Japan’s Tokyo Metropolitan Government has developed its own dating app using artificial intelligence (AI), which is unusual for local governments.
According to a recent article in the Yomiuri Shimbun, Tokyo began operating a dating app developed on the 20th with the aim of providing a meeting place where men and women who wish to marry can find the other person with confidence.
Subscribers to this app are limited to single men and women aged 18 or older who live in Tokyo or attend a Tokyo-based workplace or school. In order to sign up, you must submit a photo of yourself, identification, self-identification documents, and income verification documents. The registration fee is set at 11,000 yen per two years.
The AI matching system stands out as the main function of the app. When subscribers respond to more than 100 questions about values, etc., AI selects the right partner. It also provides a function to directly search for the other person who meets the conditions desired by the user. In addition, it has a service that provides counseling on concerns and concerns about blind dates.
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike expressed expectations for the app’s launch, saying at a regular press conference, “I hope many of you will find a wonderful meeting.”
Tokyo’s development of a dating app seems to reflect the changing culture of meeting in Japanese society. Recently, meeting through dating apps is becoming more common in Japan. According to a survey conducted by Japan’s Children and Families Administration in July on 18,000 unmarried men and women aged 15 to 39 across the country and 2,000 people who were married within the last five years, 56.8% of married people and 26.8% of unmarried people had experience using dating apps. What is particularly noteworthy is that 25.1% of married people surveyed picked a “dating app” as an opportunity to meet their spouse.
SOPHIA KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
