Global Love Report – July 28, 2021
A review article by Pamela Stephanie
Although the marriage rate took a hit last year due to the pandemic, the number of Corona marriages in Japan are increasing. Furthermore, successful matchmaking cases have been high. “Corona marriages” are marriages between couples who met after the Covid-19 pandemic began.
According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, there were 525,490 marriages in 2020, which is 73,500 less than 2019.
However, the number of singles interested in marriage is on the rise.
Data from the Japan Marriage Agency Federation, which has about 2,800 offices throughout Japan, state that the number of matchmaking cases were about 35,000 per month on average before Corona (November 2019 to January 2020). But the numbers dropped to about 21,000 in April 2020 after the first emergency declaration.
Fortunately, the numbers have gradually recovered since then. In May of this year, the number actually reached 46,414—its highest ever.
According to a PR Manager, Risa Terakado, that after the Lehman Brothers disaster and the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, when social unrest occurred, the number of people trying to find a partner increased.
As for the success rates of the matchmaking cases and the rise of Covid marriages, according to a matchmaker at IBJ, the success or failure can be determined on one’s attitude towards the pandemic. Successful couples did not have Covid at the forefront of their mind.
One couple met at least once a week, including dates at home, until the man proposed. The couple managed to find something that worked for them. “If there were limitations, I tried to make it work within that,” said the woman.
For the full article (in Japanese), please click here.
Original article written by AERA.
