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August 14, 2026
 

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RELATIONSHIPS

As of June 30 this year, the Tokyo Enmusubi matchmaking app had 16,000 registered members ¡ª whittled down from around 36,000 applicants ¡ª and 760 couples in "serious relationships," according to government data released this month.
JAPAN
Jul 28, 2026
¡¯Appy marriages: AI helps hundreds of Japanese wed
A total of 265 couples have married after meeting on an AI-powered dating app launched by the Tokyo government in 2024 to lift the low birth rate, according to official data.
Netflix limited series ¡°Soul Mate¡± stars Hayato Isomura (right) and Ok Taec-yeon as two men whose friendship unfolds from a chance encounter in Berlin.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
May 21, 2026
¡®Soul Mate¡¯ reaches for pathos but remains hollow
With a globe-spanning story and plenty of melodrama, Netflix¡¯s queer-themed limited series ultimately falters under the weight of its own ambiguity.
Men hiding their marital status to get women into a sexual relationship is nothing new. But a growing number of victims are speaking out on the men who deceived them for feigning singlehood ¡ª or dokushin gis¨­.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Mar 31, 2026
Deceived women seek criminal penalty for married men pretending to be single
As it stands, men feigning singlehood to enter into sexual relationships can only be sued in the civil courts.
Experts say emotional bonds with AI are often shaped by prior experiences ¡ª or disappointments ¡ª in human relationships.
LIFE / Lifestyle / Longform
Feb 13, 2026
Love, engineered in the age of AI
As chatbots grow more sophisticated, some people are forming romantic bonds ¡ª and even marriages ¡ª with artificial partners.
In its second season, "The Boyfriend" allows more time to show the diversity of individual experience.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / Wide Angle
Feb 6, 2026
Vulnerability, love and the limits of reality TV on ¡®The Boyfriend¡¯
Netflix Â鶹´«Ã½ same-sex dating show may be several layers removed from reality, but it nonetheless offers an important space for dialogue and representation.
The second season of Netflix Japan's ¡°The Boyfriend¡± is bringing together a new set of bachelors to find romance and learn more about themselves.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Jan 23, 2026
Second season of ¡®The Boyfriend¡¯ lets love take its time
Netflix Â鶹´«Ã½ same-sex dating show returns with a season that lets relationships unfold at their own pace.
A screenshot of Loverse app shows an AI-generated woman, characterized as a 25-year-old hair and makeup artist Miyu, registered as a female companion.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 7, 2026
Swipe right for AI romance
An app called Loverse aims to give users the closest depiction of the real thing ¡ª complete with all its unpredictability.
¡°Rental Family,¡± directed and co-written by the single-named Hikari, follows out-of-work actor Phillip (Brendan Fraser), who is hired as the ¡°token white guy¡± at a Tokyo agency called Rental Family.
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Nov 19, 2025
Why we can¡¯t get enough of the sham of the rental family
The new ¡°Rental Family¡± film starring Brendan Fraser revisits an irresistible controversy and suggests that while rental family members are fake, they address a real loneliness.
Then-Nestle CEO Laurent Freixe speaks during a panel session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 22. Freixe was fired this week over an undisclosed romantic relationship with a subordinate.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 3, 2025
From Coldplay kiss cam to Nestle, office romances are costing CEOs their jobs
The firing of Nestle CEO Laurent Freixe this week puts the spotlight on office relationships, and their ubiquity.
Hoshuji temple displays a banner welcoming people to "marriage-hunting at the temple," an event for those who want to register as members of the nationwide Kichienkai matchmaking organization, on Jan. 26 in Chikusa Ward, Nagoya.
JAPAN / Society
May 4, 2025
Temple master takes unconventional approach to matchmaking
¡°It¡¯s better to find happiness with the partner you meet than to search for a partner you think will make you happy,¡± says Buddhist monk Koshi Kimiya.
Marriage proposals in Japan look a lot like those in other countries, but there are traditions that are specific to the country that some people still adhere to.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Apr 18, 2025
Voicing intentions and a peek into a traditional Japanese engagement ceremony
While the basics of a marriage proposal are similar to what happens in most countries, an extra ceremony requires specific gifts.
China's female gamers are finding the male leads of Love and Deepspace more enticing than real-life partners.
LIFE / Digital
Mar 29, 2025
¡®Better than real life¡¯: In China, virtual boyfriends are emotional aids
For many, virtual companions offer more than entertainment ¡ª?they provide emotional fulfilment.
There seems to be a preference for similarly educated and similarly earning spouses in modern marriages, reflecting a trend that prioritizes parity over "marrying up."
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 17, 2025
What really changed the marriage market
The internet connects us with so many potential mates that our puny human brains can¡¯t handle it.
Many Japanese dating apps have ways to detail specific interests that can be as narrow as one particular TV show, game or an artist.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 7, 2025
Swiping in Japan: How Gen Z is changing the dating app game
The once-stigmatized?apps are flourishing as a new normal for dating among Gen Z in Japan, albeit with a different approach to before.
A date night on Christmas Eve typically starts with a romantic dinner at a restaurant often with a great view or a private space.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 18, 2024
Silent night? Not if you want to impress your Christmas Eve date.
In Japan, a date night on Christmas Eve typically starts with a romantic dinner at a restaurant often with a great view or a private space.
A survey released by an organization promoting ¡°Good Couples Day¡± shows that 24% of couples in their 20s met their marriage partner through a dating app.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 21, 2024
Around a quarter of Japan married couples in their 20s met through dating apps
Ease of meeting a wide range of people is likely the biggest appeal of app use, underscoring a major shift in how young people meet their partners.
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 20, 2024
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
Just 37% of respondents in Japan said they were satisfied with their romantic and sexual relationships, according to a survey from Ipsos.
Dating apps like Bumble and Hinge, with their reliance on basic algorithms, often lead to superficial connections, but AI could improve this by analyzing deeper data for more meaningful matches.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 11, 2024
AI dating might actually not be so bad
While still in development, these AI-driven match-making tools aim to reduce the fatigue of online dating and foster more genuine connections.
The conduct and business of love in Â鶹´«Ã½ Edo Period (1603-1867) was rough, and nowhere was it rougher than in the pleasure quarters of the capital city.
JAPAN / History / The Living Past
Sep 29, 2024
Good or bad, both or neither: Edo Japan and the moral conscience
The era¡¯s warrior class and its martial virtues were redundant but lived on ¡ª?overshadowed by the pursuit of pleasure.
Sensoji Temple in the Asakusa district of Tokyo. The lack of opportunities to meet people was the biggest hurdle for marriage for both married and unmarried respondents, which may explain the rise in popularity of dating apps.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 27, 2024
Around 1 in 4 married couples in Japan under 40 used dating apps, survey finds
The lack of opportunities to meet people in-person was the biggest hurdle for marriage for both married and unmarried respondents.
Forty-five meters down, a diver races to record a fleeting moment of WWII history
Kingo Wakasa photographs the kamikaze plane wing section he discovered at the USS Emmons wreck site.
New ¡®Katsu Curry Index¡¯ aims to show how weak the yen really is
A CoCo Ichibanya curry house in Tokyo.
Mexican man arrested over attempt to smuggle some 200 lizards into Japan
Mexican alligator lizards seized by Tokyo Customs from a Mexican man who attempted to smuggle them into Japan on Saturday through Haneda Airport
Gut bacteria may be behind many of Â鶹´«Ã½ colorectal cancer cases
A Japanese research team found that a toxin produced by certain E. coli strains, colibactin, caused genetic mutations in nearly half of colorectal cancer cases studied
She is Russia¡¯s richest woman. Her business empire is going up in flames.
Tatyana Kim, the head and co-founder of Wildberries, speaks about Ukrainian drone attacks on the company's warehouses in the course of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, at an unidentified location, in this still image from a handout video released on July 31.
Forty-five meters down, a diver races to record a fleeting moment of WWII history
Kingo Wakasa photographs the kamikaze plane wing section he discovered at the USS Emmons wreck site.
Ikarigata closer to emulating older brother Fujinokawa than many think
The future Fujinokawa (third from left) and Ikarigata (right) compete against each other at ages 5 and 3, respectively.
Where do foreign residents in Japan want to die?
The Yokohama Foreign General Cemetery is one of the few cemeteries in Japan that allows burials, albeit with conditions for the deceased, including foreign nationality and permanent residency in Kanagawa Prefecture.
¡®Total whiplash¡¯: Foreign residents react to Â鶹´«Ã½ changing permanent residency rules
The entrance to the Tokyo Immigration Bureau in Minato Ward, Tokyo, in March. For some foreign residents of Japan, tightening measures for permanent residency have become one factor in a broader calculation over whether remaining in the country makes financial sense over the long term.
As Â鶹´«Ã½ concrete jungles sizzle, urban forestry offers an all-natural fix
People and birds find relief from the sun in Tokyo's Nakano Ward earlier this month. While experts agree that urban greening is crucial to mitigating the impact of climate change, trees are becoming even more scarce in Japanese cities.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo¡¯s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo¡¯s ¡®stadium of desire¡¯

Longform

Disaster relief workers Taichi Kato (left) and Seiji Yoshimura enter the collapsed living quarters at Kyuganji temple in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Prefecture.
What Kumamoto revealed about Â鶹´«Ã½ earthquake readiness
By Alex K.T. Martin

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