Husbands & wives

Wives in Japan tend to be a marginalized lot. As housewives, they manage the entire household: cleaning, cooking, child-rearing, and handling the family finances. The Japanese synonyms of 'wife' has fairly negative overtones too. the Kanji character for 家内 implies that the wife remains at home constantly. The term, 奥さん is possibly derived from the ancient (think samurai) practice where the wife walks 3 paces behind the husband. In short, the wife is thought by Japanese society to be completely subject to the husband. Generally speaking, wives are very much neglected and taken for granted by husbands.

Things are changing though. Baby boomer Salarymen (Japanese term for office workers) are retiring in the droves these couple of years, and wives are re-thinking their future with these husbands. Last April, a new law was effected by which a divorced wife is eligible to up to half of her ex-husband's pension. The divorce rate spiked 6.1% since, and is climbing.

See how a group of Salarymen husbands are trying to deal with this "problem".
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/25/AR2007112501720.html