Recording summary · August 2023
All Japan's WEIRDEST things about Dating
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Overview
Dating experiences in Japan since around 2010 and through Tinder starting in 2017 involved frequent dates, occasional concurrent relationships, and encounters with practices Daniel regarded as frustrating or unusual, including obscured profile photos, rapid commitment expectations, love hotel complications, and unexpected social interactions.
Themes
Online dating profiles where Japanese women hide their faces using gestures or images of animals and objects, requiring prolonged conversation before revealing a photo.
Pace of relationships, specifically women proposing marriage or moving in together after brief periods.
Cultural expectations and behavioral reactions during dates, including expectations for men to walk on the traffic side of the street and strong emotional responses to minor issues.
Love hotel visits, including instances where partners departed after entering a paid room, as well as an encounter involving a married woman.
Third-party involvement in dates, encompassing gokon group dating and requests to bring along friends.
Developments
In 2010, an unfinished large meal during a date resulted in the woman crying over the perceived implication that she had eaten excessively.
In 2014, marriage documentation and a birth certificate were prepared for an embassy marriage, but the relationship concluded following a major dispute.
A woman asked to bring a male friend along on an undated Tinder date, a request Daniel declined.
Dinner occurred with an online match and her husband, followed by a solo meeting with the woman at a love hotel the following day.
Uncertainties & gaps
The precise motivation for Japanese women obscuring their faces on dating profiles was not confirmed, with potential embarrassment over discovery by friends or family noted as a possibility.
The exact reasons women occasionally left love hotels after entering and paying for a room remained unverified, with shifting moods or the room environment suggested as possibilities.