Tofugu» economy

The Economics Of Marriage Hunting

Lenna — Tue, 25 Feb 2014 17:00:12 +0000

Kekkon Katsudou (結婚活動), most commonly referred to as “konkatsu” (婚活) for short, is perhaps the most dangerous hunts of them all… that hunt of course being “marriage hunting.” The Japanese construct of actively and conscientiously searching for a marriage partner goes beyond just the introduction of online dating websites or a popularization of group dating. And the one factor I keep seeing that seems to both drive and affect konkatsu is economic status, which is what we’ll be talking about here today.

A Konkatsu History

Photo by slightly everything

The emergence of online dating sites in Japan started in 2003 with sites such as 「ブライダルネット」(also known as IBJ) which translates to “Bridal Net”, and “Excite”, the formal name for which is 「エキサイト恋愛結婚」(Excite Marriage for Love). Following that in 2005, Yahoo also launched their own similar site. A couple years later in 2007, the term “konkatsu” was coined and used for the first time in an article of Aera magazine. One year following that, in 2008, a book entitled 「婚活時代」(The Generation of Marriage Hunting) was published, authored by Momoko Shirakawa and sociologist Masahiro Yamada. Yamada is also known for coining the term “parasite singles” which refers to a single person beyond their late 20s who still lives with their parents. And often, it is used with a negative connotation toward young, unmarried women. The book「婚活時代」is available on Amazon here. It is what really popularized the term “konkatsu”, getting the word nominated for the annual buzzwords-of-the-year contest of 2008.

The konkatsu trend also had economic support. Along with the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Inc, the economy plummeted which fueled the concern and potential realities of becoming economically unstable. And thus began the race to find financial stability through marriage. And as with most things in Japan, once it got popular, it boomed.

The Golden Age Of Konkatsu

Japan capitalized on this recession-induced trend that put konkatsu into its golden age. There was a rise in konkatsu businesses such as an influx in dating websites and specialized cafes, and the emergence of television shows and drama series. The public popularization of marriage hunting in Japan allowed people to become more open about actively hunting for a marriage partner.

Another side concept that arose from the konkatsu boom was known as an “earthquake marriage” (震災婚 – shinsai kon). The 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami disaster is said to have brought up a desire for their partners and a desire for marriage in people.

Local governments have also been known to encourage konkatsu activities by providing a variety of financial support to konkatsu mixers, seminars, day trips, and group dates, to name a few. An example of this is the city of Itoigawa, which was highlighted in an article from Japan Pulse. Local governments wanted to support marriage-hunting activities in hopes of increasing the birth rate in Japan, which had also been on the decline. Aside from providing financial support to businesses, local governments have also been known to promote konkatsu by offering meeting places for single men and women. For example, in Miura City of Kanagawa Prefecture where agriculture is a point of focus, they organized konkatsu events that would raise awareness on the lack of future farmers. Another example is Urayasu City in Chiba Prefecture and their sponsored konkatsu event at the Disney Resort hotel.

Shift In Marriage Ideology

Photo by fukapon

Japan’s average marrying age has been steadily getting higher. In the 1970s the average marrying age was 25 and currently it stands at around 30. On top of this there is some pressure for women of marrying age to get married. Unmarried women above the age 25 are sometimes referred to as “leftover Christmas cake” (because you eat Christmas Cake on Christmas, the 25th) and feel as though it will be harder for them to find a husband the older that they get.

Even though the concept of “konkatsu” has boomed in Japan, 1 in 5 males and 1 in 10 females still say they will not get married, which is an increase compared to 30 years ago. According to a survey conducted by Japanese magazine Joshi Spa!, 33.5% of the 37,610 participants didn’t see any benefit to getting married. The largest age group that showed no interest in marriage were those people in their 30s. At first glance, this seems like a lot. However, according to a study conducted for an NHK special, the percentage of men and women who still hope for marriage is high: 89% of women want to get married, and 86% of men said they would like to get married. And the number of people who work hard to appeal to potential partners is also increasing. But even though this is the case, it still doesn’t seem as though Japan is seeing high marriage rates. Why is that?

Relationships Between Money and Marriage

It could be because for women, the potential for financial stability in a receding economy is top priority. A majority of women hope to marry a man who has an annual income of $60,000 USD or higher. However, only 4% of men who are 20-30 years of age meet this high salary requirement. The average salary for the 30-year-old age group is between $38,000-$42,000 USD. The want for financial stability when getting married is what is continuing to drive the decision to find a marriage partner. One woman who is in the middle of marriage hunting explained that while she isn’t looking for a life of luxury, it is necessary for her to be able to live each day-to-day comfortably. A survey showed that 37.6% of men aged 30-39 years with a salary of $60,000 USD or higher are married. 9.6% have never had a significant other. 22% of participants recorded that they have a significant other, and 29.8% recorded that they did not. Comparing this to 30-year-old men with a salary of $30,000 USD or less, the discrepancy is quite big. Only 9.3% of men with a $30,000 USD or lower salary are married, and only 18.4% have significant others. 38.8 % recorded that they are currently not seeing anybody, and 33.6% have never been in a romantic relationship.

Saving Up For The Wedding

Photo by tax credits

In some countries, such as in the US, it may be customary to build up some kind of marriage fund to use toward a wedding and getting started into that new life. According to some surveys, there are a percentage of people in Japan who do save up for marriage as well, but my impression was that it is relatively low considering the surge in the marriage hunting activities that Japan saw.

According to a survey conducted by Excite, the majority of women (38.9%) answered that they do not really have wedding funds. Only 8% of women surveyed were consciously saving up to get married and 10.5% of the women surveyed were expecting their wedding funds to come from their significant other. Looking at the men’s results from the same question regarding marriage funds asked by Excite, the majority of men (34.1%) answered to having some kind of marriage fund. 23.5% of the men surveyed answered that they are actively setting aside money for getting married, which is more than double of the number of women who answered the same. Per the results above, it seems possible that men are more likely than women to assume that they will need to shoulder the responsibility of putting out money for the wedding.

BIGLOBE also conducted a survey in 2010 regarding finances for weddings that compared men and women, both married and unmarried. Over 50% of both married men and women said that they needed financial assistance from their parents for wedding funds. 71% of unmarried men and 62% of unmarried women answered that they did not think they would need parental assistance whereas roughly 30% of those surveyed said they would need that support.

In regard to saving up to get married, 10% of unmarried male participants said they were not saving up to get married, while 8% of unmarried female participants said they were not saving. Out of the married men and women who participated, 10% of males and 12% of females said they did end up saving. As for how much they were saving, the majority of married males saved between $20,000-$30,000 USD (18%) and the majority of married females saved between $10,000-$20,000 USD (20%). For the unmarried participants, the majority for both genders expressed wanting to save $20,000-$30,000 USD (17% and 20% for men and women, respectively) toward marriage. The full survey results can be found in the links at the bottom of the article.

The Economics Behind Konkatsu

Photo by State Farm

There does appear to be some conscientious thought about money in relation to saving up for a wedding but most of the emphasis seems to be on how much money one will have after getting married. Economic factors, including the recession and the knowledge that there is more stability in a two-income houseold, appear to have induced marriage-seeking in Japan. However, according to some reports, the financial standards set by women are also quite high, which gives the impression that the majority of women are marrying for money. What do you think the financially driven reasons for wanting to get married along with the financial limitations placed on potential partners will do to the continuing generations of marriage in Japan?

Sources:

Failure? What Failure? The Truth of Japan’s Success

Hashi — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 18:00:57 +0000

Last week, the New York Times published a story called “The Myth of Japan’s Failure” about how people (especially in the West) tend to view Japan’s economy. Even though Japan has the third largest economy in the world, Japan somehow is still the laughingstock of the business pages.

I thought that the article did a good job of talking about Japan’s “myth of failure,” but I also thought that it painted kind of an incomplete picture. Here’s what the author said, and how I would have clarified:

History

If you’ve studied Japan’s history, then you probably know at least a little bit about the Japanese economic powerhouse of the 20^th century. If not, let me give you a super quick rundown.

After WWII, Japan’s economy really went into overdrive and eventually became one of the fastest-growing, most powerful economies in the world. Japan revolutionized the way people did business, changed how people viewed management, and was one of the first big, non-western economies. Business people across the world learned Japanese to be able to do business with this rising power. Japan was even sometimes called “Japan Inc.” because of its enormous economic might.

But by the end of the 80s, Japan’s economy hiccuped and has never since returned to the levels of economic prosperity it once had. Since then, Japan’s economy has become the butt of many jokes in the west.

What Japan Does Right

By many measures, the Japanese economy has done very well during the so-called lost decades…By some of the most important measures, it has done a lot better than the United States.

Despite not having the fastest-growing, most awesome economy ever anymore, Japan’s doing pretty good by a lot of measurements. It’s infamous for having one of the best life expectancies in the world and hell, even Japanese dogs live insanely long.

Japan’s unemployment is pretty low, its infrastructure is pretty modern, the yen is strong, its healthcare system is great, and has some of the fastest internet speeds in the world.

So everything’s great in Japan, right? Well, not exactly.

What Japan Does Wrong

While I definitely agree with the NYT article that things in Japan aren’t as bad as people sometimes make it out to be, that’s not to say that things are all sunshine and rainbows in Japan; it definitely has its share of problems too. After all, the grass is always greener on the other side.

And it’s not like these problems aren’t acknowledged or known about. One of the biggest recent books about Japan, Dogs and Demons, talks exclusively about what’s wrong with Japan. Although I personally didn’t like the book a whole lot (mostly the writing style), it definitely highlights some cultural, governmental, and societal problems in Japan right now.

Japan’s unemployment numbers might seem pretty good, but the official numbers don’t always reflect the reality of the situation. Employment figures might not count those who might only be working part time, those who don’t report their unemployment, or those who have just given up altogether.

Some people talk about the strong yen as a sign of Japan’s success, but a strong currency doesn’t always necessarily work in a country’s favor. If anything, a strong yen discourages other countries from buying goods from Japan because they’re so expensive.

Also, some of the ways the author measured success in the Times article seemed kind of shallow. He says that since Japan has so many expensive clothes, luxury cars, and some of the tallest buildings in the world (like the upcoming Tokyo Sky Tree), it must be doing great:

The Japanese are dressed better than Americans. They have the latest cars, including Porsches, Audis, Mercedes-Benzes and all the finest models. I have never seen so many spoiled pets.

That sort of line of thinking doesn’t really make sense to me. These are really materialistic, shallow markers of economic success. Sure, there’s a correlation between material wealth and economic success, but think of it this way: the celebrities you see on MTV’s “Cribs” have lavish homes, expensive cars, and the latest gadgets, but they’re far and away from the richest, most successful people in the world.

But the biggest failing of this article is that it really glosses over important social issues like the changing culture of love and marriage. Japan’s economy doesn’t exist in a vacuum outside of Japan’s culture and society, and the explanation the author gives to Japan’s declining birthrate – food security – is pretty unsatisfactory.

Putting It All Together

Japan should be held up as a model, not an admonition.

Japan and its economy haven’t failed, I definitely agree with the Times article about that much. Reports of Japan’s death are greatly exaggerated.

But that doesn’t mean there isn’t room to be critical. I think that the author largely presents a false dichotomy – either Japan is a failure, or it’s a resounding success. In reality, the situation is a lot more complicated than that. Look beyond what the author shows us.

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