I’m Mariko, in my 40s, and I live with my husband, Takayoshi, and our eighth-grade daughter, Sari. Both of our families live nearby, but I’ve never gotten along with my mother-in-law, Sanae. Lately, our daughter has hit her rebellious phase, and her attitude and mouth keep getting worse. To top it off, she and my husband forced a dog into our lives, knowing full well I can’t stand dogs, and then dumped all the chores on me. I couldn’t handle the complete mess anymore—with the house smelling awful and covered in pee and poop—so I decided to take refuge at my parents’ place with my mom, Rie, and dad, Hiroshi. A few days later, my daughter told me something was wrong with the dog, and my dad and I found out she had been injured from my mother-in-law’s abuse.
After convincing my daughter to stop hitting the dog, I sent a text to my mother-in-law telling her to stop the abuse. Instead of showing any remorse, she blamed me for everything, and my husband completely ignored my messages. Worse yet, when I stopped by the house, I found that only my room had been targeted—trashed and covered in pee and poop. Certain that my mother-in-law was doing this out of spite, I checked the footage from a camera I secretly set up. Sure enough, it caught her forcing the dog to make a mess in my room and hitting her. Armed with the video evidence of her harassment and animal abuse, I am now fully determined to have a serious showdown with my husband.