It's easier to get a divorce in Japan than anywhere else in the world. If both parties agree, all they have to do is affix their seals to a document and their union is instantly dissolved -- no trial separation period, no grounds, no mess.

One of the myths of the modern age is that marriage as an institution has weakened because people's values have become more decadent. Rising divorce rates can just as easily (and more credibly) be pinned on greater economic opportunity for women. In the West, liberalized divorce laws have made it easier for both men and women to get out of unsuccessful marriages, but in Japan it's always been easy. The reason for the recent spike in the divorce rate in Japan is that Japanese women now have wider economic options outside of marriage. They don't have to remain in a miserable union to survive.

Of the 16,000 lawyers now practicing in Japan, only a handful do divorces as a habit. Obviously, in a country where you can get a divorce in less time than it takes to finish off a bowl of ramen there's no money to be made from it. Ninety percent of Japanese divorces are kyogi (mutual agreement) while 9 percent are handled by arbitrators. Only 1 percent are hammered out in court.