Thursday, September 5, 2002

A story released today by the Kyodo News reports that Aji, a small town in Kagawa Prefecture, western Japan, has taken the step of organizing "omiai," or introductions for prospective marriage partners, for its residents to deal with a dwindling population.

Renowned for producing fine stones, Aji has a population of about 6,700, but one-fourth are aged over 65. Young people are leaving the town because there are few attractive jobs or places to live.

As a result, the marriage and birthrates have been decreasing year by year. To prevent this outflow of people, the town put aside 500,000 yen in fiscal 2002 for the program and began registering people this June.

The service is open to men above 20 and women above 18 who are residents of Kagawa Prefecture. Registrants fill in their profiles and their preferences for partners and submit their forms with photos attached. Based on these forms, the town decides who to introduce.

"We are definitely maintaining privacy but still, Aji residents are hesitating, maybe because the staff of the Aji town office are from their neighborhoods," said Hiroko Yoshii of the town office's general affairs and planning division..

Since the purpose of the enterprise is to increase the town's population, it is considering a partial payment of expenses for introductions to residents outside the town.

But other officials worry that even if couples do marry, there is no guarantee they will live in the town.

"In that case, we are using public money on marriage mediation to serve non-Aji residents and this may cause problems. Anyway, the first omiai will take place this month so we will see the result," said one official.