There's a new type of relationship emerging that's neither lover nor friend and spreading among younger generations.
These relationships include sofure (soine furendo, or sleeping-together friends), who do nothing but sleep side by side, reports AERA.
Other similar "-fure" relationships are hafure (hagu furendo, hugging friends), kisufure (kissing friends), and ofufure (ofuro furendo, bathing friends). These terms and relationships are allegedly gaining traction on social media and online platforms among Gen Z in Japan.
Can two people simply sleep together without any romantic feelings or ...
The debate over surnames in Japan has become a surprisingly big sticking point: polls tend to show that the majority of the public want the law to change, but the conservative government is committed to retaining the current situation, where Japanese citizens must change their surnames when they marry so that both members of a married couple have the same name. In practice, this almost always means the woman changes her name to her husband's. (One loophole around this is to marry someone who isn't a Japanese citizen, though we doubt the government will actively encourage that!)
The ...
Lady Gaga sang of bad romance. Was she singing about Japan?
For the fourth consecutive year, Japan's "romantic satisfaction" rate has ranked among lowest in an international poll.
According to a survey by the Paris-based Ipsos, 51% of people in Japan are satisfied with "feeling loved," significantly lower than the 29-country average of 77%.
Only 33% of Japanese respondents were satisfied with their romantic and sex lives, a 6-point decrease from 2025 -- and the lowest satisfaction rate among the 29 countries (the 29-country average was 60%). Only 6% of respondents in Japan said they were ...
Meiji Yasuda Research Institute's Survey on Romance and Marriage has found that 76.3%, or more than three in four unmarried people, say they are not in a relationship, up from the previous survey in 2023.
Interest in romance and relationships is also declining, with fewer people expressing a desire to get married. Women cited "not feeling the need to get married," while men cited "less disposable income."
The survey was conducted online from December 12-21, 2025, targeting 8,872 men and women aged 18-54 nationwide (3,909 married and 4,963 unmarried).
While we often take issue with the ...
It's becoming one of prominent issues of our times: people pretending to be someone they're not on dating apps.
While there are apps and services out there specifically for married couples to find extramarital partners, some less scrupulous (or more calculating) folks like to cast their net wider and also use regular dating apps, even ones that do not require you to make your marital status known.
When does this stop being a white lie and become a more serious form of deception?
As an article in the Yomiuri Shimbun reports, one case indicates that lying about your single status can land ...
Legal website Bengo4 recently considered a question sent in by a reader: Are there legal repercussions for not having sex on a trip with the person who paid?
This isn't just a question of guys left horny, lonely, and disappointed, forced to jerk off in an expensive hotel room they booked in the expectation of getting sex. More than just sour grapes, there's also the issue of romance scams, where people pretend to be interested in you, even to the extent of agreeing to go to Tokyo Disneyland just because they want a free trip to the resort, not because they want to spend time with you.
The ...
Have you ever wanted to date a gravure idol? Of course, how hasn't?! But how would that actually be possible?
Well, the easiest way is to be either rich or famous, it seems.
And how do such guys hook up with gravure models? Fellow celebrities presumably meet a lot at various kinds of events or through work gigs. But for others, it may not differ so much from us mere mortals: dating apps.
Sena Natsuki recently revealed in an interview on a TV Tokyo show that she is on the hunt for a new boyfriend and she is using a dating app specifically for celebrities.
"There's like a special access ...
Last year, porn star Eimi Fukada stoked controversy and pissed off her male fan base by arguing that men should pay for dates (since the woman is investing in other costs for the date, such as clothing, hair styling, and makeup). The controversy got so bad that she was forced to issue an apology video.
Clearly, the government has no such qualms. A government agency has included not paying for dating expenses as part of a list of things that constitute domestic violence.
The Gender Equality Bureau, which is part of the Cabinet Office, has defined violence in a very broad way. Its website ...
Oh no. One of those surveys has appeared.
Despite our best efforts to celebrate the diverse and exciting sexual landscape in Japan, these perennial surveys reporting on sexlessness in the country get lots more attention and tarnish the reputation (probably made worse by our own regurgitation of them on these digital pages).
Of course, decline in sexual activities between long-term partners is common across the world and so is a decline in dating and sex among the young, though the reporting on it in Japan tends to veer toward the orientalist.
This latest survey is a bit different, because ...
Be careful when something seems too good to be true. Especially when it's with someone you don't know.
Dating apps have made it a lot easier to meet people and arrange hook-ups, but you're still interacting with a total stranger when all's said and done.
According to a media report by Shizuoka TV last week, a man has been arrested for sexual assault on a woman he met through an app.
The 36-year-old man from Hamamatsu admits having sex with the woman but says he believed there was consent. The women says there wasn't consent.
The incident took place in late June at a love hotel in Yaizu, ...
