According to one little sister, the key to getting a girlfriend or boyfriend? Loneliness, and not going to amusement arcades on your own.

There are apocryphal tales about how the birth rate jumped up nine months after a power cut in a major city like New York, Paris or Tokyo as people robbed of the chance to watch TV found another way to keep themselves and their partners entertained. Maybe the television, and its successor as procrastinator general, the Internet, has a hand in the decreasing number of children and relationships in developed countries. According to one partner-less Japanese Twitter user’s younger sister, there’s another culprit in Japan that might explain why their brother is still alone: ramen shops and amusement arcades.

https://twitter.com/jetpack/status/964023575194738688

“People who have boyfriends or girlfriends are people that get lonely when they go somewhere on their own. So, people like you who can go and have ramen or go to an amusement arcade on their own can’t get a girlfriend”.

While @Cherry_ogt‘s little sister doesn’t exactly get full marks for tact with that fairly brutal explanation, maybe she’s on to something. While coming across as overly desperate may work against you in the dating game, you need some desperation at least to shrug off the inertia and put yourself out there, something that is even harder to do with a sated belly full of ramen and blistered hands (from excessive taiko arcade game drumming, obviously).

Other Twitter users were quick to see the merit in the wise-beyond-her-years girl’s words, with many believing that she could as easily have been talking about them as about her older brother. Others thought quite the opposite, that those who were happy in their own company made better boyfriends or girlfriends and so would find it easier to find someone to be with.

“Now, I get it!”
“Next time I’ll have to make an effort to go with someone else (it might be a bit late).”
“I’m proof that’s not true – on our honeymoon my wife and I did everything separately and we’ve been happily married ten years now.”
“It’s the other way around; people who can’t get a girlfriend or boyfriend have no choice but to go alone.”
“Your little sister’s really smart.”
“I like going for ramen, or Chinese food, or steak, or to theme parks on my own, and I’m married.”
“Are you talking about me?”
“I know what you’re talking about; some of my work colleagues who are married say that if they’re at home on their own they get lonely and have to turn the TV on to have some noise on in the background.”
“What your sister is really thinking is that you’re ugly and that’s why you can’t get a girlfriend.”
“Huh, I’m always going to the amusement arcade on my own, maybe that’s why…”

While the sagacious dating guru sister may have identified a factor, there might be a bit more to it than that. If her older brother is happy, fair play to him. In fact, at a certain incredibly popular ramen chain, going with other people can be more awkward than going alone. If worst comes to worst though, he can always look for a cafe holding a special virtual girlfriend event, or go for the low budget option and just invest in some stockings.

Source: Twitter/Cherry_ogt via jin115
Top image: Pakutaso