Survey reveals that Japanese women’s ideal husband is surprisingly ordinary

A diligent salaryman is actually the dream husband for many.

We all have marriage partner preferences — we’ll be spending a huge portion of our lives with them, after all. Some Japanese men don’t like women who can’t do housework, while Japanese women can’t imagine themselves tying the knot with a stingy man. These kinds of surveys continue to fascinate us with peeks into the world of the opposite sex.

Marriage consulting agency IBJ recently conducted one such survey, asking 556 unmarried Japanese women in their 20s to 40s about their husband preferences.

When asked which occupation their dream husband would have, the results were as follows:

1. Major trading firm / manufacturing company (40 percent)
2. Civil servant (38 percent)
3. Doctor (7 percent)
4. No preference (7 percent)
4. Tax accountant (4 percent)
5. Manager (2 percent)
6. Advertising agency / television station (2 percent)

Women who favored men working in public sectors or major trading firms said that job stability and high income were the deciding factor. These salarymen were also perceived as diligent, earnest individuals who could discuss a wide variety of topics and hold interesting conversations. Surprisingly, doctors were in low demand, but that could be due to shift work pulling them away from spending time with family.

As for their ideal partner’s annual salary:

1. 5 million to 6.99 million yen (US$45,170 to $63,147) (47 percent)
2. 7 million to 8.99 million yen (34 percent)
3. More than 9 million yen (11 percent)
4. No preference (6 percent)
5. 3 million to 4.99 million yen (2 percent)

▼ That girl you’re pining for?
She’s always holding onto a calculator for a reason.

Close to 50 percent of the women found $45,000 to be an acceptable income, which is rather low if we factor in housing, and the fact that much of Japan still assumes the man to be the sole breadwinner. Could this be the start of a working couple trend?

One thing’s for certain though: all the women agreed unanimously that they preferred men who earn more money than them, which is in contrast to last year’s where only two-thirds of respondents thought that way.

The 11 percent who favored high-income earners, and who are probably staunch believers of men being the sole provider, reasoned that it would make child raising and life in general easier. One comment stated that a man who can earn (so much) is capable of just about anything.

▼ “If I ever need more money, I’ll just buy it.
That’s how it works, right?”

IBJ also asked women to choose the one trait they would not tolerate in a marriage partner:

1. Gambling addiction (40 percent)
2. Filthy (24 percent)
3. Tendency to cheat (19 percent)
4. Stingy (8 percent)
5. Arrogant (4 percent)
6. Mother complex (3 percent)
7. Overweight (1 percent)
8. Complains a lot (1 percent)

There’s nothing worse than having your financial plans wrecked by a gambling spouse, and that applies to pretty much every culture. We thought cheating would rank a little higher on the list though, but due to some cultural differences, it seems the prospect of having a partner with poor personal hygiene amounts to a bigger sin.

Overall, it seems that Japanese women’s expectation of their perfect husband isn’t any more outrageous than anywhere else. Either that or they’ve given up completely on finding that Prince Charming and resorted to setting the bar low.

Of course these results may not accurately reflect the attitudes of all Japanese women, but nevertheless it still affords men a glimpse into their mindsets. And with such average requirements, finding love in Japan may not be so difficult after all. Just be really careful of the three deal breakers of dating Japanese girls.

Source: IBJ via Hachima Kikou
Top image: Pakutaso
Images: Pakutaso (1, 2)

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