Paper short abstract:

Based on ongoing fieldwork in Tokyo this paper focuses on never married adults' 'doing single' and their search for 'normalcy' in a society where marriage continues to be highly idealized while experts are anticipating the emergence of a 'hyper-solo-society'.

Paper long abstract:

Getting married and starting a nuclear family with a highly gendered division of labour was the norm in post-war Japan and was reflected in the extremely high marriage rates. However, in the last 30 years marriage behaviour has changed significantly and Japanese experts are anticipating the emergence of a 'hyper-solo-society' (Arakawa 2019): More and more adults are staying single, possibly not getting married at all. While this development is highly problematized by the government, 'singles' are being increasingly discovered as a consumer group and various activities and events are being promoted under the label sorokatsu (solo activities). Against this background, this paper focuses on so-called singles (here: never married adults between 25 and 49) and explores how they actually 'do single', with an emphasis on the topics of '(not) relating' and '(not) belonging'. I address broader work-life choices as well as (quotidian) practices of intimacy (Jamieson 2011). Drawing on a review of the literature and ongoing long-term fieldwork in Tokyo (participant observations and interviews), I show how diverse the supposedly homogenous group of singles is. Their work-life choices and quotidian practices, often characterized by ambivalence and ambiguity, are an expression of individual aspirations as well as various constraints. Following the narratives of my interviewees, I argue that their doing single can be interpreted as a (re)negotiation of what's 'normal' and an indicator of the social change in times of flux.