5 Best Online Dating Apps to Try While in Japan

Online Dating Apps on the phone

Curious about what dating apps are popular in Japan? Check out these 5

Are you wondering if online dating apps work in Japan? The answer is absolutely yes! A lot of college students use Tinder for dating purposes and young professionals use a Japanese dating app called Pairs to look for dating opportunities! Read this article and try them out to see which one you like the most! You never know, you might find someone you really like! 

My experience of meeting new people on dating apps

Online dating apps are one of the greatest ways to meet new people. When I was working as an international student advisor at my university in Tokyo, I used dating apps to meet new exchange students from different universities. I was into learning about culture, languages, and people. I wanted to have cultural exchange experience with a variety of people and dating apps are a great platform to meet new friends. There are so many nice people out there and I got to know new things which were very interesting for me.

Even though they’re dating apps, I was mostly using them to find cool people and make new friends. If you want to know more about how to make new friends through dating apps, please check this article.(I explain 10 tips to make new friends on dating apps )To meet new friends in Japan, I’ll introduce these 5 dating apps many Japanese people use. Some apps are only really effective in the big city such as in the greater Tokyo area, Osaka, and Fukuoka, so you should set a wide distance range to get more matches if you live outside of the big cities.

Foreign Dating Apps in Japan

1) Tinder

Tinder is the most popular dating app for college students in Japan and all over the world. It’s pretty easy to get a match with someone which is good, however, you might match with a gaijin hunter (Japanese who is looking for a foreigner for the sake of sex) or weird and creepy guys, so you should be careful. If you want to match and talk to a lot of people, this is the app for you! 

2) Bumble

Bumble is the best app to meet new people because there are two versions you can choose from. The first version is bumble bff which is for people who are looking for cool people of the same gender to hang out with. Highly recommend to use this app when you’re not familiar with a place and are looking for new friends! The other one is bumble date. The unique function of this app is that girls need to initiate the conversation with guys. As a result girls don’t need to talk to someone strange or weird guy and get creepy or nasty messages.

3) Dine

Dine is a dating app a bit different from the rest. There is no swiping! You simply request someone to Dine. If they accept then you meet up for dinner. In this way you can skip a lot of the superficial fluff and get the real stuff from the get-go. It’s definitely recommended if you’re looking for a serious relationship. 

Japanese Dating Apps

4) Pairs

Pairs is the biggest dating app for people who want to date and start a relationship. According to their website, more than 10K people are on this app. However, there are not many students because you need to pay a monthly fee if you are a man. There are some plans available so you should check it out! If you’re eagerly looking for someone to be a potential future husband/wife, this is the app for you.

5) Toukare-date

Toukare-date is the most elegant exclusive dating app in Japan. The reason why this app is popular and elegant in Japan is there are some requirements to register your profile in this app. First, the other members review your profile and decide whether you pass or not based on your profile picture. If you pass then, the company will examine your profile based on education history, career, and income. If you pass, you can finally have a membership. There is a monthly fee for this app. Check this app out if you think you’d be a good candidate for this app! It’s common knowledge that there are so many beautiful ladies and handsome men using this.

These dating apps are great platforms to meet new people, but please be careful meeting people who you don’t know through apps. Japan is one of the safest countries in the world, so you should be fine. Be careful when meeting someone for the first time, do so in a public place and let someone else know where you are and some info about the person you’re meeting. Most likely it will be fine in Japan, but it’s better to be safe than kidnapped or assaulted.

If you want to meet Japanese people, you should definitely install some Japanese dating apps or tinder! If you want to meet other travelers, foreign residents or Japanese people who understand English in Japan, you should use Bumble. There are many people who write a self introduction on their profile in English on Bumble than on Tinder or other Japanese dating apps. I hope you can meet some nice people who might become your good friends through these dating apps. 

Thank you so much for reading! Have a nice day!