Retirement is supposed to mark the beginning of a relaxing new chapter. But for some Japanese couples, it signals the start of something quite different.
夫が家にいると、なぜか体調が悪くなる (Otto ga ie ni iru to, nazeka taichō ga waruku naru, When my husband is at home, I somehow start to feel unwell), some wives say. , ずっと家にいられると正直しんどい (Zutto ie ni irareru to shōjiki shindoi, Honestly, it’s tough having him at home all the time).
It may sound like a joke, but Japan has a name for this phenomenon: 夫源病 (蹿耻驳别苍产测ō), literally “husband-origin illness,” a term describing stress-related symptoms some women experience from living with their husbands, particularly after retirement.
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