‘Several million yen’ and Botox: married Japanese confess to hiding at least one major secret from their spouse

A new survey by Tokyo-based Matsui Securities Co. shows that 32 per cent of husbands and wives across the country keep some issues on the down low

Money came top of all secrets, with women more vague than men as to the sources of their earnings and how much money they keep stashed away

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A Japanese couple strolls through Kyoto. Husbands and wives surveyed in the country said the most common issue they kept secret from each other had to do with money. Photo: EPA

Published: 7:00pm, 13 Oct 2020Updated: 10:39pm, 13 Oct 2020

Fully one-third of all married Japanese admit to keeping secrets from their spouses, with matters related to money the most common undivulged issue and infidelity running a distant second.

A new survey by Tokyo-based Matsui Securities Co. has revealed that two-thirds of the 800 people taking part claimed they never hide anything from their husbands or wives, but 32 per cent confessed to hiding at least one major secret – with many admitting to several.

Out of all the respondents, 21 per cent said they kept money matters close to their chests, while 9 per cent would not reveal extramarital affairs, perhaps understandably. An additional 7 per cent said they managed to keep their hobbies quiet, although the study did not reveal what those hobbies were or why they needed to be kept secret. Another 4 per cent cited issues at work that they would never tell their partners.

When it comes to money, 13 per cent of the respondents claimed to their partners that they earned less than they actually do, while 25 per cent said they did not reveal their earnings at all. And women are more secretive than men on the subject, with 41 per cent of the women who named money as their top secret being deliberately vague about their earnings, as opposed to 37 per cent of men.

It’s a similar story with savings, with 58 per cent of women either refusing to reveal how much they have stashed away to their husbands or pretending to have less than they actually have. The figure was around 50 per cent for men.

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