We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, dating is hard. This is very true in Japan as well, where a survey in 2013 showed that many Japanese aren’t really dating. Also, being a foreigner and trying to date in a country that is 98.5% ethnically Japanese makes it an even more daunting task for some.
But fear not! Though statistics may not be in your favor, there are certainly those that not only want to date, but date people who aren’t Japanese. Earlier this year we focused on what women thought about mixed-race relationships, but now it’s time for Japanese men to share their ideas about what they would like, as well as what challenges they would expect with a person who’s not Japanese.
Japanese author, blogger and YouTuber Yuta Aoki has made a name for himself by candidly talking with Japanese people about their thoughts on a number of issues, including the Japanese dating scene. In this video, he asked men about their views on dating foreign women, which foreign women they find the most beautiful, and the difficulties and interesting points about dating someone who’s not from Japan.
Yuta doesn’t hold back and really gets the guys to open up honestly about their opinions on a whole host of issues. His first question, “Which countries have the most beautiful women?” gets a number of responses with examples from all over the world. The Japanese men found beauty in people from northern hemisphere countries, like Russia and Sweden, as well as countries far south of the equator, like Argentina.
Yuta then gets right to the meat of the issue, “Do you want to date a foreign girl?” and most of the men interviewed for this video said that they would. Of course they had a number of worries including whether or not they could understand each other, but overall they felt that the experience would be more rewarding than anything else.
The men were then asked “What do you think will be difficult in a mixed relationship?” and obviously cultural differences were a major concern. Since Japan has a rigid system of rules and manners, many of the guys were worried that someone foreign would have a difficult time navigating the potential minefield. Language and communication between parents was another issue, as well as deciding whose country to live in. But perhaps the most interesting answer was that Japanese men worry that foreign women won’t see them as romantic partners. Japanese men have ranked towards the bottom on a number of international attractiveness surveys and they also ranked dead last in overall self-confidence in their looks.
Finally, the Japanese men were asked, “What do you think are some good things about dating a foreign woman?” The first guy, with a twinkle in his eyes said, “Sex can be more frequent” and honestly, it’s hard to argue with that. A 2013 survey found that people who were married, couples, and those with “sex friends” had sex an average of 2.9 times per month. These findings didn’t even include those who were not currently involved at the time, so the average Japanese person is probably doing it less than that 2.9 times. That is a far, lonely cry from the over 12 times a month the average Greek has sex.
Other men remarked that the experience would provide insight into another person’s culture, allow them to meet more people, and generally open up their own view of the world. It would broaden their horizons and make them better people, one awkward date at a time.
You heard them, foreign women in Japan, men need your help to become better world citizens, so how about helping them out a little bit?
Source & Images: YouTube/ThatJapaneseManYuta