For Japan’s young singles, romance gets a corporate middleman

Taizen Yasuda, a client of the IBJ matchmaking service, on a street in Tokyo. He thought matchmaking services "would be the quickest way to find someone with the exact same goal — marriage.” | Noriko Hayashi / The New York Times

Sep 30, 2026

True love may be priceless. But in Japan, 20-somethings are flocking to marriage agencies that promise a fast track to the altar — and charge a premium for it.

For hundreds of years, through the post-World War II era, Japanese marriages were brokered through omiai, a practice in which matchmakers — usually relatives, family friends or bosses — linked singles in their orbit. But the custom fell out of fashion, giving way to organic dating and, eventually, a wave of casual-dating apps.

Now, young adults are enrolling at record rates in marriage agencies, where counselors serve as professional matchmakers. Across Tokyo, advertisements line metro cars, urging commuters to “leave life’s fateful encounters to the pros.” Another declares: “Better one omiai than 100 swipes.”

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