婚活

• 読み: こんかつ
• ローマ字: konkatsu
• 漢字の分解: 婚 (marriage) + 活 (activity) → marriage activity/hunting
• 発音: /koɴ.ka.tsɯ/

意味

Marriage hunting — the active pursuit of finding a marriage partner through organized activities like matchmaking services, parties, and dating apps.

Modeled after 就活 (job hunting), 婚活 treats finding a spouse with the same seriousness and strategy as a job search. This includes registering with marriage agencies, attending 婚活パーティー, polishing one's profile, and going on structured dates. The term was popularized by sociologist Yamada Masahiro in 2007 and reflects the growing difficulty of finding marriage partners in Japan's aging society.

例文

1. 30歳になったし、そろそろ婚活始めようかな。
2. 婚活パーティーに行ったけど、ピンとくる人いなかった。
3. 姉が婚活アプリ3つ同時に使ってて本気すぎる。

使い方ガイド

場面: friends, family, media, casual conversation

トーン: matter-of-fact, sometimes self-deprecating

正しい言い方

• 婚活してるって言ったら友達がアプリ紹介してくれた。 (When I said I was marriage hunting, my friend recommended an app.)
• 婚活疲れたけど、諦めたくない。 (I'm tired of marriage hunting but I don't want to give up.)

避ける言い方

• 独身の人に「婚活しないの？」は余計なお世話 (Asking a single person 'aren't you marriage hunting?' is intrusive and presumptuous)

よくある間違い

• Using 婚活 when someone is just casually dating — 婚活 implies a deliberate, goal-oriented search for a marriage partner

起源と歴史

Coined by sociologist Yamada Masahiro (山田昌弘) in 2007, modeled on 就活 (shūkatsu, job hunting). The term gained massive media attention and became a cultural phenomenon reflecting Japan's declining marriage rate.

文化的背景

時代: 2007 coinage, mainstream by late 2000s

世代: Primarily late 20s-40s

社会的背景: Universal, used across all social classes

地域メモ: Used nationwide. A major cultural concept in modern Japan reflecting societal concerns about declining marriage and birth rates.