Chapter 1: What My Wife Said
"Marriage through an app? Sounds a bit cold," my wife muttered while watching the news. A moment later, she added, "But our neighbor found her husband that way... it's the times, I guess."
That contradiction pretty much sums up modern sentiments—nostalgia for traditional love stories, colliding with today's digital pragmatism.
Chapter 2: The Policy Brief
On May 15, Japan’s Children and Families Agency released a report suggesting support for safe and secure dating apps as a way to encourage marriage among young people. They cited that 1 in 4 married couples under 40 met through such apps.
They also pointed out that over 80% of unmarried individuals expressed a desire to marry—despite a steadily rising unmarried rate.
Chapter 3: The Real Gap
Here's where I start to scratch my head. If young people want to marry and tech provides tools to meet, why aren’t more weddings happening?
The problem isn’t just about app safety or awareness. It’s about foundational concerns: job security, income, housing, and childcare costs. Without tackling those, fancy tech and well-intended support programs will fall flat.
Chapter 4: The Irony and a Grumble
Talk of AI matchmaking and rolling out "best practices" sounds promising, but overly tech-driven solutions worry me.
I imagine a future where AI plans mass weddings and blockchain manages marriage records. Romantic, isn’t it?
As an old-school detective, I believe relationships start with connection, not calculation. Policies should focus on making society more livable, not just love more clickable.
So, whose future are we designing here, really?