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The story
A matchmaking agency’s ad boasting “35,953 graduates so far” drew a wave of pushback on 5ch, with users asking “why is that an odd number?” When we contacted the operating company, they explained that the figure includes not only couples who were both members of their own service, but also cases where one member married someone from a different matchmaking agency. On the thread, comments like “counting that seems off” and “apparently prep schools do the same thing, adding in numbers from affiliated schools” spread doubt about the ‘successful match’ metric itself. On the other hand, some cooler-headed users pointed out that “an odd number is plausible given remarriages and other possibilities,” making the real question how accurately the figure reflects reality.
A matchmaking agency’s advertisement claiming “35,953 people have graduated from matchmaking so far” drew a flood of comments asking “why is that an odd number?” The operating company explained that the figure “also includes cases where a member married someone from a different matchmaking agency.”
Hajime Akiyama
These days, meeting a partner through matchmaking apps or marriage agencies is becoming the norm. Some of you readers have probably met a partner through one of these services too.
Source: sirabee.com / Original article here
What people said
But counting that feels a bit off.
They were even counting people who got married through other companies' services, that's nuts lol
Bet people who quit out of frustration get counted too
It's 'graduation' because they gave up on matchmaking
Graduation = successful match
Expulsion = withdrew
Disenrollment = banned
Dropout = went silent/unreachable
Guess there really are people who get banned
Though that's more like 'expelled' than 'disenrolled'
Does that number even matter?
If they're cross-referring members to each other, it's fair to count it
Plus it looks like they only count up to their own membership numbers anyway
That's the legitimate way to count it, right
Could happen though — might turn out more than half that number was actually people who married through other agencies
I want them to advertise how many people this service actually made happy.
Feels like that's actually the majority, if anything. I'm one of them too.
Matchmaking agencies are harder than a normal love marriage — if you can't manage to fall in love and marry on your own, an agency won't work for you either, since the other side judges you on your 'specs' right off the bat. If anything, agencies set a higher bar than dating for love.
Wait, if a member of your company matches with a member of another company, only one person actually 'married through' your company, right?
But the advice and partner selection for your own member was still handled by your own service.
Background and Key Issues
There’s no standardized definition for terms like “successful match” or “graduate” in the matchmaking industry — each company defines them differently. When a figure combines not just in-house matches but also matches with members of other agencies, as in this case, it becomes a distorted measure of “how good this particular agency actually is.” This mirrors a structure raised in the thread regarding prep schools, which similarly roll in the results of affiliated schools when reporting pass numbers — a tactic of touting a big headline figure without clearly disclosing the base population or counting method that shows up in other industries too. The thread also pointed out that “graduates” may include not just successful matches but people who gave up on matchmaking and left the service, though the company’s explanation doesn’t clarify that breakdown. What’s easy for readers to misunderstand is that a high graduate count doesn’t automatically mean a high success rate — the number worth comparing is the success rate relative to total membership, and judging a service’s quality on a simple cumulative headcount alone would be premature.
*This article is compiled as an excerpt and summary of the 5ch (Business News+) thread “Matchmaking Agency: “35,953 People Have Graduated So Far!” → Flood of ‘Why Isn’t That an Even Number?’ Comments — We Asked the Operator Why It’s Not Even.”
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