ABC – June 22, 2016 – The Japanese Government has tried its hand at match-making in a desperate bid to increase the rate of marriages and reverse the country’s declining population.
Key points:
- After the economic bubble burst in early 90s attitudes towards marriage changed
- 60 per cent of men in their early 30s in secure jobs were married
- 27 per cent of men in contract or part-time jobs had a spouse
- Little incentive to have a child leads to baby decrease
Japan’s stalling economy has been a major factor affecting marriage prospects.
Young men in unstable jobs say they cannot afford married life and young women say they want more financial security in their men, and lifelong singles have become a demographic group of their own.
Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare’s latest figures showed that 60 per cent of men in their early thirties in secure jobs were married, while only 27 per cent of men in contract or part-time jobs had a spouse.
So councils have expanded local date nights with the help of marriage-matching agencies.
Shoko Suzuki, a 29-year-old office worker employed at a Japanese steel company, said she dreamt of marrying Mr Right before she was 30.
“I want a reliable person, someone who will help make decisions when I’m in a tough spot,” Ms Sukuki said.
“Next year I’ll get married. My plan so far has been to ask everyone in my office if they know any eligible men.”
She said a love marriage was her ideal goal, but her partner would also need to have a stable income.
“I also want to have children and kids cost money… ideally an income of more than $85,000 is good,” she said.
As Ms Suzuki reaches the average age for marriage in Japan, she said she still hoped to meet someone naturally without the need for a matching service.
Local councils play cupid
Statistics from the Ministry of Labour, Health and Welfare showed that while 90 per cent of unmarried 18–34 year old adults wanted to get married, 60 per cent said they were single because they had not met the right person.
So local councils have expanded local date nights, with the help of marriage-matching agencies such as Zwei.
Zwei senior director Keiko Saimura said in the past the marriage processes took place almost effortlessly with the help of family and friends.
“Back in the day if you were a single lady, people didn’t leave you alone — they try to get you with someone — so there wasn’t any need to make moves,” she said.
But she said as the chances of meeting other singles had decreased, so special intervention had become necessary.
“In their ordinary lives people don’t have many chances to meet new people so they want to have more opportunities,” she said.
Since the marriage-matching boom eight years ago, Ms Saimura said using match-making services had become a socially acceptable way to date.
“Matching services are expanding as well as matchmaking parties,” she said.
“Because of the issue of population decline there are local councils hosting local date nights which makes it more socially acceptable now.
“So women tend to feel more positive about actively trying to find someone because of this social change.”
Low birth rate connected to economic downturn
Professor Yamada Masahiro, a family sociologist at Tokyo’s Chuo University, said that historically, separating love and romance from marriage had been commonplace in Japan.
“In Japan getting married and starting a family is an economic affair, this hasn’t really changed much in Japan,” Professor Masahiro said.
“It’s not the result of love. The financial aspect to life and the desire to live a decent life has continued for a long time.”
Professor Masahiro said changes in the labour market had had a direct impact on the number of marriages.
A steady income once meant favourable marriage prospects. But now that lifetime employment has become a distant memory, Japan is witnessing a growing army of singles in temporary jobs.
Professor Masahiro said in a time of growing job insecurity and economic downturn, there has also been very little incentive to raise a child.
“In the end that’s what makes the birth rate low in Japan — if your child doesn’t have it better than you, it’s often seen as a failure by the parent or failure by the child as well,” he said.
“So that’s linked with the low birth rate within east Asian countries.”