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Asia Pacific Risk Center’s report indicated that Asia suffered from the most severe aging population in the world. There will be 200 million people older than 65 years old in 15 years. Japan will become the first super aging country and the aged will account for 28% of the population. Late marriage and even unmarried have become much more common in Japan and further result in the declining birthrate. The rising life expectancy of elders, the declining birth rate, increasing unmarried and divorce rate, and among the married people, up to 75% people yearn for living alone. These lead to the special “single” phenomenon in Japanese society.
Nearly 40% unmarried people have no relationship, more than half single males have never been in love with anyone
According to the survey issued by Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, there are 26.8% of people living alone in 2015, 3% higher compared to 2004. Japan’s Cabinet Office conducted a survey of people who are 20 to 39 years old, and found that 37.6%of unmarried people don’t want to be in a relationship. Meiji Yasuda Institute of Life and Wellness’ conducted another survey on singles in their 20s The result indicates that more than half (about 53.3%) males have never fallen in love, and 34% of females do so. There were only 22.3% of males and 33.7% of females that have a relationship. No matter males or females, the proportions of having a relationship are less than half of that eight years ago.
It’s troublesome to fall in love. People enjoy the freedom of being alone.
There are novel reasons why unmarried males and females don’t want to have a lover. “Having a relationship is annoying.” is the main reason and “I would rather spend the time on my interest.” is another. Additionally, in Japan, more and more people want to enjoy a single’s life. Just like the life attitude mentioned in the book “Eat, Pray, and Love”, one woman’s search for everything across Italy, India, and Indonesia”. Not only single people, but also up to 75% of 20-59 years old married people in Japan yearn for such life and their own space. With age, the desire of living alone is much stronger to married people than singles. In Japan, these people are called “ソロ充” which consists of the meaning solo in English and productive in Japanese, that is, being single or being solo can also lead to a substantial life.
If you like to be alone, you have the potential to be a “ソロ充”
A Japanese website summarized five characteristics of “ソロ充” including staying away from the crowd, knowledge of entertainments for singles, feeling troublesome to pander to others, efficiency is the first priority, and regarding friendships counts in quality instead of quantity. As long as you love to travel, read, watch a movie by yourself, you have the potential to be a “ソロ充”.
Total number of searches regarding the keyword “single” has increased
This phenomenon has become more and more common in Japanese life. Employees in Japanese internet companies found out that the number of searches for keywords such as “single life” and “individual-sized hotpot” has doubled or tripled compare to 5 or 6 years ago. Living alone is now a symbol of business opportunities. For some Japanese, although living with their family, they don’t think that they should be adapted to family’s preference on the dining table and tend to eat alone and create the potential business opportunity of singles.