he scene resembles a typical blind speed-dating event: 13 women and 13 men, seated on either side of a bamboo screen in an upmarket Tokyo restaurant, are chatting in pairs on a strictly timed three-minute rotation.
But the doctor hovering on the fringes and the scientific documents held in the participant’s hands, however, offer a hint that this is no ordinary dating event: for everyone attending has undergone a DNA test in a bid to find their best romantic match.
Welcome to the world of DNA matchmaking. Forget hobbies, professions, ages or nose sizes: one critical new criteria for finding the perfect partner was recently added to Japan’s fast-paced dating world, with the launch of a new service that promises to find love based on genetic compatibility.
Created by the dating company Nozze., which operates 21 branches across Japan, DNA Matching works with scientists at a Tokyo laboratory in order to decode the science of attraction and find the perfect match for its clients.
The company staged its first “DNA Party” at a restaurant in Ginza earlier this month – attended by 26 guests and resulting in four new couples – with more events planned across the country, including a special DNA Cruise in the autumn.
Its launch is timely: Japan is grappling with something of an epidemic of singles who are unable to find a partner, an issue intrinsically linked to the nation’s famously low marriage and birth rates and doing little to help balance the rapidly aging demographics of Japanese society.
Earlier this week, new government figures revealed that almost half of Japanese singles who wished to marry were unable to find a suitable partner, with more than 60 per cent admitting they were not doing anything to change the situation.
One of the main reasons for failing to settle down was cited as a lack of opportunities to meet an appropriate partner – a situation most likely made worse by the nation’s culture of long working hours. Other reasons ranged from lack of financial resources to an inability to connect with people, according to the report.
And so it is perhaps little surprise that a raft of dating events and matchmaking innovations have cropped up in Japan in recent years, from speed dating in temples for single nuns to local government-funded matchmaking events in depopulated areas of rural Japan.