“Weekend marriages,” in which couples live apart, are becoming increasingly popular in Japan

[Source]

The “weekend marriage,” a form of marriage in which couples live separately and see each other only a few days a week, is gaining popularity in Japan.

Highlight the lifestyle: “Weekend marriages,” also known in Japanese as “separation marriages” or “shumatsukon,” were the subject of a BBC News video uploaded to YouTube on Valentine’s Day, which features the Takeda family, who manage to live comfortably apart despite having a young child.

The couple's homes are an hour apart, and they only meet two or three times a week. When asked why they chose this lifestyle, they pointed to their different daily routines: Hiromi, a gym owner and trainer, starts her day at 4 a.m., while Hidekazu, a business consultant, gets up at 7 a.m.

Trend at NextShark: “Weekend marriages” in which couples live apart are becoming increasingly popular in Japan

About her feelings: Hidekazu told the BBC he felt guilty about hanging around while his wife did the housework and ran her business because of their daily routine. Hiromi said she could feel stressed and lose her freedom if she shared the house with her husband.

Pros and cons: In a recent post, Japanese lifestyle website Domani listed some pros and cons of the “weekend marriage.” One benefit is that it allows couples to prioritize their careers while maintaining the freshness of their relationship.

Trending at NextShark: Former UCLA gymnast Katelyn Ohashi criticized for Halloween costume

One disadvantage is the potential financial burden, as each spouse has to pay their own bills. Another disadvantage is a potential communication problem, as the situation limits face-to-face conversations.

This is how people react: It remains to be seen how most Japanese people perceive “weekend weddings.” Hiromi and Hidekazu, for example, received mixed reactions due to traditional gender roles.

Hiromi said that men often do not approve of their lifestyle because Hidekazu does not have a wife “to take care of the household, like washing clothes and cooking.” On the other hand, women said they are jealous and “would like to do that too.”

Trending on NextShark: Watch: Carefree Asian dad sleeping on airplane floor garners praise on TikTok

Tamako Sawaguchi, a Japanese matchmaking consultant, found that women are likely to know more about “weekend marriages” than men. In an interview, they found that 86.7% of women in their twenties and thirties were familiar with the term, while only 23.3% of men in their twenties knew about it.

A social change: The number of dual-earner households—families in which both spouses work full-time—has reportedly increased in Japan over the years. Data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications show that such households overtook households with a non-working wife in 2000, rising to 64% in 2017.

In July, the German statistics platform Statista reported that the number of dual households in Japan now stands at around 12.6 million. The development was attributed to “increasing participation of women in the labor market.”

Trending at NextShark: Tony Leung and Faye Wong are back together in a rare photo taken almost 30 years after “Chungking Express.”

More about NextShark:

Honda and Toyota express skepticism about electric vehicles in light of industry decline