What do you think about "konkatsu"? (Yuki, Naoko)

Konkatsu is a Japanese word which explains the activities that lead to marriage, such as going to omiai. In Japan, decrease in population and increase in number of unmarried people have been serious social issues and some believe that konkatsu will help these problems be solved. Yuki and Naoko have researched how the word, konkatsu, was made, old and new styles of omiai, and data that relate to konkatsu, through this assignment.

           The word konkatsu, a coinage for kekkon katsudou, were made by a Japanese sociologist, Masahiro Yamada, liken to the word shukatsu, an abbreviation for shushoku katsudou (job hunting), and it was first used in a weekly magazine called AERA for November 5^th in 2007. Later on, Yamada publishes “Konkatsu” Jidai with Momoko Shirakawa in 2008 which made the word konkatsu popular among Japanese people. The word has now become common sense and there are many TV programs and dramas that choose konkatsu as their theme. For example, a TV program called “Mote mote nineteen-nine”, which two famous comedians act as MC, helps people hold a huge omiai (marriage interview).

They first gather women who want to get married and then take them to countryside to hold a huge omiai Party with men who live there. In addition to that, a drama called Konkatsu! is about a men who lost his job but does not want to become the heir after his father’s job and make a lie that there is a woman who he wants to get married with. To make the lie come true, he starts konkatsu.

In Edo-era, most of the people find their partner through omiai because they did not have opportunity to meet their opposite sex in their daily life. The traditional omiai is held only for two people, man and woman. It is held by a third person called sewanin and it could be their family or even their neighbors. It usually takes place in restaurant in luxury hotel or café. Even though this kind of omiai still exists, the style has changed since konkatsu boom has spread all around Japan. The new style of omiai does not acquire a sewanin but for instead, a konkatsu company would introduce you a partner. In addition, some people hold omiai at family restaurant, which is much more casual than traditional way. Furthermore, most common omiai style is not for two people anymore, and it is for a group of people who want to get married. It is called omiai party or konkatsu party.

According to the article of “Konkatsu Style”, 60 percent of people who are not married and do not have a date are not doing konkatsu. This means rest of the 40 percent is actually working for finding their future partner. The most popular konkatsu website, “Match.com”, has a member of more than 1 million people. Out of these people, the website states that about 45-50% of them succeeded in finding partners that match perfectly for them. This percentage is calculated by diving the number of people who tried konkatsu by number of people who have succeeded(トライ数÷達成数＝達成率). However, people who come to the konkatsu party with friends and do not have any aim or particular purpose, the percentage turns out to be much lower.

To join the konkatsu activities through internet, you need to pay membership fees each month. The cost differs depend on which website you register. Some websites cost more than 4,000yen and some cost only 1,000yen; there are ones that do not take any fees from the members! However, the ones that cost more have higher rates than those that are cheaper. For example, “Match.com”, the website we mentioned in the previous paragraph, has a membership fee of 2,466yen per month (expensive compared to others), but its rate is five out of five. People who belong to this site seem to be very satisfied. On the other hand, the website called “Ai-Cupid” does not call for any fees, but the rate is quite low and it is two out of five.

We have taken a survey to students in universities to find out the impressions of konkatsu they have. The survey goes like this:

1.    What do you think of konkatsu?

a.    とても良いと思う

b.    良いと思う

c.     どちらでもない

d.    あまり良くないと思う

e.     全く良いと思わない

f.     聞いたことがない

g.    Others

2.    Would you like to do konkatsu in the future if needed?

(Yes / No)

3.    If no, why?

a.    Doesn’t seem to be successful (成功しなさそう)

b.    Might get deceived (だまされそう)

c.     Don’t want to go that far to get married (そこまでして結婚しなくてもいい)

d.    Want to marry for love (恋愛結婚がいい)

e.     Not interested in marriage (結婚自体に興味がない)

f.     Others

21 students (8 boys and 13 girls) have helped answering the survey. Most of them did not have bad impressions on konkatsu and no one picked (e) for the first question. This means they, at least, think konkatsu is not a bad method for finding the partners. Out of 21 students, 9 people answered that they would (prefer) to do konkatsu in the future if needed. We were surprised that almost half of them are positive for being part of the konkatsu members. Those of who answered “no” to the second question explained their reasons by choosing the most fitted choices. The reason most people chose was (d); they want to marry for love.

In conclusion, konkatsu are helping Japanese society from continuing the increase of number of unmarried people. Since the percentage of single people who do not marry for their lifetime has grown so much bigger in the last 10 years, the Japanese are trying to cheer them up to support the lonesome society. When the word first came up to the society, there were some people who think that konkatsu is too greedy and ashamed of doing it; however, as it gets popular, people began to think this as a great method of getting a chance of marriage. 

Yuki Shirai, Naoko Iwanaga