Parasite Singles: Study reveals young Japanese aren't getting married

More than one-fourth of Japanese people between the age group of 20 and 49 are single, according to Japanese government data. People generally at this age wish to get married but the increasing economic pressure and inflation is making marriage more difficult. The experts in Japan said that long term financial security with a husband or a wife is seen as an important factor because it is very difficult to find an affordable house in Japan. So, they tend to stay with their parents.

At a marriage conference, well-dressed crowd of Japanese singles shuffle awkwardly around the conference room tables, exchanging talks, and CVs. All of this in order to find a suitable marriage partner. Most of the singletons are accompanied by their parents. According to the reports, a 38-year-old woman who refused to give her name, said that she didn't have the courage to find a partner and move away from her mother who had accompanied her to the match-making party.

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Parasite Singles

She further explained that she did not have good opportunities to meet someone and added that her workplace has more women as compared to men. A sociology professor, Masahiro Yamada from Tokyo's Chuo University told a local news agency that as Japan has a culture where people live with their parents until marriage, it meant that they were generally under no pressure to find a partner. He further added that they think having a relationship is a wastage of time. They would rather wait for someone who meets almost all their conditions of an ideal partner. He dubbed those people as 'parasite singles'. A 74-year-old man at the party who accompanied his 46-year-old son said that one of the major problems was overcoming shyness. The father said that his eldest daughter was married but his youngest daughter who is a doctor and residing in the US is single at the age of 34. He said that he is worried about her.

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Women seek men with stable employment

A sociology professor at Chukyo University in central Japan, Shigeki Matsuda blamed the country's falling marriage rate on what he termed 'hypergamy'. He said that Japanese women tend to seek men with stable employment and higher levels of education. Evidence from the match-making party revealed that a small queue of women wished to exchange their phone numbers with one of the men, who seemed to have the highest income of the group. Sociology experts said that the norm of single people living with their parents until the marriage means that there is very less immediate pressure to find a partner in Japan. Noriko Miyagoshi, a marriage counsellor at the party said the participants should not try to find a partner who fits all their preconceived requirements but instead try and find someone they genuinely connect with.

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