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marriage (Page 11)

Observing the first night of a married couple – Does such a family tradition exist?

Like in many countries, people in Japan sometimes turn to anonymous Internet forums for advice. A lot of their problems are the usualt sort of things one might imagine. What’s the best way to lose weight? Should I change jobs, or stay with the position I’ve got now?

And then, there was this young lady’s plight:

“I was told the worst thing by my grandmother and great-aunt. I come from a very old-fashioned family that has a long-standing tradition. They told me that on the night of my marriage, my relatives will open the door a crack and watch me and my husband’s first night as a married couple.” From Fretting Freshman

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In modern-day Japan, entering into the marriage or dating market without any prior experience puts ladies at a serious disadvantage from the start. With many women living with their parents until they get married, and with people getting married later in life, there’s a rise of women who remain virgins into their thirties.

Now, there’s apparently a service whereby women can hire someone to take their virginity in order to raise their market appeal to future potential husbands…

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Author Haruki Murakami’s Q&A blog closes, posts hint at his own incredibly sad marriage

Haruki Murakami has answered many questions from readers on his blog since it opened in January, ranging from the meaning of life to nuclear power to TV addiction, but now it has closed up shop. Murakami will be selecting the best questions and answers and publishing them plus some extras in a new book in the near future.

With the full corpus of questions and answers still available online though, some fans have gone through and discovered an interesting part of Murakami’s life that was unknown up until now: his sad marriage.

Murakami makes numerous comments directly and indirectly about his wife and their life together, and after reading all of them you really start to feel sorry for the guy.

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Buddhist temple singles parties: The enlightened way to find a romantic partner

Buddhism and Shintoism share space pretty peacefully in Japan, partially thanks to a division of duties. Shinto shrines, for example, handle weddings, while Buddhist temples are the locations of funerals and graveyards.

These days, though, a few Buddhist temples are helping singles find someone to marry at one of those Shinto weddings, though, as one sect of Buddhism in east Japan has branched out into organizing matchmaking parties.

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Disgruntled Japanese men share a list of common male woes before and after marriage

Ladies, do you think that life is all fun and games for your male counterparts? As a multitude of men would have you know, that’s certainly not always the case.

The following list chronicling all the expectations and financial burdens placed on Japanese men both before and after marriage has been circulating the web. Of course, not to rule out the many challenges that women also face, myself being a woman, perhaps it would be better to just say that life can be a real drag for everyone.

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Aquarium provides fishy fun, horrifyingly awkward marriage proposals

If you’re as introverted as I am, then the thought of public marriage proposals (whether on the giving, receiving, or spectating end) fills you with a deep, visceral horror. Popping the question in front of a big crowd is supposed to be romantic, but it also smacks a bit of desperation – with all these witnesses, how can she possibly say no? But what’s even MORE embarrassing is when your proposal is undeniably, horrifyingly lame, like when that one dude confessed his love to his girl with 99 iPhones, or in this case, where people actually got an aquarium tank diver to hold up cards with their proposal on. Nooooooooooooo!

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The top 10 traits of the “perfect wife” according to the ladies of one Chinese city

What makes the perfect wife? Of course, opinions vary across cultures and even from person to person, but a regional branch of The China Times newspaper, Chongqing Daily, think they pinpointed ten specific conditions and characteristics that the perfect wife would possess. To test their theory, the newspaper surveyed over 700 of their female readers in Chongqing City, Southwestern China, asking them if they agreed or disagreed with the newspaper’s description of the ideal wife. What are the ten perceived requirements for the perfect female partner? Read on to find out!

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Survey reveals 55 percent of women in Japan wouldn’t marry a divorced man

With people generally getting married at a later age than in our parents’ generation, it sometimes feels like we have to throw out the whole rule book on marriage and starting a family in order to write a brand new one. But what do you do when your potential partner already has a bunch of crossed-out pages? Japanese website MyNavi Woman conducted a survey of 111 women between the ages of 22-34 and asked them, “Would you marry a man who’s been divorced”?

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Humbug! Japanese wives in international marriages share what they hate about Christmas overseas

Christmas. Depending on who you are, it can be a time for getting together with family and friends, attending religious services, or maybe just drinking a lot of egg nog. But while all of those are activities of profound cultural and spiritual importance, not everyone has a song in their heart at this time of year.

For a certain set of Japanese women in international marriages and living overseas, ‘tis the season for venting about how Americans and Europeans spend Christmas, and here’s their list of grievances.

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In a lot of ways, romance is a toss of the dice. There’s a long checklist of items you want to be compatible on before making a relationship permanent and tying the knot, but you’ll cross the threshold for the initial spark long before that. The only way to know if the person you’re attracted to is legitimate marriage material is by going on dates and spending time together, and sometimes the potential we see early on doesn’t pan out, which is why so few people end up married to their junior high school sweetheart.

Of course, sometimes luck is on your side when you roll the bones, and for some people their first love is also their true one. A recent survey revealed just how often this happens in Japan, as well as a few other statistics about Japanese chances for love.

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6-year-old boy vowed to marry his childhood sweetheart, really marries her 18 years later

Did you have a childhood sweetheart? In many cases, a childhood sweetheart tends to be a neighbor or schoolmate whom we spend many hours of our glorious juvenile years playing with and, more often than not, drifting apart as we grow up and life takes us to different places.

However, fate is a mysterious thing. If you’re destined for each other, fate will lead you back to each other, even after spending 18 years apart, like this pair of lovebirds!

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No dry eyes: Terminally ill man weds his love mere hours before passing

Life is not fair. For all the greatness and beauty in the world, there’s just as much pain and suffering. This is a story that manages to weave both of those elements together–and is guaranteed to leave you crying like a baby.

Earlier this month in the Philippines, a 29-year-old man married the woman he was in love with, creating a family with her and their 2-year-old daughter. Which in and of itself is a nice story and not at all tragic. The fact that the wedding took place in a hospital where the young man died only a few hours later is.

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Retired soldier and his wife finally get their wedding photos taken after 68 years!

These days, many engaged couples usually choose their gowns and suits, and take a beautiful set of pre-wedding photos before solemnizing their marriage during their wedding ceremonies. In the past, however, not many couples had the privilege of having lavish weddings.

An elderly couple in Hunan Province, China, have been married since 1946, but it is only now, 68 years later, that they put on their wedding dress and tuxedo for the first time!

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Awesome anime marriage proposal simulator lets you create romantic scenes, dark comedy

The company Recruit is mainly known for its online job-hunting service, but that’s not the organization’s only business arm. Recruit also runs Zexy, one of Japan’s most popular wedding planning websites.

In order to help singles get into the marrying mood, Recruit has created an animated proposal simulator, where you can type in words for one of five dreamy anime-style guys to say. Ostensibly, you’re supposed to unleash your inner poet and dash off a smooth, romantic line. On the other hand, you can also use the system that allows you to make them say anything for a little bit of snarky fun.

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I’m fortunate in that my wife and I have fairly similar tastes in movies and TV shows. We both agree that Modern Family is funny, seeing the Hulk beat up Loki in The Avengers is deeply satisfying, and that the anime Escaflowne is an extremely compelling take on the standard plotline of “boy meets girl, girl falls in love with other boy, and by the way both boys pilot giant robots.”

At the same time, we’re also mature enough to respect each other’s opinions when they do diverge. Unfortunately, not all spouses can agree to disagree when it comes to entertainment, as is the case with the woman in Japan who’s looking for a divorce because her husband isn’t a fan of Disney’s Frozen.

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Survey reveals that secretaries in Japan say ‘no’ to these types of husband

Rakuten Research has released the results of an online poll about the kinds of men women in Japan do not want to marry, and as a result the heads of lonely trolls are exploding all over Japan.

Collating results from 100 female secretaries between the ages of 30 and 49, the survey had three possible answers for each prompt: “I’d be OK with marrying him,” “I’d be hesitant to marry him,” and “I absolutely would not marry him.” Only the 10 list of undesirable traits in potential husbands were published, and only three qualify as being so bad that the respondents said there’s no way they’d marry them.

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This game-engrossed woman indirectly caused someone to poop in their pants

These days, it’s not a rare sight to see people playing games on their mobile devices while riding the train or waiting for a bus, or even sneaking in a round or two at work when no one’s looking. It’s understandable that sometimes a worker might need a breather, and a few quick minutes crushing candies, battling monsters, or “farming” on the smartphone could be a great stress reliever. But guess what happens when the whole office is engrossed in games? Somebody shits in their pants.

Or at least that’s what happened at the Liquan County Public Office in Shaanxi Province, China. For real.

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Wedding planning is a big deal in Japan, where it often involves a ceremony, formal reception with coworkers (including your boss, who’s expected to make a speech), an informal after-party after the reception winds down, and in many cases a second after-party that may stretch on until the next morning when the trains start running. Putting the whole thing together can be costly and require a lot of work, but it’s all worth it when everything goes smoothly. And besides, getting married is a once-in-a-lifetime event, right?

Well, actually, that’s not always the case. As in many modern, economically prosperous societies, the divorce rate has been rising in Japan, and along with it the potential number of remarriage candidates. In an attempt to keep up with these changing cultural norms and values, one of Japan’s largest wedding planners has gone so far as to coin a new term for those who remarry: maru ni.

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I wanna have your baby! Japanese women rank nationalities by desirablity of their baby batter

Recently, 30-something Japanese women actively seeking a marriage partner were interviewed to see what nationality they would most like to father their children. Did your country make the list? Read on to find out!

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“Are you married yet?” – Chinese ad attempts to guilt-trip young women into trying the knot

Chinese dating company Baihe.com has taken the unusual step of producing an ad that attempts to guilt-trip young women into marriage. In it, an elderly woman who is steadily inching closer to death pesters her granddaughter to find a man and tie the knot, constantly asking, “Are you married yet?”

Eventually – and we swear we’re not making this up – the troubled young woman resolves that she should stop “being picky” and decides to marry right away.

The full WTF? video after the jump.

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