Don’t swipe, write: Japanese city encourages daters to send love letters | Bizarre

The city of Miyazaki says hundreds of men and women have written an old-fashioned letter since the matchmaking program started two years ago. While wedding bells have not yet rung, the program has resulted in 32 face-to-face meetings and brought 17 couples together.

About 450 people have signed up so far – more than double the city’s original estimate. About 70% of that is in their 20s or 30s. “It takes longer than online dating, but it creates a closer bond,” Rie Miyata, head of the consultancy that runs the program, told AFP.

“It’s not so much about how good your pen is, but more about the words you write with sincerity and care, thinking deeply about the person you’re writing to. That is what makes a letter so powerful.” Candidates are screened and matched based on information such as their taste in books and movies. Profile photos are prohibited to encourage participants to base their decision on personality.

People who are linked can send and receive up to five letters without disclosing their name or address, the Mainichi Shimbun said. If they want to meet, the consultancy will give them the contact details. Then they are left to their own devices.

The correspondence is one of many attempts to encourage the loners of Japan to meet and perhaps marry and start a family. The country is fighting a low birth rate and a shrinking population.

There are many examples of such initiatives. In 2018, single men from the mountain village of Otari produced a calendar showing them at work hoping to find love and companionship. The government has also started funding artificial intelligence matchmaking programs.

The number of babies born in Japan fell to an all-time low of 811,604 last year. A figure the Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, called “shocking” on Tuesday. Japanese women are now expected to have an average of 1.3 children, well below the rate needed to keep the population at current levels.

Following social trends in other developed economies, more and more people are choosing to marry later or not at all. A recent government survey found that one in four single 30-year-olds has no desire to tie the knot. Many fear that married life is too expensive and would curtail their freedom.

But a 25-year-old man who took part in Miyazaki’s linking program said he was pleased with the correspondence. “As a child I wrote letters to the girl I was in love with, I love how old-fashioned letters are. That’s why I wanted to participate.”