A “polygamous pimp” reveals the cause of the collapse of his harem and his surprising new life.
YouTube earnings plummeted.
Influencer Ryuta Watanabe (38), who calls himself a “polygamous pimp man” and has been sharing his “big family life” with three wives and four children, has more than 50,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel and has been attracting attention by revealing his extreme lifestyle of polygamy in an unabashed manner. He has attracted attention for his extreme lifestyle of polygamy, which has attracted more than 50,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel.
At the end of last year, however, he posted a video titled “Polygamy: The End of a Polygamous Life. The story told of a “de facto dissolution” that was far from amicable: behind the scenes of their bizarre family of eight, the first wife, Yosaki, the third wife, Chiharu, and their four children had left home.
About a month has passed since then: Is the polygamous life really over? Or is it continuing in a different form? Ironically, YouTube has become the most popular YouTube channel ever, and we asked Mr. Watanabe, who happened to be visiting Tokyo, about their current situation.
One day in January – Mr. Watanabe had come to our house before to make omu-rice (omelette rice), but this time he and Ayaka served us their signature dish, “ume shiso karaage” (fried plum paste).
I stayed in Tokyo for seven days. She took a ferry, brought her two pet dogs, and drove there in her own car. By the way, he did not take a hotel room.
We are really broke right now,” he said with a laugh. We have to pay for a pet hotel in addition to ours (……). All I have is 110,000 yen.
(Mr. Watanabe said on YouTube that his earnings in 2013 were 23 million yen, but he is in debt for 10 million yen and is in “dire poverty. Ayaka spoke of her stay in the car this time.
I’ve gotten used to it. If there is a restroom nearby at a roadside station or a service area parking lot, it is surprisingly not inconvenient. But yesterday’s parking lot was 350 meters away from the restrooms, so I was worried that I might get a stomach ache. ‘ I was worried.”
As they talked, Watanabe-san prepared ume shiso karaage with his expert hands, and it was surprisingly delicious. …… I couldn’t help but drink the Strong Zero that he brought me, but I stopped to ask him again about the recent furore.
I think it was on December 22. We had a Christmas party a little early, took a video, and had a board meeting that night. That’s when we decided to disband.
Mr. Watanabe is the president of the Watabe family, which operates the “Polygamy Channel” website, and his wives are executives. The discussions about business are called “board meetings.
The earnings for 2013 were 23 million yen, but I thought I could make 50 million yen. So I proposed that we separate. I thought that I should move out of the house, add more wives, and run a “pimp channel,” while the three of us would run a “single mother channel.
Although “Monogamy Channel” appeared to be doing well, in reality, the profits were steadily declining.
The level of earnings was so low that we were really behind on our rent,” he said. The viewers couldn’t believe it, and I wasn’t sure if I should talk about it because I’m supposed to be a “pimp,” but the “……” wives weren’t working at all. They wouldn’t work, so I decided to go out and find myself a new wife. I went out and found a new wife and made a video of it. I thought that the wives should make their own videos to increase their earnings. Seems like a reasonable way to protect the family, don’t you think?”
Pimping is just a “setup.
However, the wives did not agree with Mr. Watanabe’s proposal, and the board meeting turned into a meeting from hell.
“The wives understood that I was a polygamist, but they had difficulty in making a new wife until I left home. …… ‘Then there’s no value in our existence,’ they said. I’m a useful pimp [laughs]. I earn money, I raise children, and I do housework. So it was obvious that if I left, the family would not be able to run the household.
In the end, it was Mr. Watanabe who called it quits.
The wives left their children at daycare from 8:00 a.m., and some days they stayed in their rooms the whole time, not working at all. The director of the day-care center was a fan of ours and supported us, but it was not a good feeling to be stuck in our room doing nothing.
He wanted us to come to the living room every morning at 10:00 a.m. and be ready to turn on the video at any time, but no one would obey him. I …… was at my limit too.”
As a result, Yosaki left after four days and Chiharu left after seven days; there was no holding them back, no mention of child support or recognition from either of them.
“For once, I thought, ‘I can’t hold them back now. I don’t know what it is…….It’s the family I’ve been with all my life, and I love them, so I know. We have no arrangement regarding the child, and nothing has been said, but we plan to continue to share the proceeds from YouTube in lieu of child support.”
Ayaka is now the only one left, but why did she choose to stay?
I have unfinished business with him. It’s not that I don’t like him anymore, and we are still in the middle of our pregnancy, but I had no intention of living apart from him, and I thought, ‘I want to stay with him’ even after all this.
I didn’t want to break up, but the current [monogamy] is a very natural form. I experienced polygamy first, so is the order reversed? But I had a longing for this form of monogamy, so it is a new experience for me. I am happy that I was able to experience it. (Ayaka)
In the middle of the conversation, Mr. Watanabe made a funny remark, “I’m cheating on you! Mr. Watanabe teased. Surprisingly, he laughed and confided, “I had sex with him right after the infernal meeting. He’s been like this from the beginning (laughs). It’s not going to change and I’ve given up,” Ayaka continued smiling. Finally, Mr. Watanabe spoke.
I still love Chiharu and Yosaki who left. Even now, I wonder if they will ever come back and say, ‘I’m home. At the beginning, I did not make a video of the meeting in hell. It was Chiharu who said to me, ‘You should film this. Chiharu said to me, “You should film this. Yosaki agreed with me. Ironically, this was the most exciting meeting ever. ……
Chiharu wrote me a letter at the end saying, “You’ve made a good story! Earn your money! Chiharu wrote in her last letter to me, “You’ve got a great story! ……I take this story as a parting gift from the two of them. My mission is to “go through” with this story. I think that’s the only choice I have.
With the departure of his two wives, the Watabe family is now a “monogamous” family. How will they get through this in the future?
Photography and text by： Sari Yoshizawa