Japanese are giving up dating, just marrying pals!





To save on time and financial commitments that come with dating, more and more Japanese youth are turning to their friends and acquaintances for marriage. Recently a government survey found that 69% of Japanese men and 59% of Japanese women do not have a romantic partner. But another survey, carried out by the country's National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, reported that about 80% of unmarried Japanese want to get married. So, how does one expect to get married without first finding a romantic partner?  Simple, just marry your friend and give up dating. Japanese aggregator website Matome Naver has been awash with stories of how people have simply got married to life-long friends. The trend has been coined “Kousai zero Nichikon": roughly translated as “marrying without dating".

According to a Matome Naver, many Japanese are choosing to marry friends and acquaintances to save on time and financial commitments. Others appear to believe that marrying someone you aren't dating isn't just an acceptable last resort, it's actually better that way, eliminating the emotional exchanges of dating and allowing people to cut straight to the point. A column in the Joshi Spa! magazine even described hunting for a marriage partner in the traditional way as akin to committing suicide.

There is no real evidence that kousai zero nichikon is taking the far eastern islands by storm. But it draws parallels with Japan's mostly defunct omiai arranged marriage tradition.

Sourcce:  TOI