Mina Saito is a working woman in Japan. She is 39. She lives in a town called Sapporo with her parents. She works in an ad agency. Although her working hours are between 9:00 am to 6:00 pm, she often works till 9:00 pm because of her work load and arrives home at 10:00 pm. Currently she does not have any boyfriend. She had been in different relationships before. She used to enjoy times eating or wandering around in different places with her dates, but Mina finds her sanctuary in her family. Since she got busy with her work and life, she cannot manage to make enough time to pursuit into a new relationship. Even though her parents were little worried about her being "not getting married" earlier but they never did complain much about it, not even now.
In 2010 from a survey in Japan it was reported that one among each five men of fifty and each ten women of the same age have never been married in their lives. Regarding to the report the rate will increase in future.
Like her, Mina has girlfriends of her age who haven't got married in their lives as well. They think marriage is unnecessary for themselves because they all have jobs, houses, security and freedom.
The rate of birth in Japan is decreasing ominously. Generally Japanese people give birth through marriage. To increase the birth rate it is required to increase the rate of marriage. To do it, the arranges and the rules of the society needs to be changed. Like taking steps to cooperate the working mothers, increasing the numbers of child care centers etc. But the problem is wanting to get married depends on personal choices.
Is it really necessary to get married? The answer depends on how we look towards the concept of the institution.
