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Japan: Marriage Hunting!
Wednesday, May 13th, 2009 by Scilla Alecci
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/05/13/japan-marriage-hunting/
Since autumn of last year, in Japan, a new term has been floating in the air. It is konkatsu, based on the popular phrase sh?katsu, it may be roughly translated as 'marriage hunting'.
Konkatsu is not merely a new word, it is a social phenomenon that has emerged lately to the point that Japanese have felt the need to ?name' and recognize it, also representing it in many TV series [ja] and shows [ja].
Known as one of the countries with the lowest birth rate in the world, Japan has also been facing another problem, probably because of a wealthier lifestyle: the increasing number of unmarried people, who have no intention to give up their working ambitions and personal whims to create a family.
According to a survey on 'the state of country' [ja] by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, in fact, in the decades from 1970 to 2000, the percentage of unmarried women (20-30 y.o.) has tripled from 18% to 54% and, similarly, the percentage of single men (30-40 y.o.) has grown from 12 % to 43%.
Thus, marriage hunting would seem to be going against the trend but, perhaps because of the economic crisis or perhaps because of the social pressure that still today weighs on those unmarried, especially women, relatively more mature men and women seem to have decided at this point in their lives to roll up their sleeves and find someone to live with.