Conclusion: Are Mail Order Bride Relationships Successful?
Throughout this semester, I explored the success rate of mail order brides’ relationships. I initially believe that these relationships have a short duration because of many factors: language barriers, cultural differences, marrying for personal benefits rather than for love, and Japan’s homogeneous society. However, further investigation proved that my claim was wrong, and most mail order bride marriages have a high prosperity rate.
Research papers and videos have helped me conclude that not all foreign marriages in Japan end in divorces after a couple of months. In “Faces of ‘Asian Brides’: Gender, race, and class in the representation of immigrant women in Japan,” author Tomoko Nakamatsu discovers that Japanese men are looking for a companion that will fulfill the role of a faithful wife and loving mother. These desires encourage men to face unknown challenges in pursuit for everlasting love. Furthermore, videos such as “Ask Japanese about dating a foreigner? Do Japanese people want to marry a foreigner? (their voices)” and “International Marriage OK?! Ask Japanese about their opinion in marrying foreigners,” interview single Japanese men. Most liked the idea of marrying a foreign woman, ignoring society’s backlash for breaking Japan’s homogeneity. Shifting to the brides’ perspective, “A grounded typology of foreign-born spouses in Japan: The motivations behind migration to Japan,” by Charlie V Morgan, Monica M Trieu, Abigail Stephens, and Reiju Nemoto revealed that marrying a Japanese man allows a woman from a third world country to support her family back at home. The evident problem here is that she is taking advantage of him. Yet, when living in Japan for years trying to aid a growing family back at home, a bride begins to assimilate. She creates a new life and a family of her own with her Japanese husband.
To summarize, obvious obstacles such as not being able to communicate, contrasting cultures, etc. are not the leading causes for failed mail order bride marriages. Foreign brides’ need for money to support her family back at home and Japanese men desperate for companionship do not result in a short duration of a marriage, also. In fact, both wife and husband are open to the concept of having, and falling in love, with a spouse that comes from a different country. Thus, mail order bride relationships have an outstanding marriage period that is unexpected when viewing their relationship on the surface level.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sP8ryqDksWM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORjxn2pTlMc
http://0-journals.sagepub.com.ignacio.usfca.edu/doi/pdf/10.1177/1468796816638401
http://0-www.sciencedirect.com.ignacio.usfca.edu/science/article/pii/S0277539505000452#bib32