"When I come home from work in the evening, my room is dark, and in winter it's cold. At these times I always wish I had a wife waiting for me, with a hot meal," says Yoshiharu Mitamura (not his real name), a 36-year-old photographer.
He has been living alone for nearly 10 years in a family-oriented apartment building in Funabashi City, Chiba, where most of his neighbors are married, many with small children. He says he envies these married couples whenever he sees them going out shopping together or taking their children to a nearby park.
Mitamura confesses he has wanted to get married since his mid-20s, but his dream has yet to be realized. "I'm thinking of joining an omiai (matchmaking) service," he says.