30% of Unmarried Young People Say ‘I Don’t Plan to Marry’ — Satoko Ito: ‘Shocking’; 5ch Reacts: ‘How Are You Supposed to Start a Family on ¥200,000 Rent?’
Japan’s Children and Families Agency conducted its first large-scale survey of young people, finding that roughly one in three unmarried respondents said they “have no intention of getting married.” Reacting to the results on TBS’s “Hiruobi,” freelance announcer Satoko Ito called the finding “shocking,” adding, “Japan’s population can only keep shrinking.” On 5ch, commenters split between blaming a lack of financial breathing room — citing rent and stagnant real wages — and pointing to a shift in values where marriage itself is no longer seen as worthwhile, with the thread divided over which factor is the true root cause.
As young people show declining interest in marriage, Satoko Ito says: “Shocking. Japan’s population can only keep shrinking”
Freelance announcer Satoko Ito appeared on TBS’s “Hiruobi” (weekdays at 10:25 a.m.) on the 2nd.
She commented that it was “shocking” that, according to the Children and Families Agency’s first large-scale survey of young people, roughly one in three unmarried young people said they “have no intention of getting married.”
This is what happens when you women look down on men too much.
11AnonymousSep 3, 2026 00:48
I can nod along with Re: #2, but with Re: #9 I just think 'what is this guy even talking about?'
3AnonymousSep 3, 2026 00:46
A generation that can't even contact people directly — using services like 'Momuri' (a company that quits your job for you so you don't have to talk to your boss) — isn't going to bother clearing the hurdle of dating. It's not mandatory or required, after all.
5AnonymousSep 3, 2026 00:46
No need to worry — thanks to foreigners, the birth rate has improved.
6AnonymousSep 3, 2026 00:46
Wait, her title is 'freelance announcer'?
12AnonymousSep 3, 2026 00:49
I'm not young anymore, but is it really weird to not want to get married?
28AnonymousSep 3, 2026 00:58
Re: #12 It's less about whether it's weird or not — since it leads to population decline, it's turning into a mindset that society can't afford to tolerate.
13AnonymousSep 3, 2026 00:49
Re: #1 Naturally — spending time with cats and dogs is 10,000 times more fun than spending it with humans.
14AnonymousSep 3, 2026 00:51
They've made way too many regulations around dating and sex lol. Nowadays you get arrested just for talking to someone, and even confessing your feelings to an acquaintance gets you branded a stalker lol
17AnonymousSep 3, 2026 00:52
There was a show explaining that, in a 100-year lifespan, being forced to spend the rest of your life with someone you just happened to fall for during a mere 2-3 years in your 20s goes against the natural order — it's simply unreasonable.
The conclusion was: 'It only works if you pile patience on patience, endurance on endurance, give up your freedom, and throw away a lot of richness in life — money, time, and peace of mind.'
It also said your unhappiness index shoots up instantly if you're supporting an unemployed partner, like a stay-at-home wife.
It's true that after 10 years, most married couples have lost their love for each other.
A life spent gritting your teeth and living together forever while irritated might be the unhappiest life of all.
69AnonymousSep 3, 2026 01:38
Re: #17 Every year 500,000 couples get married while 200,000 divorce, but that 40% who divorce are never truly unhappy — they get a chance to start over. The truly unhappiest people aren't the divorced or the unmarried — it's married couples whose home life has completely fallen apart but who won't divorce because they're worried about appearances. Try not to end up like the keeper at Asahiyama Zoo…
27AnonymousSep 3, 2026 00:58
Unlike that Suzuki-whoever celebrity, this is actually a sane opinion.
29AnonymousSep 3, 2026 00:58
It's rough without financial breathing room. Women whose families are well-off ('rich back home') and whose parents are supportive seem to have kids because they'd be fine even if they got divorced.
30AnonymousSep 3, 2026 00:59
Harari said immortal humans are coming, so this works out fine. There'll also be cyborg-like mechanized humans and people you can't even tell apart from AI.
31AnonymousSep 3, 2026 01:01
Young people's real wages have been cut in half compared to 40 years ago, so of course this is what happens. Try the old free-range parenting style today and you'd get arrested. Today's old folks were just too dumb — they wrecked the economy and churned out a ton of weird laws.
36AnonymousSep 3, 2026 01:07
There's just no benefit to marriage anymore, especially for women. If you can support yourself, there's zero upside to spending every day with some mediocre Japanese guy. In the old days, women's life plans were effectively restricted, so they had no choice but to pair up.
50AnonymousSep 3, 2026 01:15
Re: #36 Men have even less to gain — they just get turned into an ATM.
37AnonymousSep 3, 2026 01:08
It's just that there are too many incompetent people running things. However you look at it, this is the limit of a credentialism-obsessed society.
44AnonymousSep 3, 2026 01:14
Re: #42 Until Japan collapses. Population decline directly affects the country's decline. Re: #37, agreed on that.
42AnonymousSep 3, 2026 01:12
This has been a done deal for ages now. How long are people going to keep saying it?
56AnonymousSep 3, 2026 01:23
Why though? Don't kids these days ever fall for someone so hard they just can't stand not being with them?
58AnonymousSep 3, 2026 01:26
Re: #56 When both you and the person you like are drowning in debt, thinking about marriage just makes you feel miserable. What's the point of browsing a Ferrari catalog when you can't afford to buy one anyway?
64AnonymousSep 3, 2026 01:35
Re: #56 I think if both people can feel that way about each other, it does lead toward marriage. It seems like the ones struggling are the kids who've never had that experience — or who can date fine but never get chosen as marriage material.
77AnonymousSep 3, 2026 01:42
For the people at the top who use labor, a high-birthrate society is better for them. For the people being used, fewer kids means less competition, which is better. Wanting more kids is, if anything, the logic of the ruling class.
83AnonymousSep 3, 2026 01:48
Re: #77 That just means 'do everything yourself, then.' You're only thinking about your own situation. Though letting people burn through tax money endlessly is messed up too.
80AnonymousSep 3, 2026 01:45
As for the labor force, give it another 20 years and robots and AI will handle it somehow. Elder care, medicine — robots will do it all.
82AnonymousSep 3, 2026 01:47
Re: #80 And where's the money for that supposed to come from? I don't think it'll happen. It can't happen.
Background and Key Points of This Debate
The Children and Families Agency’s survey marks the government’s first attempt to grasp young people’s views on marriage on a large scale, and is positioned as baseline data for future measures to address the declining birthrate. In the thread, both economic factors — “rent is too high,” “real wages have fallen since 40 years ago” — and shifting values — “there’s no benefit to marriage,” “I don’t want to lose my freedom” — were cited as causes, though it’s easy to overlook that these two explanations aren’t mutually exclusive and can coexist. Comments citing divorce statistics or personal experience were also prominent, but these reflect individual impressions rather than the survey data itself, and should be read separately from the actual findings.
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