Back in the days of “there’s gold in them thar hills,” one of the prospectors’ doleful refrains boasted the title “My Girlfriend’s a Mule and a Mine.” Across the Pacific and some 150 years on, I wouldn’t be surprised if an echo of that plaintive air were not about to catch on among young Japanese males — retitled “My Girlfriend’s a Modem and a Mobile.”
As was reported in The Japan Times on Nov. 26, the findings of a survey by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research reveal some very telling statistics about the attitudes of young people in this country to unmarried and married life.