In recent years, it was said that particularly young women came to disenchanted with marriage life or with expected image of marriage life that they paint. Partly because many women now work in contemporary Japan, the economic necessity to get married has been weakened, hence many females do not have to rely their life upon their husbands. Secondly the imbalanced sex ratio exists in young ages, say 18 to 35, particularly in urban areas, where men are more abundant in the unmarried population. Woman may enjoy her demographic advantages only waiting for a most eligible bachelor who has qualifications of three-high's, that is, taller, better-educated and more income than herself. It has been argued that this hypergamy trends let women postpone their marriages and even increase the percentages of unmarried women in their 30s and early 40s. Thirdly, it was also pointed out that the mechanisms of match-making leading to marriage (miai kekkon) have become weakened for various reasons： urbanization and accompanying increase in anonymity, lack of community tie, young people's individualistic attitude. Although the traditional system of miai kekkon or match-making marriage is ebbing, there is no alternative system replacing that century-old system.
2) Competitive Entrance Examinations
Another important factor conducive to low fertility in Japan is the exceedingly rigorous competition for admission to ranking schools such as the University of Tokyo. It is an ordeal not only for the applicants but also for their families. The advantages of success are great, the costs of failure severe. One lucky enough to gain acceptance to a prestigious school wears badge of honor for the rest of his life. A graduate of a ranking university is usually promoted faster than others and benefits professionally from membership in a network of alumni who hold key positions in government and business. Sometimes, prestigious corporations send notices of job openings only to ranking universities. Actually such universities do provide the highest quality education and training to their students. Those achieving exceptional marks in the highest ranked civil service examinations are usually graduates of law schools of top universities.
Japanese society is not a land of continuing opportunity for people who seek a good career or success in life. Once a young man or woman fails to pass an employment examination to enter government of a prestigious corporation as a career officer, he or she is not given another chance. In the government service, only career officers who enter their positions with topnotch test scores are permitted to become directors.
