For 20 years, Otou Katayama lived under the same roof as his wife Yumi, ate at the same table, slept in the same home, and raised three children together. He just never spoke to her.
If Yumi tried to start a conversation, Otou would respond with a nod, a grunt, or a shake of his head. Nothing more. He talked to their children normally, laughed with them, engaged with them as a father should. But to his wife, he said nothing. For two decades.
The reason, when it finally came out, was not what anyone expected. Otou was jealous. Not of another man, not of a rival, but of his own children. He felt that Yumi gave so much of her attention and care to raising their kids that there was nothing left for him. So he sulked. And the sulk lasted 20 years.
“I was kind of jealous,” he later admitted. “I was sulking about it.”
Yumi never asked for a divorce. She kept trying to talk to him, kept living her life, kept raising their family, even as her husband sat in silence beside her. They went on to have a third child during those 20 years, despite Otou still refusing to speak to her.
Their youngest son, Yoshiki, had grown up never once hearing his parents have a conversation. At 18, he decided to do something about it. He contacted TV Hokkaido and asked for their help.
The show arranged for Otou and Yumi to meet at Nara Park, the same spot where they had their first date decades earlier. Their children watched from a distance, hidden, emotional, hoping to witness something they had never seen before.
Otou sat down across from his wife. After a long pause, he finally spoke.
“Somehow,” he said, “it’s been a while since the two of us have talked.”
He then told her he was grateful for everything she had endured. That he knew she had carried a lot. That he hoped they could talk more from now on.
