New Schools Polish Japanese Bachelors

DPA, TOKYO
Thursday, Jul 13, 2006

Japanese men can save the nation's low fertility rate. But marriage consultants say that men need to undergo reconstruction before the bachelors can be considered eligible for marriage.

That's the new and hot market in Japan right now to help polish men in their 30s in their appearance, manners and communication skills and even build a sense of urgency to find lifelong mates, according to Nikkei Associe magazine.

Bridegroom School, a nonprofit organization based in Nagoya, offers lectures and seminars. Kiyoharu Ohashi, marriage consultant and lecturer, tells the participants that they are running out of time and they need to get a move on.

Men can get better education or a raise in annual income, Ohashi says, but they can't fight their age.

The 37-year-old lecturer tells his students to tackle partner-hunting with the same vigor as they do at work. Men are to consider themselves as sales representatives selling merchandise -- themselves -- and women are the presidents of their best clients.

"Women have been slowly but surely polishing themselves," Ohashi says. "But men have not changed much and follow basically the same lifestyle and appearance as their 50-something counterparts."

That's a sure sign of failure. Japan is at a high risk of becoming a nation of lonely old men, he says.

Sunmark Life Creation Co opened a finishing school for men in November. A series of courses focus on manners and appearance and tips on dates. Fourteen sessions in basic and practical courses cost ?140,000 (US$1,200).

Other schools and services help men get their face waxed, color-coordinate their clothes and assess the personalities of women best matching their male clients.

Although men can invest in their clothing all they want and it is one of the first steps finishing schools and services recommend, they need most to build on their conversation skills, industry experts say.

Sadly enough, the communication skills many men lack is given as one of the reasons for the low marriage rate, leading to the worrisome low-fertility rate, according to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Japan marked the record low-fertility rate last year at 1.25, down from 1.29 a year before.

To help boost men's communication skills and the nation's youngsters mate for life, the government has decided to seek know-how of these marriage consultation services and push them to get better mating results.

The marriage consultation services have built up to nationwide memberships of about 600,000 people.

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