In Japan, some women’s search for love on dating apps has ended up in courtrooms instead.
A 2024 survey conducted by a matchmaking company found that nearly 7% of women using dating apps say that their partner lied about being single.
Some have gone as far as to sue their lying partner for up to 7.8 million yen (S$63,000).
According to Mainichi Shimbun, these findings were based on two separate surveys conducted in 2024.
A survey conducted by Japan’s Children and Families Agency revealed that 25.1% of couples who married within five years or are under 30 met through a dating app.
In fact, this was the most common method of meeting. Others included meeting at work (20.5%), school (9.9%), and being introduced by mutual acquaintances (9.1%).
Yet, concurrently, problems were brewing within the dating app scene.
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Another survey, conducted by a matchmaking company, revealed that 6.8% of women reported their partner lied about being single.
That number dropped slightly for men at 3.5%.
In short, a significant number of people use dating apps to seek extramarital relationships while hiding the fact that they are already married.
But equally alarming is that 77.2% reported experiencing difficulties dating through apps.
The most common issue reported for both genders was “visual misrepresentation”, where photos on the app do not match the partner’s appearance in person.
Some of the men who lied about not having a wife are getting sued by the women they misled for massive sums.
In Dec 2025, a Tokyo court ruled that a man who lied about his marital status had to pay about 1.5 million yen (S$12,400) to the woman he misled. This amount is short of what she had sought at 7.8 million yen (S$64,400).
She had sued him for “violating her right to chastity”, her right to choose who she has sex with. She argued that the man had violated her choice by misrepresenting himself.
Meanwhile, his lawyers said that the objective of their relationship had always been only sex, thus he did not violate her right to chastity.
After hearing their case, the judge ruled that the man was aware that the woman sought a relationship with him that would eventually lead to marriage. He then used that desire to lead her into a relationship with him that included sex.
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“Lying about being single is part of sexual exploitation in which nonconsensual sex is forced on the victim and undoubtedly constitutes sexual abuse,” the woman told reporters after the verdict.
She is not alone either. A similar case in which a man also lied about being unmarried is making its way through court. As a disciplinary measure, the man has been dismissed from his role as a prosecutor.
Also read: Woman in Japan dates more than 300 men over 10 years, looks for partner with S$84K annual income
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