<figure id="attachment_347344" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-347344" style="width: 640px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="eeb7dcbd"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/12/9097d0ea90e43e4abe4dd324c84c73fd.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-347344" class="wp-caption-text">The &#8220;Gasshikon&#8221; started amidst expectations and apprehension. What kind of encounters will there be? &#8230;&#8230;</figcaption></figure>
<p> There is such a thing as a &#8220;married couples&#8217; party,&#8221; which is a party for married couples only. The main type of parties where men and women get together in real life are those that target singles, such as &#8220;machicon,&#8221; but this is a version for married couples. Although these parties had been on the wane after the COVID-19 crisis, they have become popular again since the end of the COVID-19 crisis.</p>
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<p> Currently, &#8220;matching apps&#8221; are the mainstream for meeting men and women. For married couples, &#8220;matching apps exclusively for married couples&#8221; have been rapidly expanding over the past two to three years. The advantage of going out of one&#8217;s way to meet people in real life must be diminishing. And married couples risk having their faces seen by a large number of people.</p>
<p> Despite this, &#8220;married couples parties&#8221; are held every day in central Tokyo, such as Shinjuku and Ginza, and it seems that all of the men&#8217;s parties are almost always full. If it is so popular, this reporter, a married man in his 40s, actually went to one.</p>
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<p> The entry fee for men was about 10,000 yen, while the fee for women was about 1,500 yen, a significant difference. In some cases, perhaps because of the lack of female participants, women are offered free of charge. In addition, the age range of participants is divided by each party, such as 30-50 years old, and there seem to be some targeted patterns, such as &#8220;high-income only. In addition, perhaps because &#8220;age fraud&#8221; is common at these meetings, IDs are checked at the time of admission.</p>
<p> I decided to sneak into a blind date party at a certain hotel in Shinjuku&#8217;s West Exit that targeted a relatively broad range of 50 people, from 30 to 60 years old. The time was two hours, from 19:00 to 21:00.</p>
<p> At the reception desk, I was given a group number. At first, we seemed to sit in our assigned seats. I was in a group of 10 people, 5 men and 5 women, in their 30s to mid 40s.</p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" Finally, the &quot;Gasshikon&quot; ministry started."></div>
<p>The manager greets you and the party starts. It was buffet style, so drinks and food were self-serve.</p>
<p> The first person in my group was a well-dressed man in his mid-40s.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> He asked, &#8220;Where are you all from?</span></p>
<p> He said he was on his way home from his office in Tokyo. <span class="strongInContent">I asked him, &#8220;Do they do this kind of thing much in Gunma?</span> She replied, &#8220;Even if they did, I couldn&#8217; <span class="strongInContent">t go there in my hometown.</span></p>
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<p> Another woman in her 30s sitting in front of me said she lived in Tokyo and came here on her way home from work.</p>
<p> The man I mentioned earlier asked, &#8221; <span class="strongInContent">Where do you live?</span> &#8221; The woman answered in a slightly muddled manner, &#8220;I live in <span class="strongInContent">Tokyo, closer to Chiba</span>. I guess it is not very sensitive to ask too many details at the beginning of a conversation.</p>
<p> When the man said, <span class="strongInContent">&#8220;This is the first time for me to come to a place like this, and I feel a little guilty</span>,&#8221; the woman followed up by <span class="strongInContent">saying, &#8220;Don&#8217;t worry, we are all married and in the same position</span>.</p>
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<p> The sight of 50 married men and women gathered in one place for dinner on a weekday evening was bizarre. And all of them are married. I was curious to see what was going on at the other tables, so I looked around. In general, the men were dressed in suits and many of the women were dressed in dresses or other elaborate attire.</p>
<p> After about 20 minutes, an announcement was made, &#8220;Men, please move to the next group. It seemed that the men would move to their seats for the first hour, and the rest of the hour would be free time. 20 minutes seemed to be enough time for me to finish without being able to ask any personal questions.</p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" I approached various women."></div>
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<h3><span class="strongInContent">A woman emphasizing that she was a beginner</span></h3>
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<p> In the second group, sitting next to me was a woman in her 40s who was participating for the first time. She usually works as a freelancer, and this day was her day off.</p>
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<p> She said repeatedly, <span class="strongInContent">&#8220;I really don&#8217;t understand this kind of thing</span>. Anyway, she seemed to want to say that she had the courage to participate in the event. She also seems to be using a matching app for married couples, but she said, <span class="strongInContent">&#8220;I only log on once every three days or so, so I haven&#8217;t met anyone</span>. She <span class="strongInContent">also said, &#8220;I wonder what I came here today for in the first place.&#8221;</span> These women may just &#8220;want men to care about them.</p>
<p> As I moved to the next seat, I noticed a woman in her 40s with a large bare chest.</p>
<p> What will happen to this reporter in her 40s who has infiltrated a &#8220;married men&#8217;s blind date party? Please refer to the second part, &#8220;A Married Men&#8217;s Party,&#8221; where a married reporter in his 40s infiltrated the party, and the shocking conclusion.</p>
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<p><a href="https://friday.kodansha.co.jp/article/347328"> The second part, &#8220;A Married Men&#8217;s Party,&#8221; in which a married reporter in his 40s infiltrated the party, and the shocking conclusion.</a></p>
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 Married couples' parties, where married couples can meet and search for a "second partner" in real life, are said to be very popular nowadays. Can you really meet a wonderful woman? A married reporter in her 40s actually went to one.

A reporter in his 40s sneaked into a &#8220;married couples party&#8221; at a hotel in Shinjuku, where men and women looking for a &#8220;second partner&#8221; gather.

A reporter in his 40s sneaked into a “married couples party” at a hotel in Shinjuku, where men and women looking for a “second partner” gather.

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