Our Lives Sep 21, 2020
When Hitoshi met Bob: A Tokyo love story
by Bob Tobin
Bob Tobin couldn't speak a lick of Japanese. Hitoshi Ohashi couldn't speak any English. Still, they made things work.
Lifestyle Jul 12, 2020
New intimacy: COVID-19 offers a chance to take things slow
by Rebecca Saunders
Online dating is a safer alternative for those looking for relationships during COVID-19. But that doesn’t mean physical intimacy is on pause.
Business / Corporate May 18, 2020
Need for social distancing boosts Japan's online matchmaking party business
In April 400 people took part in online parties organized by a matchmaking firm in Fukuoka Prefecture.
Lifestyle May 16, 2020
Romancing the phone: Japan navigates love in the time of coronavirus
by Andrew McKirdy
With social distancing measures likely to stay in place in Japan for some time, what impact will they have on the way we interact with each other?
Business / Tech Jan 19, 2020
Japanese matchmaking firms get high-tech lift from gadgets and AI
Artificial intelligence and other cutting-edge technologies are starting to play a role in matchmaking as they increasingly wind their way deeper into people's lives. Today's high-tech gadgets are now being used to give people greater knowledge of potential mates, details from hobbies and smoking preferences ...
National / Social Issues Aug 4, 2019
In digital age, singles in Japan returning to journal exchanges to find love
Despite Japan's growing obsession with digital communications, singles in Nagano Prefecture have gone head over heels for a decidedly old-fashioned correspondence program in Chino that links strangers seeking marriage partners through shared, handwritten diaries. The Chino Municipal Government launched the so-called Yui Nikki (Bond Diary) ...
Issues | THE FOREIGN ELEMENT Apr 25, 2018
Relocating to San Francisco with a Japanese spouse
by Nicolas Gattig
The mariachi blares through the night, mixed with the hustle of elephants. It is Friday night in Oakland, California — a fact embraced by our upstairs neighbors, who are partial to Mexican polka. "It's 11 p.m. — urusai (shut up)," my wife says with jet-lagged ...
Language | WELL SAID Mar 19, 2018
Joining up contradictory conditions in Japanese with 'ippo'
by Akemi Tanahashi and Hitomi Tashiro
Fudan-no seikatsu-wa setsuyaku-suru ippō, o-iwaigoto-wa hade-ni suru. (They economize in their daily lives on the one hand but pull out all the stops for celebrations.) ...
National Feb 23, 2018
More and more couples from overseas are holding wedding ceremonies in Kyoto, attracted by the ancient capital's reputation as symbolizing traditional Japanese culture. In 2015 the city government started to issue marriage certificates for foreign couples who held weddings in the city, following information from ...
Language | WELL SAID Feb 12, 2018
When thinking of using 'omou,' remember the subject dictates the form
by Akemi Tanahashi and Hitomi Tashiro
Introducing ways of using the verb 思(おも)う (to think) correctly. ...
National / Social Issues Jan 16, 2018
An increasing number of people in Japan are living alone, and a lot of them are men with flimsy ties to their community. Many are elderly and isolated, lacking any support, or are still in the working population but have delayed or shunned marriage only ...
National / Social Issues Jan 9, 2018
Unclaimed remains accumulating in aging Japan
by Mizuho Aoki
The smell of mold wafted through the small underground room at a municipal-run cemetery in the city of Saitama in late November, where around 600 unclaimed urns filled the shelves. Pointing at the only vacant rack in the vault, Saitama official Satoru Shimizu said it ...