Society Tokyo Gov. to launch matchmaking app

To increase birth rates, Tokyo joined a list of Japanese municipalities hosting virtual events or employing apps to boost marriages. The app, run by a private company, will be launched in 2024 and will be available to residents and people working or studying in the capital. The service will require documentation from users' hometowns to prove they are unmarried. Tokyo hopes this time-consuming process will discourage fraudsters and those already married from signing up.

A survey by Tokyo in 2021 found that dating apps were the most common method used by people seeking romantic partners, chosen by 14.5% of respondents. These services have had issues with abuse, however. The local government will use social media to raise awareness of the problem. [...] Tokyo had a larger share of never-married people at age 50 than anywhere else in Japan in 2020, at 32.15% of men and 23.79% of women, according to the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research. The capital hopes to lower these figures by giving singles a new avenue to meet potential partners. The issue extends beyond Tokyo, posing a challenge for areas struggling with declining birthrates. Official population data shows 504,930 marriages nationwide in 2022, down by about half from 1972. Boosting marriages is key to localities struggling with low birthrates.

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Miyazaki Prefecture has been collaborating with Eureka, the company behind the Pairs app, while the City of Kyoto has been organising events in the Metaverse.


In Kyoto, five men and five women were chosen by lottery to join the event, which ended with four new couples. Participants were happy with the experience, saying they could get to know people without preconceptions and could tell how much their partners cared even through their virtual avatars.

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According to a survey conducted in September 2023, 60% of Generation Z (born between the late 1990s and 2010) don't mind staying single for the rest of their lives.