Danica Davidson
January 17, 2025 
What’s it like for young adults dating in Japan? Japanese matchmaking service O-net has been running an annual survey since 2016 to find out.
The survey is specifically for people who are 20, because in Japan this age is customarily viewed as the beginning of adulthood.
The first question in the survey asked, “Do you have any experience dating someone?”
A little more than half of the men, at 53.5%, said they had experience in this area. The answer was higher for women, but barely. Women who said they dated were at 53.8%.
Compare that to the answers last year, and we see that the men’s answers hardly changed (it was at 53.1 in 2024) but the women’s took a steep dive. That’s because in 2024, 70.2% of the women surveyed said they had dated.
At the same time, 51.7% of people in 2025 said that they would be interested in dating. That’s 55.3% of the guys and 49.2% of the ladies.
Those surveyed were also asked if they were currently dating. 29.4% of men said yes. A smaller number of women, at 26.7%, also said yes. In all previous O-net surveys, more women than men have been dating.
Past dating, the survey also wanted to know people’s interest in marriage. 73.2% of those surveyed are interested in getting married, whether it’s before long or way down the line. While this is the majority of people, it’s actually the lowest number O-net has ever gotten for that question.
Noticing changes in trends, O-net came up with a hypothesis. People who are 20 now would have been 15 in 2020, when the COVID pandemic took off. 15 is when people in Japan begin high school. O-net thinks because this group of young people spent some of their high school days practicing social distancing, it left fewer possibilities for dating.
Source: SoraNews24
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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
