Mei Nanaumi says she has no regrets about leaving her former husband who was addicted to gambling and was violent toward her. | Fukushima Minpo

It was her second marriage. She could not afford to fail again.

Mei Nanaumi, a woman in her 30s from Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, believed she had finally found a partner to spend the rest of her life with. Divorced and raising a child on her own, she had been welcomed warmly by her new husband’s family.

“They accepted me and my child with open arms,” Nanaumi recalled. “I thought I could get along with them well.” What she didn’t know about before remarrying, however, was her soon-to-be husband’s addiction to gambling.

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