Turns out they’re not just for dating
Have you ever used online dating apps? You should consider installing them right now if you want to meet new people in Japan. Around the world it’s getting popular to meet new people online. This is especially true with the Covid-19 situation; it’s kind of hard to meet new people in real life at the bar, Izakaya, or college. A lot of foreigners wonder if online dating apps such as Tinder and Bumble work in Japan. Well, it does work!
In this article, I’ll introduce some tips for making new friends while in Japan through dating apps. I will walk you through step by step from how to set up an interesting profile that invites right-swipes, how to make a great first impression, how to keep the conversation going, and tips for meeting up with someone in real life.
My experience of using dating apps while traveling
Online dating apps are one of the greatest ways to meet new people. When I went traveling to the US and Europe, I used these apps because I wanted to meet some local people. I wanted to discover things which were not on the internet and only local people knew! Even though it’s a dating app, I know you can use them as a platform to meet new friends and there are so many nice people out there. I actually matched a bunch of people and invited my friends to hang out with them, this way I could get to know a lot of new people all at once.
Is it easy to match people on dating apps in Japan?
The answer is 100% yes, there are many people using dating apps in Japan. Especially, the greater Tokyo area, there are more people living in Tokyo than New York City and it’s the most popular destination in Japan among travelers. Therefore, obviously a lot of users are on dating apps such as Tinder and the Japanese dating app called Pairs to meet new people. (If you want to know more about the dating apps Japanese people use, please check this post.) You just need to have an interesting profile to make people want to meet you.
How to make your profile
Before you start swiping, making a good profile is the first step to finding success for dating apps because no one will swipe you right if your profile looks bad or boring. Here are 3 tips to make your profile stand out.
1) Pictures
This is the most important part of your profile! You should use a picture that describes you and shows your natural smile. Don’t just put one, add a minimum of three! Avoid group shots because it makes it hard for people to know who you are. Your profile picture could be any picture as long as your face is clear. For example, I like traveling so I used some pictures of me taken in different cities and nature around the world. If you’re unsure, ask a friend to pick out photos of you that they think are flattering. A friend is often a better judge of us than we ourselves are.
2) Description
You should definitely write something about yourself here. Don’t leave it blank! It could be anything, like where you are from, hobbies, favorite activities, quotes, memes, you get it. Just be honest and positive. The more funny and weird the more it will catch people’s eye. Try to come up with a clever one! Also, keep it short and sweet, long descriptions cause glazed over eyes.
3) Distance
Set the distance so that you can match people who live within a distance where you can meet up. The range is usually 0-200km depending one the app though. It would be terrible to start chatting with someone cool and realized that they live too far away.
Now you’re ready to get matched with someone! But even if you match with someone, sometimes the conversation doesn’t last for a long time, which is kind of sad. I would like to tell you some tips for starting a conversation with your match, so that you can actually have a great conversation for an extended period of time. This is just my opinion and it’s for the purpose of meeting new friends, not dating. Let me know if you have any other tips that worked for you! Here are 5 tips after you get a match!
4) Don’t say just hi
“Hi”– This is the worst thing you could say to someone when you match. It’s boring and doesn’t warrant a reply. So what should you say? You could check their profile and compliment them or ask about an interest they mentioned. For example, if your match has a profile picture that was taken in the US, you could ask something like “How many times you have been to the US?”, “What did you do there”? The most important rule is to ask questions and give them the go-ahead to speak. People love to talk about themselves, give them the opportunity and boom! – Conversation. It’s a good rule of thumb to not ask obvious questions like for example, if the person has some travel photos don’t ask “Do you like to travel?” They obviously do! Instead ask them specifics about where they’ve been and what they’ve done. If you’re at a loss for what to ask them, share a funny TikTok/YouTube video or meme that you saw recently. It’s simple and will help you see if you have the same sense of humor.
5) Reply consistently
In order to get to know someone you have to talk to them. While using a dating app this means replying, as obvious as that sounds. When you don’t reply it signals that you don’t want to continue speaking with them. After matching it’s best to reply within 24hrs! If you’re too busy to text, you might want to send longer messages once a day, or something of the like so that you can keep up. Texting with your match everyday would lead you to the next step for sure!
6) Remember it’s a 2 way street
So you’re texting different people and despite your best efforts to create engaging conversation and be consistent, nothing is really coming of it. This is where you have to remember that having success in making a new friend isn’t only dependent on you but the other individual as well. Just keep trying and eventually you’ll find some you click with.
7) Use Emojis or GIFs
This is the easiest way to get attention and make your conversation more fun. You can send your favorite movie or tv show GIF or a funny meme GIF so that you can talk about them! I think everyone has a favorite GIF! Adding emojis to texts makes the emotion (duh!) behind them more clear and leaves less room for miscommunication. Besides it’s just fun!
8) Tell him/her what you’re expecting (Goal)
Some people think this is not a great idea but I believe telling your match exactly what you’re expecting is important! You don’t want to waste your precious time to talk to someone you’re actually not interested in and neither does your match! For example, My purpose was getting to know local things to do when I was traveling, so I asked if they could hang out and show me around the cool places. I told them honestly, where I came from and what I was doing there.
9) Exchange other Social Media
There are two reasons why you should exchange other social media with your match after you talk to them for a while. First, to avoid meeting being catfished. The most scary thing about meeting new people through online dating apps is a catfish. We don’t know if the person looks the same as profile pictures or even if they are a real person until we meet them; it’s scary. For safety purposes, you should always ask for their other social media before meeting up. Second, people definitely spend more time talking to friends on social media such as Instagram, Facebook, Line, and Snapchat than online dating apps. If you can exchange other social media, you are more likely to keep up the conversation which connects you with your match more. Plus you get known with your match better by seeing what they post.
10) Meeting in Person
Once you’ve found someone that you want to be friends with, ask them to meet up in real life! I usually only chat with someone a few days before asking them to meet because it’s so much easier to get to know someone face to face. It’s important to always meet this person in a public place and to not give too much personal info before you confirm in person that they are who they claim to be.
Thank you so much for reading. I hope you learn something new from this post and try to make new friends via dating apps in Japan. Meeting new friends could be difficult in Japan, but it doesn’t have to be. So go out there and have fun!
Please also check out this article about 5 best online dating apps in Japan. You’ll know which online dating apps are popular in Japan and among younger Japanese people. Have a nice day!