It’s well known that Japan’s birthrate is among the lowest in the industrialized world, standing at just 1.29 per female. The reasons for this are many, including social phenomenon such as “parasite women” (daughters who live with their parents all their lives, spending all their money on having fun and never getting serious about marriage or relationships) and “herbivore men” (men who are less ambitious about life and who don’t care about sex).
Another problem is the difficulty of actually finding someone you’re compatible with to marry, which is why Japanese cities have been trying to promote konkatsu, or “Marriage Activities,” a catch-all term for helping people find that someone special. The newest trend is ota-konkatsu, or marriage activities for otakus who want to find someone who shares their love of 2D anime and games, which sounds like a pretty good idea to me. Last weekend there was a special event held at the Washinomiya Shrine — the “Holy Land” seen in the Lucky Star anime — in which 20 male and female otakus got together at an event to try to bring couples together.
There’s no word on how many successfully hit it off.
“Marriage Activities” for otakus is a great idea.
