"Marriage Survey" A thorough analysis of Japanese people's views on marriage! What prompted them to get married? One in three people "got married for no particular reason"

2014.06.24 Press Releases
Culture Convenience Club Co., Ltd.

-Not a matchmaking session!? "We met at work, dated for two or three years, and then it just happened naturally."

Culture Convenience Club Co., Ltd. is pleased to announce that it has conducted a "Marriage Survey" using the "T Survey," an online survey of attitudes, targeting 1,517 male and female T members who use T cards.

Digest of survey results on marriage

●The most common reason for thinking "Let's get married!" was "naturally" (33.6%).
　2nd place: "Because I was the right age" (10.2%), 3rd place: "Because I thought there was no one else but him!" (9.5%)
　Among those in their 20s and younger, "shotgun weddings" came in second place

The top three conditions for marriage are: 1st place "personality," 2nd place "values," and 3rd place "kindness," with emphasis on inner qualities.
　On the other hand, the fourth place for men was "appearance (face)" and the fourth place for women was "occupation (stable job)."

How did you meet your spouse?
　1st place: "Workplace," 2nd place: "Introduction from acquaintances/friends," 3rd place: "School"
　20% of people in their 60s and older have arranged marriages

●The most common answer for the length of time a couple will date before getting married was "2-3 years."

●60% of men propose

●When asked what made them think "Let's get married!", the top answer was "naturally" (33.6%), followed by "because I was the right age" (10.2%) and "because I thought there was no one else but him!" (9.5%). Among those in their 20s and younger, "shotgun weddings" came in second.

In Europe and the United States, it is said that if you get married in June, you will be blessed by many people and will have a happy married life. In this "T Survey," in honor of the month of June, which is known as "June brides," we asked 1,517 married men and women aged 18 to 79 about marriage.
First, we asked what made them decide to marry their spouse. Surprisingly, there was no clear deciding factor, with the most common answer being "naturally" (33.6%), revealing that many people got married naturally, with the feeling that "it was about time."The second most popular reason was "Because I was at the right age" (10.2%), and the third most popular reason was "Because I thought there was no one else but him!" (9.5%). Looking at the results by age group, those in their 20s and younger chose "Because I had children" (16.3%) as the second most popular answer, 12.6 points higher than those in their 60s and older who chose "Because I had children."Also, when broken down by gender, the second most popular answer for women was "Because I was the right age" (11.1%), while the second most popular answer for men was "Because I love him so much" (10.1%), demonstrating that women tend to place more importance on timing than feelings when deciding to get married.

The top three conditions for marriage are 1st place "personality," 2nd place "values," and 3rd place "kindness," with emphasis on inner qualities. On the other hand, 4th place for men is "appearance (face)," and 4th place for women is "occupation (stable job)."

Next, when asked about up to three qualities they looked for in a marriage partner, the top answer was "personality" (53.3%), followed by "values" (47.3%) and "kindness" (42.4%), with the overwhelming majority of respondents choosing internal qualities as a person. When these results are broken down by gender, the fourth most common answer for men was "appearance (face)" (20.6%), while the fourth most common answer for women was "occupation (stable job)" (22.9%). This shows that while internal factors are important, men also look for appearance, while women also look for a sense of security for the future, as conditions for marriage.

The reasons for meeting their spouse were: 1st place "workplace," 2nd place "introduction from acquaintances/friends," and 3rd place "school." 20% of those in their 60s and older had "arranged marriages."

With the recent boom in matchmaking, events such as "machikon" (city parties) are being held all over Japan, providing new opportunities for men and women to meet. However, when asked how they met their future spouse, the most popular answer was "workplace" (33.6%), followed by "introduction from an acquaintance or friend" (25.5%) and "school" (14.2%), revealing that more than half of people met their future spouse not at an event but in the course of their everyday lives. Looking at the results by age group, "arranged marriage" came in third place for those in their 60s and older (19.3%), more than 15 points higher than other generations.

When asked how long they dated before getting married, the most common answer was "2-3 years."

When asked how long they had been dating their current spouse before getting married, the most common answer was "2-3 years" (21.6%), followed by "1 year to less than 1.5 years" (14.8%) and "7 months to less than 1 year" (13.9%). Among those in their 60s and older, the most popular answer was "less than six months" (21.5%). This shows that, while many of them had arranged marriages, they tended to think of the dating period as the preparation period for marriage, rather than thinking about marriage after dating for several years.

*The survey had multiple options for "less than 6 months," but these were combined into "less than 6 months" and tabulated.

60% of men propose

The proposal is the final deciding factor in marriage. While many women want a romantic situation and words when they are proposed to, surprisingly, only 64.1% of men actually propose, with 33.6% saying they "did not clearly propose."

Survey Overview

Survey method: Internet (T Survey)
Survey period: Friday, May 30th to Tuesday, June 3rd, 2014
Survey area: Nationwide
Survey subjects: Men and women aged 18 to 79 (T members)
Number of samples:

What is the T Survey?

This is one of the largest online research services in Japan, with 8 million T Card users registered. All members who complete research and surveys will be rewarded with T Points. In addition, the responses you provide will be processed as statistical information and used by companies and media outlets for product development and service planning. Each and every opinion we receive from our members will be an important key point in creating a bright future for people, companies, and Japan.
CCC offers marketing solutions to companies, from planning surveys through "T Surveys" to compiling and analyzing them as a research program tailored to their needs.

Materials related to this matter

Marriage Survey

Inquiries regarding this matter
■Inquiries regarding the press release:
Culture Convenience Club Co., Ltd.
Public Relations Officer: Ando
TEL: 03-6800-4464

■Inquiries regarding the T Survey:
Sales representative: Itakura and Hirano
MAIL: dbwatch@ccc.co.jp
TEL: 03-6800-4561