We often hear news about singles in Japan staying unmarried in Japan and there are no lack of news covering Japan’s lack of sex contributing to its aging problem. According to an article by Mainichi, 40% of Japanese will be single by 2040. While this may sound like a lot, a national survey has shown that already 34.5% of Japanese people are single.

Almost 50% of people live alone in Tokyo

For the group of people aged 20~50 years old, 29% of men and 20% of women live alone, within this group, almost 60% are never married.

The “solo” men and women live in different wards

A land and residential survey conducted in 2013 for singles men and women in regards to renting and home ownership has revealed that single men and women live in different wards in Tokyo, and men and women seem approach housing in a different way.

Single men tend to live in older, residential areas while single women tend to live in upscale, fashionable areas. Specifically, men in areas like Edogawa, Adachi and Katsushika wards outnumber women, while the opposite is the case for Meguro, Chuo and Minato wards.

While the reasons why people live where are varied, it has been noted that women tend to prefer to live near their workplaces for shorter commutes, good security and safety, while there is a tendency for men to seek for lower rents, since most of their time would be spent at work and after work socialising and thus an apartment is really more like a place for them to sleep and a roof over the head.

Why single women live in expensive areas

It is not uncommon to hear “I can’t get married because I have no money”, but author Arakawa Kazuhisa, a researcher of singlehood in Japan, suggested that women with a focus on their careers and earn more money than their male peers may find it harder to get married.

In his interviews with “solo women”,  he found that women were somewhat likely to think that if they’re marrying a man who is of a lower financial status than them, they’d rather not get married. With a substantial income with not too many dependents, these women are likely to choose a place that they want to live in.

On the other hand, the “solo men” on lower incomes would probably find it very hard to meet these “solo women”, since places of work and recreation do not overlap. From this viewpoint, this issue seems to be more related to status and class, rather than gender.

If you ask me what personally think, the image of separate communities exclusively made up of “solo men” and “solo women” doesn’t really paint the most cheerful image, but then again, that’s just the naive side of me speaking.