current lifestyle was worth it considering the effort.
“The harder you work, the more money comes in. I don’t really want to be extravagant, but I have a strong desire to earn easily (laughs). In that sense, it’s way more efficient than when I was an office worker” (Hisa).
“We’re just showing our daily lives. We are exposed, yes, but compared to going out to work, it might actually be much easier.” (Chiharu).
If someone who truly loves me appears
The three women said they are satisfied with their current life. However, when asked, “What would you do if someone who truly loves you appeared?” they gave unexpected answers.
“All of us said we’re not sure if we’d continue this lifestyle,” they said in unison.
“I think we consider this life normal, but maybe our sense of things has shifted because of this polygamous setup. Honestly, there’s also the issue of the house being in the husband’s name, so we can’t just suddenly say, ‘I’m leaving!’ But I do think about what I’d do if someone appeared who only wanted me.” (Hina)
“I’d love to be someone’s only princess or the main character. It’s like a host club.” (Ayaka)
“Even if someone truly devoted appeared, I’d probably think, ‘He’ll cheat anyway.’ It’s probably a kind of aftereffect from living in a polygamous setup. I feel like I’ve been programmed to think, ‘Men are all like this.’” (Chiharu)
Due to the polygamous arrangement, some of the wives have grown distant from their families.
“My parents said, ‘Until you stop living this polygamous lifestyle, we won’t see you or the grandchildren.’ They love me and adore the grandchildren, but they’re firm—we absolutely won’t see you. Before I came out about the polygamy, my parents actually got along well with Ryuta.
Older generations might find polygamy hard to understand, but I wish at least they could separate me and my children from the situation and meet us normally. It’s quite difficult.” (Chiharu)
Ayaka said with a straight face, “My parents still don’t know,” but given how much attention the family has been getting on social media, it’s hard to imagine they truly haven’t noticed.
As the situation with the Watanabe family continues to change rapidly, it will be impossible to take your eyes off them.
Photography and text by： Yoshizawa Sariy