I don’t
Most Japanese want to be married, but are finding it hard
SEIKO, a 35-year-old journalist in Tokyo, is what the Japanese refer to as “New Year Noodles”. The year ends on December 31st, and, by analogy, the period when a Japanese woman is deemed a desirable marriage prospect ends after 31. It could have been worse: the slang term used to be “Christmas cake” because a woman’s best-before date was considered to be 25.
Soon a new expression may be needed: men and women in Japan are marrying later, or sometimes not at all. Since 1970 the average age of first marriage has risen by 4.2 and 5.2 years for men and women respectively, to 31.1 and 29.4. The proportion of Japanese who had never married by the age of 50 rose from 5% in 1970 to 16% in 2010 (see chart).
This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline "I don’t"
More from Asia
Japan and South Korea are struggling with old-age poverty
Their problems may be instructive for other countries
The Philippines bans some genetically modified foods
But golden rice could help thousands of nutrient-deficient children
Meet the maharajas of the world’s biggest democracy
Indian officialdom still treats citizens like subjects