Why Japanese Gen Zers are avoiding falling in love

How do ‘Host/Hostess Clubs’ work?

In ‘host clubs’, men entertain female customers by putting on dance or music performances and flirtatiously talking over drinks. In hostess bars women do the same, but mostly for male customers.

This is a major part of Japan’s nightlife, where well-groomed men and elegantly-dressed women set out to please their customers. They complement their clients, flirt with them, and have witty conversations to keep them engaged.

In a VICE documentary, Reiji- the King of Hosts, revealed that it takes about two years for a host to be trained. Some of the best ‘players’ can make over $600,000 every year.

Reiki also mentioned that clients that take a special liking to their host may even gift them luxurious presents such as expensive alcohol and cars!

An important part of their job is to persuade clients to order exorbitantly- priced alcohol, as they receive a commission on each sale. Clients usually give in, and try to spend as much money as possible in an effort to impress them.

The host/hostess that makes the most sales in a month wins the title of the ‘best player’ or ‘host/hostess number one’.

But again, none of these customers go there seeking sexual favours. They merely go with the intention of having someone to talk to and to give them the ‘boyfriend/girlfriend’ experience.

The continuance of the pseudo romance culture would mean a lack of the ability to effectively communicate with the opposite or same sex depending on one’s preference; it would also lead to developing unrealistic expectations of what a significant other must be like.

Creating new solutions to solve Japan’s love problem

However, all is not lost. More than 50% of local governments are encouraging single men and women to fall in love and marry through matchmaking seminars.

About 376,000 people participated in these matchmaking events, which led to 6,177 marriages!

A few years back, a Japanese dating app called ‘Pairs’ was launched by Eureka, a Tokyo-based start-up. This app is specifically meant for singles who want to get married.

It has over 10 million users in Japan, Taiwan, and Korea. They received positive stories about matches from over 400,000 of these users.

Hirokazu Nakamura, the chief product officer and chief marketing officer of Eureka, said in an interview to the Japan Times that the young generation isn’t disinterested in love; they just struggle with the process of falling in love.

We’ll have to see if new-age initiatives such as these can help the Japanese population fall back into appreciating personal relationships and genuine intimacy. Perhaps things could change as Gen Z enter adulthood, though we’ve yet to know for certain.