Fifty-nine percent experienced some type of physical abuse. Eighty-five percent of these women were slapped or punched, which were the most frequent forms of physical violence. Battered wives are likely to stay in marriage and suffer for a long period of time. Most of them are financially dependent. Abusers' occupations as a rule represent those of the general male labor force.
Violence tends to be chronic and is often associated with husbands' drinking.
The types of violence include punching, burning, throwing objects, threatening with knives, and strangling. Police intervention in husband violence is rare, and such violence is not taken seriously as a criminal act. Also, the same sources reveal that at least one out of two spousal abusers is also physically violent toward his children. Presented here are some sociocultural factors unique to Japan in varying degree, which may offer insight into, and possible explanations for, domestic violence in this country. The father is the leader whose authority is not questioned.