Japan exports dating to UK

[Mulboyne]

From the UK Evening Standard on thisislondon.com (registration required)

We've had blind dating, speed dating and text dating. Now get ready for group dating, the Japanese phenomenon on its way to London. Instead of setting up a couple, group dating matches circles of friends with like-minded parties. The concept, from Compa.co.uk aims to remove first-date awkwardness by allowing friends along for moral support.
Founder Ed Fitzhugh said: "Like the Japanese, in the UK we have a strong herd mentality and going out in groups is something that comes naturally to us, so it seems a logical extension to go out dating in groups"
...Compa has high hopes for group dating, especially among the record numbers of eligible men in their thirties - about 1.65 million were classed as single, as opposed to 1.27 million women, according to Government figures.

From the Compa.co.uk site:

Straight from Japan, a totally different way to socialise and meet people!

Who could have imagined we'd be eating raw fish until the Japanese gave us sushi? And who could have imagined we would be standing up and singing solo in the local pub until the Japanese gave us karaoke? Now another Japanese phenomenon has hit Britain: singles are now dating in groups.
Compa.co.uk is bringing to the UK one way Japan has solved the dating problem. You no longer have to sit making small talk all evening to the blind date from hell. Compa teams up a group of you and your single friends with another group of singles, who are also all friends, so you can go out as a group and see who hits it off.

[Mulboyne]

Maybe Compa should set up a joint venture with Destina

Japanese women look to UK for love

A dating agency has just opened its first UK office to match single women from Japan with eligible bachelors here. Japan's growing number of professional women are looking overseas for romance because they feel their own menfolk do not understand their need to work.
Destina Japan, which already has offices in the US, says well-educated Japanese women believe Western men are more liberal minded and hundreds are hoping to find Mr Right in the UK...The women are willing to spend thousands of pounds travelling from Japan to meet up with their date, says the company, which opened an office in London two weeks ago.
One reason for this global search for love is that 35 per cent of Japanese women aged in their 30s are single. The figures rises to 43 per cent among 30 to 34-year-olds, according to Destina Japan...According to the Office of National Statistics there are 4.5 million single men in England and Wales aged 20 to 40 (this includes men living with a partner). A further 333,000 between the same ages are widowed or divorced.

Hiroko Ozawa, founder of Destina Japan, said: "We have hundreds of female members living in Japan who want to date men in the UK. "Japanese women like the fact that British men have a modern attitude to family life and marriage as well as a deep respect for the traditional aspects of the Japanese culture," she said.

[Mulboyne]

[Taro Toporific]

Similar article on Destina from the Telegraph
Move over Bridget, the Japanese are coming

... What is more, they are used to a "drinking culture" and are unlikely to complain if their husband stops off for a few after-work drinks.."

Yep, I catch hell for not going out drinking with the boys enough (and typing to you guys on screen). So Mulboyne when as we gonna rectify that?

[GomiGirl]

Similar article on Destina from the Telegraph
Move over Bridget, the Japanese are coming

... What is more, they are used to a "drinking culture" and are unlikely to complain if their husband stops off for a few after-work drinks.."

Yep, I catch hell for not going out drinking with the boys enough (and typing to you guys on screen). So Mulboyne when as we gonna rectify that?

Yeah... When Mr Mulboyne. How many near misses can one have? But Taro - need to catch up with you!! Haven't seen you for yonks!!

[Skankster]

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I think British men and Japanese men are WELL suited for each other.

I think the opposite is true for US people.

[Captain Japan]

A JAPANESE woman will have travelled almost 6,000 miles when she arrives in the UK today for dates with eligible bachelors she has never seen before.

Reiko Suzuki, 38, is the first member of a unique dating agency to make the trip since it opened an office in London last November.

These Destina people have the best PR people around. Is this really news? The other day a friend of mine said her friend tried a similar thing late last year. She went to the US. I guess if it worked out she was going to stay there with the guy. But it didn't so she came back here.

Also can anyone think of a woman who would allow her real name to be used in a news story like this? I think something isn't quite right.

[Captain Japan]

These folks have the greatest PR department in the history the world...
High-end matchmaker finds Japan eligible for expansion
Japan Times

Chased by a busy schedule 24 hours a day, months and years pass until you suddenly notice that your encounters with the opposite sex are limited and you seldom have a chance of meeting a soul mate, let alone a spouse. Hiroko Ozawa, president of Destina Japan, noticed that many of her peers felt that way when she was studying in Manhattan.
Finding a business opportunity in such a condition, she established her company in 1996 in New York. What she specifically did was introduce Japanese women to American men on the premise of marriage.

"Not just any American guy, but those with a high level of education, good earning, and a fine personality, of course," points out Nick Naruse, chairman and CEO of Destina Japan.

The business prospered, and branch offices were soon set up in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, London and Tokyo. In Japan, another branch will be established in Osaka this April.

"Japanese women are very popular among the British and Americans for their exotic features, high education level, as well as for being reserved and humble. They also tend to have a well-balanced personality as a result of being brought up properly," says Naruse....the rest...

[Captain Japan]

This is pretty funny...WARNING: Satire


These mail-order grooms are just awaiting shipment.
Mail Order Grooms Shipped to Order
The Toque

TOKYO, JAPAN--The owners of the Lucky Bride Mail-Order Groom Company would like you to know about their super duper keen product: mail-order grooms. The innovative Japanese company wishes to to tell you that their grooms are "100% top-gun for sure!"

Mail-order brides have been shipping for years, satisfying many American customers, but it was a bold business stroke for Japanese entrepreneurs to come up with the concept of shipping young Japanese men to the United States for the purpose of wedding single American women.

"Each groom is guaranteed 100%," said Hiro Kamatsu, majority owner of Lucky Bride. "Every man tip-top no doubt!"

The company, which began doing business in April, has a very small showroom, since most of their business is done online or through mail-order. And since inventory is changing all the time, it is hard to keep their catalogs up-to-date.

The grooms range in age from 18 to 45, offering American customers a comfortable selection. And each groom has been trained to be open, sensitive, and caring.

"We give you best man for dollar no doubts!" said Kazuhiro Matsushita, chief manager of sales. "But 'best man' for groom is extra! ha ha ha!"...more...

Mail-order grooms are shipped in boxes that do contain breathing holes.

[Mulboyne]

Asahi: Love is a many splendored thing--and profitable, too

As a young office worker, Hiroko Ozawa was frustrated. Everybody seemed to be following the same, predictable route. "In the 1980s, many people still believed that women couldn't be happy unless they were married before they turned 25," Ozawa says. Unlike many of her more conventional contemporaries, Ozawa decided she needed to strike out on her own and set up her own business. "Since the fifth grade, I'd wanted to start my own shop or company," says the 38-year-old entrepreneur during a recent interview in Tokyo. "I just didn't know what it would be." She found out 17 years later. In 1996, she founded Destina Japan Inc. in New York, a matchmaking agency specializing in international marriages...more...

[maraboutslim]

They [Japanese women] also tend to have a well-balanced personality as a result of being brought up properly

I want to start a companion business to go along with these match making services: I will warn foreign men about what they getting themselves into, and help provide contingency plans for getting rid of the wives once the husbands realize their mistakes!

Marriage is for suckers! (13 years and counting...)

[Jack]

I wrote to a Toronto newspaper about the concept of "gocon" which I find to be a great concept for dating. They didn't have an interest in making a story of it as Canadians don't know that. we have the usual and awkward "blind date" concept but I think if people learned about gocon it could catch on.

[Mulboyne]

The back of today's Asahi/IHT has an advert for dating agency Destina with the tagline "Meet your one and only". That's not an uncommon phrase to use for a partner but it strikes me as vaguely reminiscent of Occupation-era Japan when a GI's regular Japanese girlfriend was called his "only".