Praying for a hubby › Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion

« Back To Picture of the Day Top

REUTERS/Issei Kato

Wednesday 22nd July, 07:00 AM JST

Female participants in a “konkatsu” (husband-hunting) event pray before an altar at Imado shrine in Tokyo.

› Login to comment

Latest 15 of 82 Total Comments Show All

Monoflow at 11:23 PM JST - 22nd July

I just saw a report about gogon yesterday here on a tv-channel in Switzerland. From what I saw (also in real life in Japan), the girls attending such parties are usually much more better looking than the boys. Probably the reason, why my japanese wife married me ;))) ...
OhioDonna at 11:30 PM JST - 22nd July

This is just plain weird. I know many women who pray for husbands but not in a group setting.
seesaw at 11:31 PM JST - 22nd July

Monoflow: good for you!...:)
grafton at 12:06 AM JST - 23rd July

This is a one off event & no one here knows anything about the normal day to day life of any of these women. Such patronising rubbish from people that spend far too much of their own lives in front of computer terminals. JT has a habit of putting up a picture for the day that is designed to generate comment, that I can live with, but this picture was low, too low for me.
jeffrey at 12:40 AM JST - 23rd July

grafton at 12:06 AM JST - 23rd July Such patronising rubbish from people that spend far too much of their own lives in front of computer terminals. JT has a habit of putting up a picture for the day that is designed to generate comment, that I can live with, but this picture was low, too low for me.

While I agree that JT is often not too many steps away from the Drudge Report in the stories it chooses (and then the way the moderators pretend to be guardians of decency), this kind of thing is frustrating to people who know and love Japan. While not as pathetic, say, as the level of violence in the U.S., for all it's modernity, Japan remains rather backward socially, old-fashioned, and maddeningly superstitious.

The low birth rate in Japan may alarm the government and the economic titans, but not everyone needs to get married and have children, which is probably pretty much all these woman care about. And for good reason since the society still offers little meaningful work for woman to do, so having a serious career is not even an option, and not everyone is content to live with her parents forever.
30061015 at 01:15 AM JST - 23rd July

all these woman care about

Sodai gomi for the next bubble and a sperm donor for Japan Inc. Just say no.
HonestDictator at 02:18 AM JST - 23rd July

This pick kinda reminds me of a Japanese friend I once had, she was 25 and just wouldn't stop trying to pressure me to go out with her. I was just looking for a friend (without benefits), and she came on waaaay to strong. Total turn off.

These women need to keep living their lives but also try to accomplish something career wise to build some sort of security and a bit of independence for themselves. I know when I have a family of my own, I plan to assist helping raise the children and doing household chores as well, not just leaving replacement mom to do it for me like a spoiled kid.

Japanese marital society needs to look towards the model of 2 parents working and raising the children together. The only thing that would probably get in the way of this is the lack of some decent income earning jobs for the women.
DerekJ at 02:58 AM JST - 23rd July

> This is just plain weird. I know many women who pray for husbands but not in a group setting. > I don't see how this differs from a bunch of people praying for something in church. These ladies have a common goal, so why not pray together?
NotJapanese at 09:05 AM JST - 23rd July

This picture is actually very sad, and a sad reflection of real "life" in Japan. The lack of real, meaningful social interaction and communication in Japan is simply pathetic. Thats why these poor, sad, Japanese wpomen resort to this mindless and meaningless exercise. The Shinto Priest must be laughing all the way to the bank....

How did you come to your conclusion from one picture? This is happnening all over the world, because in all populations there are always more women than men.
Mizuame at 05:25 PM JST - 23rd July

Some of these women are probably just going through the ritual in order to say to Mama that they've been trying.
OhioDonna at 03:44 AM JST - 24th July

"I don't see how this differs from a bunch of people praying for something in church. These ladies have a common goal, so why not pray together?" I have never thought of doing this at church because there are more important needs (illness, unemployment etc) than a husband. But I will pass the suggestion to my ladies prayer group as we have several single ladies.
Eddisofbextar at 08:35 AM JST - 24th July

What the heck were these females doing during High School and University? facepalm. Too late now, arafo!
bushlover at 07:01 AM JST - 25th July

How could I possibly interview all of these women in a day?
kaoken at 08:35 AM JST - 26th July

Interesting, I didn't know these Japanese chicks were so desperate...I'm kidding, this is just their culture. Asian women have been doing this for centuries.
rei307 at 03:41 PM JST - 26th July

The grass is always greener on the other side.