While young Japanese of both sexes are increasingly choosing the solo life, it's men who are giving it the biggest embrace. The National Institute of Population and Social Security Research recently claimed that 24% of Japanese men hadn't married by the age of 50, compared to 14% of women.
One in four Japanese in their 30s say they have no plans to get married. Analysts say that's due to increasing financial pressures and a desire to live without social obligations.
Experts have attributed the trend to several factors, including a growing desire among young working women to enjoy the freedoms that come with being single and having a career. Men say they also enjoy being single, but also voice concern over job security and their ability to provide for a family.
Marriage in Japan is a legal and social institution at the center of the household (ie). Couples are legally married once they have made the change in status on their family registration sheets, without the need for a ceremony.
Marriages were 663,740, decreasing by 8,549 from the previous year. Of these, marriages in which “at least either the bride or groom is a foreigner” were 24,615 (3.7% of the total marriages in Japan).
Average age of marriage in Japan
According to the most recent data from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, the average ages of first marriage in 2018 were 31.2 years for men and 29.6 years for women. The age with the highest number of first marriages for women was 26.
If you are married to a Japanese national and want to live in Japan with him/her, you will need a visa for a Spouse or Child of a Japanese National. It is important that your marriage is legal in Japan. This means that you have lodged your marriage at a municipality office where you reside and it is accepted.
Getting Married in Japan
In modern Japan, more than 70% of all marriages are referred to as "love marriages," the rest are the more traditional arranged marriages (omiai).
Under the Japanese laws, a spouse cannot divorce at his/her sole discretion. Basically a mutual agreement between spouses are needed to divorce in Japan. Divorce based on the spouses' mutual agreement without a Japanese court is called “Kyogi-Rikon” in Japanese.
“The main reason they have for staying single is wanting to use their money on themselves. There is a common perception that for men, marriage means having their freedom to use money restricted. This is in direct opposition to women listing 'financial security' as one of the benefits of getting married.”
The divorce rate in Japan is rising because there is a tradeoff between marital stability and gender equality. The drive towards equal status between the sexes narrows the dependency between the spouses, and offsets the costs and benefits of marriage.
The extreme negativism toward divorce in Japan is largely rooted in our koseki, or family registry, system. Back in the days when registry records were handwritten, when two people tied the knot, one of them took on the spouse's surname, thus marrying into the spouse's family.
Nearly half of marriages in Japan are now “sexless”, according to a new survey. A record high of 47.2 per cent of married men and women told researchers from the Japan family planning association that they had not had sex for more than a month and did not expect that to change in the near future.
Who Can Get Married in Japan? Article 731 to 737 of the Japanese Civil Code stipulates the following requirements: The male partner must be 18 years of age or older and the female partner must be 18 years of age or older.
•They fear that marriage will require too many changes and compromises. •They are waiting for the perfect soul mate and she hasn’t yet appeared. •They face few social pressures to marry. •They are reluctant to marry a woman who already has children.
Although it may come as a shock to some, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), around half of Japan's single-parent families, most of which are led by single mothers, live in relative poverty. This ranks among the worst in the world's advanced economies.
In Japan, it's 1.4 years (pdf). That's a pattern seen around the world: Age gaps show up among heterosexual couples in every culture. Some evolutionary explanations have been proposed (older men may have more resources, younger women may be more fertile), but none are easily testable.
Marriage is an important institution in Japan, and births occurring outside of wedlock represent only 2% of the Japanese population. So marriage is evidently popular, or at least rooted in morals. To get married in Japan (between two Japanese nationals) men must be at least 18 years old and women 16 years old.
Certification as to the marriage
As the additional required documents, Japanese government requires foreigners(non-Japanese citizen) to provide a sworn Affidavit of Competency to Marry, which is issued by their original country's embassy.
Sometimes the bride's family pays for the wedding. Sometimes the groom's does or both families share the costs. Often one family will lobby to host the wedding and then take out a large loan to pay for it. The parents are willing to foot a big bill to avoid losing face.
Japanese Prefer In-Person Dating Opposed to Online
While online dating sites and apps are making the ability to meet new people even easier, Japanese people still prefer in-person dating. Preferring much more intimate, affectionate relationships.
In Japan, this isn't such a common custom. Recently, "semi-cohabitation" is becoming quite common. This is where couples might spend half the week or the weekend together, even if they don't officially live together.
According to a national census, the average marriage in Japan lasts no more than 11 years, with the divorce rate at 36 percent. Divorce ceremonies have also become common, with a separation ritual to recognize the couple going their separate ways.
Foreigners who have become Japanese spouses meet the naturalization requirements even if they are unemployed, regardless of their livelihood. For example, even if you marry a Japanese person and become a full-time housewife / housewife, you can apply for naturalization.