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lifestyle

Survey reveals Japanese women’s ideal husband is surprisingly ordinary

23 Comments
By Koh Ruide, SoraNews24

We all have marriage partner preferences — we’ll be spending a huge portion of our lives with them, after all. Some Japanese men don’t like women who can’t do housework, while Japanese women can’t imagine themselves tying the knot with a stingy man. These kinds of surveys continue to fascinate us with peeks into the world of the opposite sex.

Marriage consulting agency IBJ recently conducted one such survey, asking 556 unmarried Japanese women in their 20s to 40s about their husband preferences.

When asked which occupation their dream husband would have, the results were as follows:

  1. Major trading firm / manufacturing company (40 percent)

  2. Civil servant (38 percent)

  3. Doctor (7 percent)

  4. No preference (7 percent)

  5. Tax accountant (4 percent)

  6. Manager (2 percent)

  7. Advertising agency / television station (2 percent)

Women who favored men working in public sectors or major trading firms said that job stability and high income were the deciding factor. These salarymen were also perceived as diligent, earnest individuals who could discuss a wide variety of topics and hold interesting conversations. Surprisingly, doctors were in low demand, but that could be due to shift work pulling them away from spending time with family.

As for their ideal partner’s annual salary:

  1. 5 million to 6.99 million yen (47 percent)

  2. 7 million to 8.99 million yen (34 percent)

  3. More than 9 million yen (11 percent)

  4. No preference (6 percent)

  5. 3 million to 4.99 million yen (2 percent)

Close to 50 percent of the women found 5-6.99 million yen to be an acceptable income, which is rather low if we factor in housing, and the fact that much of Japan still assumes the man to be the sole breadwinner. Could this be the start of a working couple trend?

One thing’s for certain though: all the women agreed unanimously that they preferred men who earn more money than them, which is in contrast to last year’s where only two-thirds of respondents thought that way.

The 11 percent who favored high-income earners, and who are probably staunch believers of men being the sole provider, reasoned that it would make child raising and life in general easier. One comment stated that a man who can earn (so much) is capable of just about anything.

IBJ also asked women to choose the one trait they would not tolerate in a marriage partner:

  1. Gambling addiction (40 percent)

  2. Filthy (24 percent)

  3. Tendency to cheat (19 percent)

  4. Stingy (8 percent)

  5. Arrogant (4 percent)

  6. Mother complex (3 percent)

  7. Overweight (1 percent)

  8. Complains a lot (1 percent)

There’s nothing worse than having your financial plans wrecked by a gambling spouse, and that applies to pretty much every culture. We thought cheating would rank a little higher on the list though, but due to some cultural differences, it seems the prospect of having a partner with poor personal hygiene amounts to a bigger sin.

Overall, it seems that Japanese women’s expectation of their perfect husband isn’t any more outrageous than anywhere else. Either that or they’ve given up completely on finding that Prince Charming and resorted to setting the bar low.

Of course these results may not accurately reflect the attitudes of all Japanese women, but nevertheless it still affords men a glimpse into their mindsets. And with such average requirements, finding love in Japan may not be so difficult after all. Just be really careful of the three deal breakers of dating Japanese girls.

Source: IBJ via Hachima Kiko

Read more stories from SoraNews24.

-- What do Japanese kids want to be when they grow up? Businesspeople

-- Young Japanese singles list the organizations they’d most like a potential date to work for

-- Survey by Japanese ministry reveals high rates of “maternity harassment” in workplace

© SoraNews24

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

23 Comments
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Surprisingly?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Fully employed (seiki) public workers (komuin) in Japan are well paid but few in number by international standards. The same applies to men employed by a "Major trading firm / manufacturing company".

According to the article's own numbers, 92% want their husband to earn 5 million or more, and 45% want 7 million or more. Surveys like this tend to use 4 million as one of the brackets, and apparently one in ten single men under forty earns this much. So nine in ten will be currently earning well below what these ladies want.

So it is a huge jump in logic for the headline and article to judge that a satisfactory prospective husband is "surprisingly ordinary". In terms of job security and income, such men are members of the elite. If the author thinks 5 million yen is not a lot to get by on, all I can say is welcome to the world of ordinary people in Japan.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

What this survey shows is the clear obsession with money by Japanese women.

We can also begin to understand why the birth rate and marriage rates are so low, and continuing to fall.

This kind of behavior / thinking also explains the extreme prevalence of enjo kousai / self prostitution by high school girls and university students.

If you're a skirt chaser all you need to do is tell a shallow Tokyo woman that you work for Mitsui Bussan and she'll hop in bed with you in an instant, with plans to have your kids and take all your cash.

Pretty pathetic social situation Japan is experiencing right now. The "Lost Generation" parents created this.

-1 ( +4 / -5 )

It all seems to be about money and status, neither of which guarantee a happy marriage.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

What this survey shows is the clear obsession with money by Japanese women.

Uh, no it doesn't, News flash: women around the world tend to prefer men who can financially support a family. That's not an obsession, that's a desire for security. On top of that, Japanese women don't have the career options that women in the west have to support themselves. So there's nothing I see that stands out as unreasonable in this survey.

If you're a skirt chaser all you need to do is tell a shallow Tokyo woman that you work for Mitsui Bussan and she'll hop in bed with you in an instant, with plans to have your kids and take all your cash.

I believe there is something self-fulfilling in that train of thought. I never had to lie to a woman to get one into bed - it's completely uncalled for. If you go out with a misogynistic view like this, you will probably end up with someone that makes your predictions come true.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

@luddite

Maybe I'm old and cynical, but I've come to understand that money and status are 95% of it....

Though I'm married and love my wife to distraction....

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I didn't see bi-annual trips to Disney land on the want list, that seems a given here until women turn 60.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

The salary choices are interesting. It could be that the more men earn, the more popular they become with the ladies, so that may factor in to their thinking especially considering that most women would still earn less than men here

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Predictable!

Report of a survey about Japanese men's ideal wife, please.

Or maybe a neutered survey simply about ideal spouse?

0 ( +1 / -1 )

I work for a very large Japanese multinational and I am sure that no one at least up until their late thirties is earning more than 5 million yen a year. I fear that many Japanese women would be disappointed if they knew the reality. Only people working in certain industries can attain such high salaries.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Glad my GF doesn't follow the trend shown above, she earns way more than me and probably always will as she is far smarter too.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

So in Japan now 40% of workers are on crap part time and contract work. Must be a lot of rejected men about.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

So many gold-diggers around in Japan. Some of my friends who also earn high salaries in the Finance sector, just fob them off by telling them they earn 850 yen an hour in a conbini. You can't see them then for the dust as they run off!

2 ( +4 / -2 )

What the results don't show is that large Japanese firms usually offer cheap housing for their employees. Dormitory for single employees, apartments for employees with families. So there is an instant 1-2million yen right there. Certainly it makes the salaries look lower than they really are. Personally, I couldn't stand running into people from work at home as well though.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Curious to know the local/Japanese man's version of this ?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Just as an aside:

I think what @umbrella was trying to say, is that if you consider the number of hours worked for their Salary, then they'd probably earn less than others on a fixed hourly contract such as in "MacDonalds".

That's true in some areas of finance, but not others.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

So many gold-diggers around in Japan. Some of my friends who also earn high salaries in the Finance sector, just fob them off by telling them they earn 850 yen an hour in a conbini. You can't see them then for the dust as they run off!

Doesn't ring true at all. And it will be obvious that your friends in the finance sector do not earn 850 yen an hour.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

I find it more striking that only around 20% of them seem to find cheating to be a dealbreaker!

3 ( +3 / -0 )

@Madden

I wonder if you're married....

1 ( +1 / -0 )

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