Japan`s unmarried rate much higher than Korea`s

The trend of people not getting married is not limited only to Korea. Japan has been witnessing a rapid increase in unmarried people over the last 20 years.

Japan`s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has announced a lifetime unmarried rate every year. The lifetime unmarried rate of men, which stood at 4 percent in 1980, broke through the 20 percent mark in 2010 for the first time. The lifetime unmarried rate refers to the proportion of never-been-married people among those at ages 45 to 54. Compared with the relatively slow increase of women`s unmarried rate from 3 percent in 1980 to 10.6 percent in 2010, the rate of unmarried men surged very rapidly.

According to the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, Korea`s lifetime unmarried rate still hovers at around 5 percent. Therefore, newly coined words referring to men not interested in having a girlfriend have evolved in Japan from "soushokukei" (herbivore men) to "zetshokukei" (fasting men) and recently to "souryokei" (Buddhist monk). These are satiric descriptions the social phenomena, in which men who were not very good at romantic relationships (soushokukei) have passed the stage of having no will to have a girlfriend (zetshokukei) to enter into the phase of being like Buddhist monks who abstain from sex.

"Souryokei" is not an exaggeration. In fact, Japan`s condom industry is in a crisis. Last year, Sagami Rubber Industries Co., a Japanese condom manufacturer, conducted survey of 14,000 people across the country at ages between 20 and 60 on their sex life. The poll produced an unexpected result. More than 40 percent of men in their 20s were virgins, compared with 25 percent among single men at ages between 30 and 34. As Japanese men do not have to perform mandatory military service as Korean men do and start professional career at age 24 on average due to early occupation education, the result shook Japanese society.

Many users of Internet communities cited the survey result, saying it would be impossible for Japan to address its low birth rate if Japanese men are so uninterested in sex. Some speculated that due to the widespread use of smartphones that provide easy access to pornographic videos, men might have given up having romantic relationships that cost a lot of time and money.

A "how to diagnose zetshokukei" test has gained popularity. According to the test, zetshokukei men find life enjoyable enough just by hanging out with other men, have hobbies that they indulge in, and are not offended by others seeing them as strange people.

In the Hollywood film "A.I.," robots with artificial intelligence change the way people have relationships. People do not bother to spend time and money to make relationships with other people, not to mention romantic ones. They simply pick a robot that they like and look more human than real ones. Just a few coins can buy love and sex. Would it be just in a movie? It is pitiful to see young generations getting tired of prolonged economic slumps and losing interest in relationships.

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