The fee-based app from the Tokyo Metropolitan government will ask people to prove that they are legally single, and sign a letter confirming their willingness to get married. It will also require that people submit a tax certificate slip that proves their annual income, along with roughly 15 other items of personally identifying information - including height, weight, educational background and occupation following a mandatory interview with the app's operator.

So - Match.com, only you give all of your data to the government instead of a private company.

According to the Independent, Tokyo officials allocated US$1.2 million towards the development of dating apps in 2023, and US$1.9 million for fiscal 2024 for the purpose of promoting marriage through said apps.

"If there are many individuals interested in marriage but unable to find a partner, we want to provide support," a Tokyo official told The Asahi Shimbun.

"We hope that this app, with its association with the government, will provide a sense of security and encourage those who have been hesitant to use traditional apps to take the first step in their search for a partner."

According to AFP, the app is intended to give a "gentle push" to the nearly "70 per cent of people who want to get married" but weren't "actively joining events or apps to look for a partner."

Falling Birth Rates

In February, we noted that in 2023 Japan's birth rate fell 5.1% from a year earlier to 758,631, while the number of marriages slid 5.9% to 489,281, the first time in 90 years the number fell below 500,000. The last time the number was this low the US had just dropped the atom bomb over Hiroshima and Nagasaki - signaling even greater declines in the population as out-of-wedlock births are rare in Japan.