Omiai Dating Site And App Usage In Japan (2025)

The evolution of the Omiai system is something which appeals to both younger people, and those from older generations too. Where Japanese matchmakers, nakodo, have worked carefully with good developer led teams, to create a fusion between the old well proven traditional ways of finding a marriage partner, and modern ways of working and technology. This type of dating site is very different from how western online dating sites and dating apps function.

The differences are what cause such a high degree of success in Japan for the male and female members that join, differences many find very appealing.

1. Online Dating Sites And Omiai Dating Sites
2. Omiai For Foreigners
3. Omiai App Vs Matchmaking Service
4. Omiai Party Should You Go?
5. Omiai Japanese Introductions For Marriage Are They Worth It?
6. Accessing Good Omiai Services To Meet The Right Partner For Marriage

One core difference between online dating sites and Omiai sites run by introduction agencies is how clients are verified, or not in the case of many dating sites.

Omiai dating sites are generally an extension of a Japanese marriage agency, so have very strict registration processes. These involve a lot of documentation to prove you are who you say, statements you’ve made about yourself are true. Plus importantly, that you’re definitely single and legally able to marry under Japanese law. Meaning you also have to be over the age of twenty to register.

You also need professionally taken photos for your profile. Selfies and low quality images draw a perception of poor reliability and lack of focus, so using them is seriously cautioned against if not outright rejected by the agencies involved. Selfies and low quality images usually result in no date, or introduction meeting, for those users.

Documentation checks are one reason the Omiai system is so successful in helping so many Japanese women and men to find a husband or wife every year.

Omiai accounted for 5.2% of marriages in Japan annually in 2010, by the end of 2022 that figure had risen to 15.4%.

There are other good reasons why so many Japanese women and men opt for help from matching agencies and sites which help with the traditional arranged marriage type of system, in preference over western style dating sites and dating apps. Trust is a key issue for people within the Japanese society, and Omiai services help alleviate trust issues.

Beyond knowing potential matches are legally able to marry, the Japanese system for introductions is only used by people seeking serious commitment, the majority wish to get married within 12 months of joining.

With dating sites members subscribe for many reasons, often seeking more casual relationships. Hence why more and more people in western countries grow tired of such sites and dating apps, seeking a quality marriage agency when feeling in need of professional help, often despondent that dating apps failed them so badly.

Another strong reason many opt for dating help from traditional Japanese matchmaking methods and the sites involved, is due to the support involved for users. While most dating apps and sites leave you to fend for yourself, Japanese matchmaking sites usually have a high degree of support. Especially those run by a reputable agency in Japan.

This brings a high degree of preference for such dating services by Japanese women and men, as well as foreign men and women who use them. The challenge for foreigners is always finding a company they can communicate and work with easily when they are seeking to get married with a Japanese person.

As with most countries, there are various dating apps specific to those in Japan that people can use to find a potential partner. Membership registration for most is relatively easy, though only in Japanese.

It is rare for dating apps to be completely free now, most people accept there is much work to be done updating the apps themselves and the servers they’re hosted on. The costs of dating apps can be quite high, depending on the services used, and whether payment has to be made in order to exchange messages. The best apps can be quite expensive, though lacking in the support that would come from a marriage agency.

In contrast, good marriage agencies who are members of a federation will usually have an app that their users can access, the cost of which is generally included in the matchmaking service fee.

As with other countries, dating apps are generally more casual, so those wanting a serious relationship are better off working with a good marriage agency to find their ideal partner.

Meeting Japanese women and men can be incredibly challenging, with deep roots in Japanese culture. It’s an even bigger challenge for many living outside of Japan, meeting people from Japan is usually quite rare.

For most people, meeting someone from Japan with a view to developing a relationship, is an almost insurmountable challenge.

For those working with a matchmaking agency based in Japan, with a site arranging introduction meetings, getting to know Japanese women or men as a prospective life partner becomes easy. Their biggest challenge is usually getting the required documentation together.

Even issues around language can be simpler than most think. Many Japanese women and men speak English well, business level English or higher, many have spent time living overseas. Granted, some do wish to remain in Japan, others are happy to relocate when they marry. Most male and female members are more interested in being with someone of the right personality than someone who communicates perfectly in their language. When people truly love each other, they find a way.

For those who can communicate fully, or even just speak some of the Japanese language, things are easier. With a great many more matches with Japanese women and men being possible.

For foreigners in Japan, it’s very simple.

As introduction meetings can be done in person, especially if living in the Kanto area around Tokyo, or the Kansai area, more specifically Osaka, which are the two biggest population centers in Japan.

Due to proximity, foreigners can then attend each follow up date in person too, offering greater opportunity for rapport building and working out if that potential match would be right to marry.

A point of Japanese culture most foreigners miss, which hits them as a big culture shock after arriving here, is how challenging it is getting to know Japanese women and men. Exchanging contact details, connecting on Facebook or LINE, let alone going on a date, usually only happens when there are common friends or colleagues.

Hence again why so many Japanese women and men use an introduction service, so introductions can happen, and meetings can be organized reliably.

For foreigners overseas, i.e. outside of Japan, introductions to attractive Japanese women and men can still be easy.

All the usual access to the website member’s area is still there for most countries, unless they have geographical internet restrictions. So you can search for an ideal partner from the collection of users as usual, with translation for each bio page as needed. Only the actual introduction meeting itself is different.

Due to technological developments, meetings can be held using apps like Zoom, enabling both people to meet in a safe environment. Prior to that first meeting neither man or woman shares their personal data or contact details, so if they decide never to meet again, they know they will be free from any uncomfortable communication. Something which both male and female members take comfort in, it takes a lot of the stress out of online dating. All initial messages go through the agency as part of the introduction process.

It’s only after successful introduction meetings that contact details are shared with interested men and women involved.

Good agencies have both an app or website member’s area where people can search at their leisure, as well as providing a full matchmaking service for those with little time to search for themselves.

When an agency does offer matchmaking, your case is attended to by a professional matchmaker who understands your personality and deeply understands the type of husband or wife you seek. Understanding which is applied when they search through the collection of members to find the best match of husband or wife for you.

Matchmaking is a much higher level of service, with a higher monthly fee appropriate to the level of work involved.

Naturally, when you have a matchmaker creating a list of potential men or women that you would match well with, along with an app allowing you to search or browse for yourself. You can, alongside their suggested collection, add those you have an idea would be worth arranging introduction meetings with.

As mentioned above, when Japanese women and men are serious they avoid the use of any dating app, instead choosing to use a service where they know people have been background checked and trustworthy introductions will be made.

This is core to the Japanese culture, as trust reverberates through all parts of serious dating and marriage partner searching.

Young people do at times try dating apps, largely out of curiosity and wanting to create opportunity. As they become older though, they rapidly find that such apps will never yield the result they desire. This leads to many Japanese women and men turning to a matchmaker from the age of around 25 to 27 onwards. Many women rapidly get to the point where they have zero trust in dating apps due to the low quality of men found through them.

Parties set up by a speed dating type company and held in Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka or other Japanese cities can be fun, though they rarely amount to much.

Many women and men find time restrictions too limiting. Plus they’re usually noisy events, making building rapport challenging. Plus there’s so much going on it can be difficult to be relevant and memorable to those male or female members you’re interested in.

Parties have far lower success rates than agencies that organize one on one introduction meetings.

They drift in and out of popularity with the younger generation in Japan, who are at times focused on keeping their cost of living lower so that they can enjoy life more, yet still want to meet people who might become a fun partner. Though as they get older most gravitate away from such events towards the more traditional and trusted Omiai system, something which has a very well proven history of success for serious relationships and those who wish to get married.

Depending on what you are looking, yes.

For anyone in the market for casual relationships, using a dating app or an online dating site which is free, is probably your thing.

When your search is for someone to marry, who’s committed to serious face-to-face or online dating, with quality support services that help build relationships, then getting traditional miai Japanese introductions and matching is right for you.

Without an Omiai service, via apps or matchmaking, dating Japanese women, or men, becomes incredibly challenging, because meeting them without common friends or acquaintances results in insufficient foundations for trust to exist.

When you believe that a Japanese wife, or husband, is right for you, put aside the various free apps, and get professional help. A carefully managed introductions service is what Japanese women and men use, due to the higher level of trust it brings. Which is why dating apps rarely do well in Japan.

So for anyone wishing to start a serious relationship with someone Japanese, an Omiai service from a good agency is about the only way meetings that’ll nurture it will happen, unless you have good friends who introduce you to that perfect Japanese woman or man.

The companies and marriage agencies that provide Omiai services know from a great deal of history that the process usually takes around 6 to 12 months for the intended result, finding the right partner to marry, to happen.

During that time it can be fairly intensive checking profiles and sending out requests.

Most Japanese woman and men are very focused on being with the right partner, of whom they have a clear image in their mind. Often of the physical appearance, though more so of the character and way of being. While personal grooming and personal hygiene are key to success in Japanese dating culture, unless the right personal qualities are found, then they will opt to move on.

For many, the window is only a couples of weeks at best. Unless they are showing high compatibility within that time, then the decision is made to stop wasting time, and move to find someone more compatible.

This starts with checking profiles after receiving introduction requests. Unless the right signals are present, which are different for everyone and perceived differently too, then requests will likely be rejected.

For those that wish the other person would just give them a chance, this can feel crushing. However when someone has a clear idea that the other is different from their type, and what they’re seeking, it’s often for the best. To agree to an introduction request, date and then marry someone with whom their is insufficient compatibility is only going to create challenges longer term.

Japan has developed good levels of efficiency when it comes to meeting people who are right for marriage.

Granted, meeting people is extremely challenging due to trust issues. Though realistically that helps channel people into ways of meeting which provide greater opportunities for success from dating in Japan.

The dating app problem is well known in many western countries, and Japan has adapted how dating app culture works in order to both fit the Japanese culture and create high levels of success. As such, it is generally via a good marriage agency that people access a reliable dating app which will yield worthwhile Omiai.

Diving straight into a Japanese dating app to find someone who’s right for marriage is unlikely to produce the best result, or potentially any worthwhile result, for the reasons given above. Things are just done differently in Japan.

If you are certain you want to date a person from Japan with the intent of marriage and creating a happy life together, then things need to be done differently. Using a free app, whatever age you are, is unwise.

To realize any dream of getting a good Japanese wife or husband, you need to be able to connect with the right Japanese women and men who are serious and committed about the same thing.

Accessing quality Omiai services comes down to finding a good matchmaker who works within a reliable marriage agency, and has good proficiency in matching people and arranging every Omiai meeting in a way that is conducive to success.

There is a great deal of what is essentially marketing, through carefully selected profile pictures and well written profiles, that needs to be done in order to find the right spouse. Good nakodo, Japanese matchmakers, are well worth using, and they generally work within the top marriage agencies.