A growing number of Japanese women are looking to marry South Korean men, according to a report in Japan. Alongside a rise in Korean-Japanese couples, Japanese matchmaking agencies that specialize in pairing women with Korean men are seeing a surge in female members.
Drawn In by K-pop and Korean Dramas, Some Want to Move to Korea
Marriages between Korean men and Japanese women have risen rapidly since the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching 1,483 couples last year, the Tokyo Shimbun reported on the 29th. That is the highest figure since 2000.
The shift has been especially pronounced at Moa Love, a Tokyo matchmaking agency that specializes in arranging marriages with Korean men. The number of female members at Moa Love has doubled this year from a year earlier.
The agency said many of those who sign up first became interested through K-pop and Korean dramas, and that a considerable number want to live in Korea.
The agency also believes that greater exposure to Korean-Japanese couples through social media has played a role. About 40% of its male Korean members do not speak Japanese, but advances in translation apps have made the language barrier easier to manage than in the past, according to the report.
"Treated So Preciously": A Japanese Woman on Dating Korean Men
A 38-year-old Japanese woman identified as A, a freelancer in the IT sector, did not initially set out to marry a Korean man. A fondness for Korean-style skincare salons eventually led her to consider marrying a Korean man, and she joined an agency specializing in Korean-Japanese matches. She is now weighing marriage to a man she met there.
"He tells me 'I love you' every day, and when we walk down the street he naturally takes the side closer to the road," she said. "Being treated so preciously, I have to say that once you date a Korean man, Japanese men honestly feel lacking."
"When I joined the Korean-Japanese matchmaking agency and looked at the male members, their appearance, age and income were completely different from the Japanese men at agencies that introduce Japanese men," she added. "I thought, so men with these qualifications are out there too."
Aya, a 36-year-old Japanese woman who married a Korean man in April, cautioned against romanticizing Korean men. "It's not as if every man is as gentle as in Korean dramas," she said. "My husband isn't the type to treat me like a princess. He has strengths and weaknesses, but I decided I wanted to marry regardless of nationality."
The Tokyo Shimbun noted that Korean men, for their part, sometimes favor Japanese women because of an image that they are gentle and warm.
In Korea, by contrast, the expectation that the man should provide a home upon marriage leaves some hesitant to wed because of the financial burden, the report said. One Korean man said, "In Korea, the conversation starts with conditions like housing and salary. In Japan, the feeling is that people look first at whether your personalities match."
