ENTRE News – In the midst of the decreasing number of marriages in Japan, the trend of ‘friendship marriage‘ is actually growing. Quoting the South China Morning Post, the number of marriages in Japan will decrease by 6 percent in 2023 compared to previous years. Now, more young people choose friendship marriage relationships because they are free from love and sex. Friendship marriage is considered an alternative to traditional marriage.
Friendship marriage is defined as a relationship that exists based on the same interests and values between two individuals. So, this is not about feelings of love or romance. In this relationship, the two of them will be considered a legal couple. However, there was no romantic or sexual interaction between the two of them.
“I’m not suitable to be someone’s girlfriend, but I can be a good friend. I just want someone with the same taste in doing things that we both enjoy,” said one person who lives the concept of friendship marriage.
In this relationship, partners become roommates and can live together. However, they can also have relationships with other people according to agreement between their partners. People in friendship marriages are also allowed to have children through artificial insemination. This concept is more attractive to asexual, homosexual and heterosexual groups who avoid traditional marriage.
Quoting Livemint FOR4D, more than 70 percent of friendship marriage couples choose to have this relationship to have children. The reason is, like a country with an eastern culture, it is still difficult for single women in Japan to become mothers.
This trend is more popular among asexual and homosexual people, as well as among young people with incomes above the national average. Colorus, an institution that deals a lot with friendship marriage, noted that as many as 500 people in Japan have tried to apply this relationship concept, even since 2015.
How does a friendship marriage work?
In a friendship marriage, partners become partners who can live together and live a life like husband and wife. They can make mutual agreements about how their relationship will go, including whether they will pursue relationships with other people. They can also make the decision to have children or not through the process of artificial insemination. In this relationship, decisions between both parties take precedence.