The Making and Unmaking of “Unmarriageable Persons” in Japan

This chapter explains how, despite shifting social contexts, marriage still mattered in contemporary Japanese society. Against this background, it looks at how the category of “unmarriageable” persons was created and stigmatized, but also negotiated, as it pertained to Japanese–Chinese transnational matchmaking. An increasing number of people, willingly or unwillingly, are remaining single in contemporary Japan. Thus, bachelorhood was not a condition limited to those seeking a Chinese bride. Those who voluntarily remained single in Japan might end up being categorized as either “unmarried” or “unmarriageable.” But paradoxically, despite even finding a marriage partner, Japanese men seeking a Chinese bride would also never be fully free from the image of being “unmarriageable.” The chapter then addresses how marrying a Chinese bride through commercial marriage brokers reaffirmed men's status as “unmarriageable.” It also demonstrates how participants categorized as “unmarriageable” attempted to negotiate their marriageability.