In Japan’s northeast Miyagi county, residents can find life partners via a government-sponsored, Artificial Intelligence-driven matchmaking service. Throughout the land, there are public and company-sponsored singles parties and “life design workshops” meant to urge young adults to make a concrete timeline for marriage and family. The city of Tokyo even teaches basic dating skills, such as the art of conversation.
Japan has the fastest-aging population of any post-industrial nation on earth. The current total birth rate -- the average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime -- is1.3, well below the “replacement level” of 2.1 kids per woman, which is broadly accepted as the rate needed to ensure a stable population.
A periodic survey by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research found close to a fifth of men and about 15% of women expressing disinterest in marriage. Almost a third of men and a fifth of women in their fifties in Japan have never been married.
The country’s leadership is convinced that more marriages are the answer, so Japan’s new Children and Families Agency set to launch in April, will offer “marriage support service” in each of Japan’s 47 counties.
But many experts say the only way Japan can really save itself is by getting rid of the “male breadwinner, female carer” norms (准则) that continue to support policymaking and corporate management. “Post-industrial countries(like Sweden) that made it possible to balance work and family have not suffered large declines in birth rates,” Harvard sociologist Mary Brinton noted in arecent presentation.
Professor Masahiro Yamada, a sociologist at Chuo University, is doubtful whether Japan will escape its existential crisis. “It’s not a problem of matchmaking. It’s an issue of more men with unstable incomes,” he said. “Even among regular workers, relative incomes are falling.”
Lower incomes are far more of a discouragement to marriage in East Asia than in the U.S. or Europe, Yamada says, as Asian men put more emphasis on unilaterally(单方面)earning enough to support children. A truly effective policy, he argues, would double or triple investment in families instead of seniors. “Japan is going to sink, right along with its birth rate,” he warned. “And South Korea and China will be right behind us.”
8. What’s the function of AI-driven matchmaking service?
A.To offer a platform for seeking life partners. |
B.To update the country’s basic dating service. |
C.To sponsor residents to attend singles parties. |
D.To teach young Japanese how to go on dates. |
9. What can we learn from paragraphs 2 and 3?
A.Birth rate in Japan is higher than aging rate. |
B.Japan’s population structure is out of balance. |
C.Most of the Japanese dislike children or seniors. |
D.Women are less likely to marry than men in Japan. |
10. What does Masahiro Yamada think of the matchmaking service?
A.It leads to an increase of income. |
B.It touches the surface of the issue. |
C.It saves Japan from the present crisis. |
D.It departs from Japan’s existing norm. |
11. What can be a suitable title for the text?
A.Can Japan increase its birth rate? |
B.Will the service catch on in Japan? |
C.Will Japanese men’s incomes rise? |
D.Can Japanese balance work and family? |