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Doing Intimacy in Pandemic Times: Findings of a Large-Scale Survey Among Singles in Japan

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  • Nora KOTTMANN
  • Laura DALES

Abstract

Singles—here understood as unmarried or never married individuals—are a growing subset of the Japanese population that has not received discrete attention in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. This article addresses the ways in which the pandemic and its associated interventions—calls for social distancing, self-restraint, or the avoidance of the ‘3Cs’—affect singles’ (non)familial personal relationships and practices of intimacy (platonic and romantic), as well as perceptions of singlehood and ‘solo activities’ (sorokatsu). Based on exploratory analyses of data from an original cross-sectional online survey conducted in early 2021 (n = 4.000; unmarried residents of Japan aged 25–49 years), we show that while practices of intimacy are changing throughout the pandemic, the changes are less dramatic than we anticipated. In addition, changes are highly gendered and seem to support contemporary media and public discourse on how individuals are managing COVID-life and its concomitant uncertainties. We see two diachronic developments: an increase in social isolation and distress on the one hand, and an increase in acceptance of being single and doing ‘solo activities’ on the other. Our findings contribute to an understanding of the ways that singlehood, marital status, and extra-familial relationships are shaped, and shape the experiences of this pandemic.

Suggested Citation

  • Nora KOTTMANN & Laura DALES, 2023. "Doing Intimacy in Pandemic Times: Findings of a Large-Scale Survey Among Singles in Japan," Social Science Japan Journal, University of Tokyo and Oxford University Press, vol. 26(1), pages 3-26.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:sscijp:v:26:y:2023:i:1:p:3-26.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/ssjj/jyac022
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stopher,Peter, 2012. "Collecting, Managing, and Assessing Data Using Sample Surveys," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521863117.
    2. Lynn Jamieson, 2011. "Intimacy as a Concept: Explaining Social Change in the Context of Globalisation or Another Form of Ethnocentricism?," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 16(4), pages 151-163, December.
    3. Stopher,Peter, 2012. "Collecting, Managing, and Assessing Data Using Sample Surveys," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521681872.
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