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Relationships 101: Survey shows the dating experience of average Japanese school kids

Rachel Tackett Aug 30, 2013
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Ah, young love. It’s that thing that happens when our hormones run rampant across our hearts. So many people fall victim to it in their formative years, though that’s certainly not a bad thing: after all, getting some experience with schoolyard romance can help build a foundation for future relationships. And boy is it fun!

Recently, Trend News revealed the results of an online survey asking Japanese people to think back to their school days and respond with a comment about how many people they dated. 300 men and women in their 20s and 30s were asked over the course of two days, and results show an average of 2.8 relationships for each of the former students. Here’s how the results break down.

Much to the dismay of many a Japanese school teacher, not a single person answered that they did not date during school. All 300 of the people who responded said that they went out with at least one person in lieu of studying late into the evening.

Somewhat surprisingly though, more than one third of respondents answered that they only dated one person throughout their entire school career! 120 people of the 300 surveyed only had one girlfriend or boyfriend while in school, from grade school all the way up through college. Most had romantic little memories to share along with their monogamous admission, written with such fondness that you could feel it radiating from the screen. No matter how cliché, these people clearly had a love-struck youth, like the woman who was happy to simply cross paths with her lover on a crowded college campus, or the girl who appreciated being walked home every day, even though her boyfriend lived in the opposite direction.

Still, the majority of people saw a bit more variety in their school life dating experience. A total of 162 people, more than half of the respondents, dated between two and five people while students. A lot of these people talked about going on group dates with their circle of friends and showed a lot more experience in general. Unlike the idealistic romance seen with the people who only had one relationship to draw memories from, the people in this category showed a greater sense of experimentation and enjoyment in the act of dating, though not necessarily infatuation with their partners. For example, one woman brought up the thrill of going on a trip with her boyfriend while keeping it a secret from her parents.

From there the numbers drop drastically. A total of 13 respondents said that they dated between six and ten people during their school days. These people all came off as highly experienced but also took on the tone of true heartbreakers. Relationships for people in this group didn’t seem to last very long, and would in some cases overlap! One woman explained how even though she had a boyfriend, she would continue to date other guys on the side. Another hinted at a number of one-night-stands and week-long relationships.

And lastly, five well-traveled people admitted to having 11 relationships or more while they were still students. Unfortunately, there aren’t many anecdotes to go along with these answers. In general, these people forgot a lot of the details, or there were so many relationships in succession that nothing stood out.

So what does this data tell us? Namely, that Japan has a wide range of young lovers, from romantic high school sweethearts sticking it out forever, to curious kids experimenting with all sorts of relationships. Though, it would appear that those with fewer dates have a much easier time remembering the finer details. Hopefully, the topic has at least allowed you to relive a few fond memories from your early dating careers.

So, how do you compare to Japan’s overall average? Do you have any stories involving early sweethearts?

Source: Trend News (Japanese)
Image: HDW