9th May, 2009

CORAL VASS

Tokyo, Japan

The second largest economy in the world has not been able to escape to the global financial crisis. Steeped in recession, Japan has seen unemployment reach a three year high. This country has been hit hard with what is said to be the worst recession since World War II. Japanese people are doing what they can to cope with these desperate times, and for some Japanese women, it's finding a husband.

TOKYO: Home to marriage-hunting bars where business is said to be booming. PICTURE: Peter Hamza "It's unfortunate for an institution such as marriage, which is a long-term commitment, to be seen as a short-term solution offering nothing more than financial stability."

“The recession made me realise...I'd be more stable financially if I had double income to fall back on,” said one Japanese “marriage hunter” when interviewed by Bloomberg news.

In the last decade, there has been a strong push for independent, career-focused women, resulting in the lowest national birth rate ever. Many Japanese women are choosing not to marry, not have children and become economically and professionally independent. However, “desperate times have called for desperate measures”, and while arranged marriages are still common in some areas of Japan, these times are seeing “arranged marriage with a twist”.

It's not the first time Japan has seen an increase in marriage-hunting. Recessions have encouraged the Japanese to wed before. The number of annual marriages rose when the bubble burst in the late 1980s and again after the technology crash of 2001. Now with pay cuts and redundancies, Japanese women again feel the only solution for a more financially stable future is to find a husband.

There have been numerous articles appearing in Japanese weekly women's magazines recently with titles such as the 'Complete Guide to Marriage Hunting', and 'Looks Should Not Matter When Marriage Hunting'. At marriage-hunting bars in Tokyo, business is booming with men paying around 11,000 yen ($A150) a visit to have waiters set them up with women. These bars are completely booked out on weekends. Applications for dating agencies have also increased by 10 per cent since last September, as Japanese marriage-hunters search for husbands as if they were looking for a new job. Some women have even sent cards to every bachelor they previously went school with, asking for potential “applicants”.

Bloomberg reported a young 25-year-old marriage-hunter, who has spent 370,000 yen so far, (more than $A5,000), saying, “It sounds like a lot of money, but if you consider that it's a way to find a husband, it's a reasonable investment.”

It's unfortunate for an institution such as marriage, which is a long-term commitment, to be seen as a short-term solution offering nothing more than financial stability.

Over the years, the Japanese marriage has generally not been the greatest model. With a history of husbands (“salary-men”) being devoted to their jobs to the point of neglecting their wives, and wives being devoted to their children to the point of neglecting their husbands, it's not surprising many Japanese marriages are a facade with deep underlying problems. The divorce rate in Japan may not be as high as other countries such as US or Australia, but the number of unhappy marriages and extra marital affairs in Japan is one of the highest in the world.

I recently spoke with one young Japanese mother. She explained that she never sees her husband. He works seven days a week and gets home at 2am most nights. Since the birth of their new baby, they no longer share a bed. Even though they have only been married a short time, he is one of many Japanese husbands to have found companionship with other women causing more stress to his marriage. Her situation is not uncommon here in Japan.

Many Japanese women seem to humbly accept living a separate life from their husbands. There has, however in recent times, been an unparalleled rise in divorce among Japanese couples married for more than 20 years. After being married a long time, Japanese couples are finding they barely know each other when the husband finally retires from his job and is at home. With the children having left home, and not really knowing her husband, many Japanese wives are filing for divorce.

Staying married in these times is hard enough. A fragile start to married life, based on financial gain to survive the recession, is a concern given an already brittle state of marriage in Japan. And with financial analysts saying Japan may make a quick recovery from this recession, one has to ask the question: After the recovery, what happens to those married couples who only married to survive the recession?

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