7 Best Dating Apps & Sites in Japan

These days, more and more young Japanese move to larger cities for their job hunt, losing their social connections in the process. At the same time, shyness combined with language and cultural barriers make dating even harder for foreigners live in Japan.

Thankfully, there are many dating apps in Japan making it possible for single in Japan to meet, chat, and date with someone special.

Well, if you do a quick search on Google Play or App Store, you’ll see dozens of different deai-kei (出会い系 online dating) apps. Then, how do you know which one is fit for you?

Here, we came up with 7 of best dating apps in Japan. If you’re eager to date in Japan, read below for the selection of the hottest dating apps in Japan. More than half of these apps are available in both English and Japanese, so you may don’t have language barriers even if you’re a foreigner living in Japan.

Without further ado, here are my detailed reviews of the top seven dating apps and sites in Japan.

Further Reading:

Table of Contents

1. Pairs – The Most Popular Amongst Japanese Dating Apps

Without a doubt, Paris is one of the best dating apps for people from Japan or those of Japanese origin living around the world. It provides a platform for Japanese who is looking for long-term relationships with marriage in mind.

The biggest benefit of the Pairs dating app is that it has over 6 million users (Pairs official say it has 10 million users). Without a doubt, it’s the biggest and most trusted dating app in Japan.

There are 2 main ways you can find potential matches that you are looking for in Paris.

Firstly, Pairs will present you with matches based on your preferred gender as well as the age range you are looking for. You can then swipe through these as you would on Tinder. Other than swiping, Pairs will also let users look for matches via searching near their location.

Women on the Pairs app can create a profile, upload photos, and send messages for free, but men must pay a monthly fee to send messages or “like” profiles.

Language: Japanese
Fees: Free for women, monthly subscription fee for men
Number of Users: Over 6 million users in Japan

2. Tapple – Matches Users Based on Hobbies

Instead of filling out a profile and searching for people, you fill out the qualifiers of what sort of man you’re interested in, and then join different groups based on your hobbies. Then, you’re shown a selection of men who share that interest and meet your criteria, and you can either like, skip, or super like their profile.

Like Pairs, women can use Tapple for free while men have to pay for monthly subscription.

Language: Japanese
Fees: Free for women, monthly subscription fee for men (varies by number of months desired)
Number of Users: Over 5 million users in Japan

3. Tinder – Swipe Your Way to Dating Success

The next best dating app in Japan is the famous Tinder – in some way or another, we have all heard about this dating app.

Swipe right if you like a person, left if you’d rather pass. It cannot get any easier than that! However, keep in mind that Tinder is mostly known for casual dating instead of long-term commitments. Therefore, Tinder is extremely popular for travelers, or foreigners in Japan, and even English-speaking Japanese residents.

Language: English, Japanese
Fees: Free, special features require a monthly subscription
Number of Users: Over 5 million users in Japan

4. Omiai – The Dating App for Long Term Relationships and Possible Marriage

Omiai is another dating app in Japan that aims to connect users who are serious about long term relationships and possible marriage.

Like many other Japanese dating apps, Omiai works with your Facebook account, making signing up safer and easier (and to reduce scamming). The search function is also very detailed and allows you specify preferences in various fields, including nationality, education, income and body type.

Male users- sorry again, you will need to become a premium member if you wish to send messages and meet up! The cost is 3980 yen per month, or 23,400 a year. Female users- lucky again, everything is free!

Language: Japanese
Fees: Free for women, ¥3,980 per month for men
Number of Users: Over 4 million users in Japan

5. OkCupid Japan – A Dating App Built on Science

If you’re really serious about finding that special someone, OkCupid’s system prides itself on providing the most detailed information possible, using an advanced algorithm to help you meet the person of your dreams.

This is done through the use of questions. You can answer hundreds of questions relating to sex, morality, political views and other topics, and even share how important these topics are to you, as well as which answers you will accept from potential matches. OkCupid uses this information to help you find singles with similar personalities based on a 0-100% match percentage range. Additionally, OkCupid has employed the Tinder swiping system as one of its free features to fast-track the matching process.

Although you don’t have to pay to be able to send messages and chat with other members, a Premium membership will allow you to:

See who likes your profile
Use advanced search filters
Get a daily auto boost
Read message receipts

As an international app, OkCupid is perfectly suited for foreigners in Japan.

Language: English, Japanese
Fees: Free, special features require a monthly subscription
Number of Users: Over 720,000 users in Japan

Want more details on this popular free dating app? Check out this OkCupid review!

6. Bumble – The Dating App Where Women Go First

Although not a Japanese dating app, Bumble has been taking a storm in the Japanese dating community over the past few years since it was first launched.

What sets this dating app apart from others is the way you interact with other members. On Bumble, women are supposed to message first and this allows women to make the first move so that they can get a nice conversation going and avoid tons of messages from guys there not even interested in.

Bumble is best for guys who are tired of making the first move and girls who are tired of getting tons of messages from guys they’re not interested in. So, it is a win-win situation on both sides.

Language: English, Japanese

Fees: Free, special features require a monthly subscription

Number of Users: Over 160,000 users in Japan

7. JapanCupid – The Dating App for Long-Term Love

Not to be confused with OkCupid, JapanCupid is a part of the Cupid Media Group, a Sydney-based dating company that operates dating sites in over 30 countries.

There are two possible ways for finding a match on JapanCupid app: searching and browsing. You can narrow down your search to a more manageable number by specifying criteria such as age, location, education, marital status, religion, and even their star sign.

JapanCupid will also recommend potential matches to you, based on the criteria you specified when signing up. You can browse both these recommended matches and your own searches in different ways, with different options for how much of each profile you will see, and how they are sorted (Newest Members, Photos Only, etc.)

Japan Cupid is also welcoming of non-Japanese singles seeking a Japanese partner, which makes the message translation option super helpful! That means that no matter how well you speak Japanese or how well your match speaks English, you still have the opportunity to connect on an emotional level.

Language: English, Japanese

Fees: Free, special features require a monthly subscription/fees

Number of Users: Over 400,000 users in Japan

Conclusion

You have got all the 7 best dating apps in Japan.

Go ahead and try them for yourself and see if they are your cup of tea. I’m pretty much sure that there is an app for you to find your perfect future date!

So good luck on finding your perfect Japanese match!