Tameny Inc explains why "Casual Weddings" and cost-effective ceremonies are the smartest investment for today’s young couples.
I would like to begin with a topic that, while not new, has become more urgent than ever. Japan has been discussing its demographic challenges for more than fifty years now, yet the issue has never carried more weight than it does today. Japan’s population is projected to fall below 100 million by 2050, and this shift is driven by sharp declines in both fertility rates and marriage rates. The fertility rate this year is reported at around 1.15, reflecting the reality that fewer young people are choosing to marry or start families. When we look at data from the Statistics Bureau of Japan, marriages have declined dramatically as well. In 2020, there were roughly 500,000 marriages, but in the first half of this year alone, that number had already fallen below 240,000. With this in mind, could you explain to our readers your view of Japan’s wedding industry today, and what you see as its most significant trends?
First, let me touch on the declining birthrate and aging population, a topic that has been discussed for more than half a century but is now more relevant than ever. Japan’s population is expected to fall below 100 million by 2050, and the declines in both fertility and marriage rates are becoming increasingly pronounced. As you noted, the fertility rate released this year stands at around 1.15. And according to statistics from the government, the number of marriages, which was about 500,000 in 2020, has fallen below 240,000 in the first half of this year.
On the issue of population decline and low fertility, the Japanese government is dedicating significant budget and effort to countermeasures, and our company also works with local municipalities to support marriage-related initiatives. We provide systems for local matchmaking centers and assist in their operations. So when discussing demographics, it is important to note that there is strong governmental engagement in this area, and we collaborate with them.
Now, regarding the wedding market specifically, it is true that the number of marriages and the number of couples holding wedding ceremonies are both declining. As a result, the traditional wedding venue market has also shrunk. About 20 percent of couples today choose what we call a “no-ceremony wedding,” meaning they hold no ceremony or celebration at all, and this proportion is slowly increasing. What is declining even more noticeably is the traditional Japanese wedding reception format, where 60 to 70 guests are invited. The execution rate for this kind of reception has dropped from around 65 percent to around 45 percent. The reasons for this include rising costs, financial burdens on couples, and the fact that today’s younger generation tends to have smaller personal communities, which means fewer guests they feel close enough to invite. These social shifts make it harder to host large-scale receptions.
While the number of large receptions is falling, smaller-scale formats are rising. These include intimate family-only gatherings, casual parties with just close friends, and photo weddings where the couple creates a symbolic ceremony through photography, sometimes with only the two of them present. For younger generations, cost performance and time efficiency are increasingly important values. As a result, shorter, lower-cost, small-group formats have become major trends. Our company does not own wedding venues. Instead, we specialize in producing weddings in collaboration with partner venues. This allows us to design ceremonies that fit the couple’s needs without being constrained by a fixed location. Whether a couple wants a small event, a large one, or simply photos, we can adapt. As customer needs diversify rapidly, our focus is on developing new wedding production concepts that respond flexibly to this evolution.
You mentioned regional revitalization, the evolution of wedding services, and changing expectations. I’d like to focus now on one particular segment: wedding tourism. Many companies we have interviewed, such as TREAT and Takami Bridal, emphasized that inbound wedding tourism has become a major driver for the industry. Takami Bridal told us that inbound couples tend to spend as much as twice the amount domestic couples do on ceremonies, experiences, and photo shoots. Happo-en, whom we interviewed last week, is even developing matchmaking applications aimed at connecting Japanese and foreign individuals. My question is: how important is inbound wedding tourism for your company, and are you actively exploring this segment as a potential strategic pillar?
To answer your question, inbound wedding tourism is an area in which we see significant potential, particularly in the field of photo weddings. Among the services we provide, photo weddings currently number around 5,000 annually, and this category continues to grow. We believe this segment is especially well-suited to capture inbound demand. A full wedding ceremony can be difficult for inbound couples because wedding styles vary greatly depending on each country’s culture and traditions. There are also practical constraints, such as travel time, limited schedules, and logistics. Photography, however, holds universal value. The popularity of Instagram demonstrates how photography transcends borders.
Japan has many appealing cultural assets, natural landscapes, and unique studio aesthetics created by Japanese designers. These elements attract strong interest from overseas couples. Additionally, compared with outdoor location shoots, our studio photography offers the important advantage of being unaffected by weather. If a couple books a seaside shoot and it rains, the entire experience must be postponed or canceled. Studio photography removes that uncertainty, which is a major benefit.
In the past, we approached Japanese travel agencies about promoting our services to inbound visitors, but the consensus was that wedding-related products need to be introduced before visitors arrive in Japan. In other words, we must propose photo wedding packages at the point of departure, not upon arrival. We are now exploring partnerships with overseas travel agencies to introduce our services to couples before they travel to Japan. This is a promising area we would like to pursue more actively.
You mentioned photo weddings being particularly promising for inbound tourism. We have heard from many companies that inbound interest, especially from China and South Korea, began early, and now Western couples are increasingly participating as well. Given that so many competitors are moving into this space, do you have a concrete development plan or timeline for your inbound photo wedding business? Will we see developments within the next year, or within two to three years?
Yes, we do have a plan under consideration. The photo weddings we currently provide are based on a Japanese adaptation of the Korean-style photography aesthetic, which resonates especially well with customers in East Asia. We have also heard that photo studios other company operates in Hong Kong, for example, are popular.
From January to March this year, we plan to send a research team to Taiwan and Hong Kong to conduct interviews and assess demand firsthand. Based on those findings, we will determine whether our next step should be opening a studio overseas or expanding further within Japan. There is still substantial growth potential for photo studios domestically.
Tameny Inc. Headquarters
You mentioned Hong Kong earlier, which leads naturally to a broader question about overseas aspirations. Could you elaborate on your current thinking regarding international expansion? Is this an active goal for your company?
At present, we do not have a specific numerical target or finalized road map for overseas expansion. Traditionally, our services have focused on Japan’s unique customs surrounding ceremonial life events such as matchmakings and weddings. Because these services are rooted in Japanese cultural practices, they have naturally developed for the domestic market. However, photo weddings are different. Photography has universal value, and the photo wedding format has global potential. For that reason, we see photo weddings as a promising avenue for innovation and international expansion. It is the area where we are placing our strong focus now.
Returning to your wedding services: your offerings, such as Sma-Kon and LUMINOUS, focus on small-scale, highly affordable formats. Sma-Kon provides low-cost ceremonies using partner venues nationwide, and LUMINOUS offers specialized wedding photography. Could you walk us through these core services and explain your competitive strengths? Specifically, why should couples choose your services over your competitors’?
Let me begin with Sma-Kon. The traditional business model of wedding venues is that approximately 45 percent of their annual capacity is filled, while the remaining 55 percent remains vacant. The reasons are simple: couples avoid winter and summer, weekdays are inconvenient for guests, and some dates are considered inauspicious in Japan. Because of this, wedding venues must cover their fixed costs despite large portions of the calendar remaining unoccupied. This leads them to raise prices during peak seasons to maintain profitability.
Our model leverages that inefficiency. Although we are not an OTA, our approach is similar in the sense that we procure unused timeslots at partner venues at affordable prices and offer them to couples. Because we do not own venues ourselves, our fixed costs are low and we can flexibly source the right venue for each couple’s needs. Whether it is a small ceremony, a large gathering, or even just a photo shoot, we can accommodate a wide variety of requests.
Another strength is that venue availability has shifted. Historically, the unused slots we procured tended to be in A or B ranked venues. But as overall wedding numbers decline, even top-tier S-ranked venues now have availability. We are increasingly able to offer these high-end venues at accessible prices, which further strengthens our competitive advantage. As for LUMINOUS, its challenge is that our designs are often imitated quickly by competitors. Our strength lies in designing the photographic sets internally and having them constructed by professional production companies that normally build film sets. This allows us to recreate our design concepts with great precision.
Photo studios are fundamentally local businesses, and their competitiveness is determined by community relevance, design quality, and price. For example, our Odaiba studio is our most profitable location. When we release new backdrop designs there and later deploy them to other regions, competitors often replicate those same designs within six months. To stay ahead, we believe the key is to produce new sets more quickly and at lower cost, much like fast fashion. If we can consistently create high-quality, trend-setting backdrops at a speed competitors cannot match, that will become our defining competitive strength.
You mentioned Sma-Kon and how it optimizes unused venue capacity. Could this service potentially be adapted to inbound or outbound markets in the future?
For outbound markets, the major question is whether we could secure wedding venues outside Japan in the same way we do domestically. That would be the critical factor. However, regarding LUMINOUS, we are considering a new idea: creating a chapel inside the photo studio itself. Since we do not own wedding venues, many couples begin their search by selecting a venue first, and we cannot currently provide that starting point. But because our strength lies in production and photography, as well as competitive pricing, building a chapel within the studio could allow couples to hold a ceremony and take photos all in one integrated package. This could appeal strongly to both domestic and inbound couples. It is a concept we hope to challenge ourselves within a few years.
I would like to shift now to regional revitalization. Japan faces striking demographic challenges: forty prefectures are already in demographic decline, and nearly thirty percent of municipalities risk disappearing by 2040 without intervention. In this context, how essential are companies like yours providing matchmaking services and demographic support in helping regional communities combat population loss and rebuild vibrant local societies?
Our partnerships with local governments in matchmaking, or Konkatsu, are extremely meaningful. Private matchmaking services face inherent limitations: they require a sufficiently large population base, which is why they concentrate in major cities, and their target users generally need a certain income level. By collaborating with municipalities and leveraging local tax budgets, we are able to offer high-quality matchmaking services in regional areas where commercial services alone would not be viable.
We currently provide a customized version of our parms system to fourteen municipalities, eight of which operate centralized matchmaking centers. Our system is distinctive in that it integrates AI-based matchmaking, event planning and operations, and lifestyle support for younger residents. By offering these services, we help strengthen local communities, support relationships that take root in those regions, and address broader challenges such as isolated aging. In this sense, I believe our work contributes directly to regional revitalization.
We understand that your company supports fifteen prefectures through the operation of municipal matchmaking centers, and that parms plays a central role in this. Could you explain what parms is and why it is important for addressing Japan’s demographic challenges?
parms is our comprehensive matchmaking support system designed specifically for municipal use. It combines several features: AI analysis to facilitate compatible pairings, support functions for planning and managing events, and tools that help local governments provide lifestyle support to younger residents. It enables municipalities to run matchmaking programs efficiently and at scale. The system is important because it brings structure, technology, and consistency to what used to be fragmented local efforts. By utilizing parms, municipalities can create environments in which young people are more likely to meet compatible partners, stay in their local communities, and build families there. This directly supports the goal of stabilizing regional populations and revitalizing declining areas.
Many developed countries face similar demographic challenges. South Korea’s fertility rate has fallen to around 0.72, Singapore’s is about 1.2, and projections show that 97 percent of developed countries will confront demographic decline by 2050. Do you think your systems and technologies could eventually be replicated internationally? Could your matchmaking solutions be internationalized in the next five to ten years?
I believe there is potential. In East Asian societies in particular such as China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Japan there is a cultural foundation for matchmaking services rooted in valuing family lineage, preserving family names, and maintaining traditional family structures. This cultural context supports the relevance of consultation-based matchmaking services.
Western countries, on the other hand, already have very strong and sophisticated matching platforms. However, when it comes to the specific cultural model of Omiai matchmaking rooted in family and tradition East Asia has unique needs and contexts that align well with the services we provide. I believe what we have developed is interesting and holds promise. Singapore, for example, has also positioned demographic measures as part of national strategy. So yes, in the long term, I do see potential to expand or adapt our systems internationally.
Matchmaking services such as Partner Agent, your high-valued matching support agency, offer supports up to marriage. You also operate OTOCON, which holds thousands of in-person events each year. Could you explain how these services differ from basic matchmaking offerings in Japan? How do you elevate the user experience beyond the standard approach?
OTOCON is designed as an accessible, low-cost, casual service that provides opportunities for people to meet face-to-face in an easy and relaxed environment. It lowers the barriers to participating in matchmaking activities. Partner Agent, in contrast, is fundamentally different. Its purpose is to support individuals who are seriously committed to marriage. Each user builds a structured schedule with a dedicated consultant, identifies their goals, and works step-by-step to achieve them. It is a process-driven service. A helpful analogy might be a traditional prep school: you aim for a target school, receive guidance to address your weaknesses, follow a structured plan, and eventually reach your goal. The same applies to Partner Agent.
On average, Partner Agent users remain in the service for about ten months. During that period, they typically meet around ten potential partners, choose one, and enter a relationship. It is a mid- to long-term service with a higher level of engagement and support.
Funabashi store, Partner Agent
Thank you again for your thoughtful responses. I have two final questions. First, regarding partnerships: are you seeking domestic or international partners to support the next stage of your business development?
Domestically, we are not currently looking for new partners. Over the next few years, our goal is to strengthen relationships with partners who have already increased their capital involvement with us. For initiatives such as digital transformation, we aim to deepen those existing collaborations. International partnerships, however, are an area of interest, especially as we explore opportunities in photo weddings. We believe that working with partners overseas may allow us to scale more efficiently than doing everything independently. That said, before forming any partnerships, we plan to conduct our own research during business trips this year to better understand the opportunities.
My final question concerns your leadership vision. You founded this company and have returned as president as of April this year. You described this moment as a “second founding.” What ambitions do you hold for the next few years? Do you aim to expand into new segments, or strengthen existing businesses and partnerships?
Our aspiration as a company is to continue expanding. By 2035, we aim to achieve annual net sales of thirty billion yen. While this is an ambitious target rather than a fixed milestone, it is important for us to set bold goals as we enter this second founding phase.
Currently, our sales are around six billion yen, but the number of customers we serve is still relatively small. We want to increase that base significantly. We aim to support couples not only through matchmaking and weddings, but also through their broader lifestyle needs as they begin married life. In April this year, we will launch a new, highly customized CRM platform that will allow us to stay connected with individuals we have supported at any stage. This will enable us to provide lifestyle support tailored to different life stages and deepen our long-term relationships with customers. This is central to our mission as we move forward.
Newsweek reaches more than 75 million readers across 59 countries, including international operators in relationship technology, overseas wedding services, venue operators, governments, and regional development agencies. How would you describe your company to this global audience in one or two sentences?
Our greatest strengths are, first, our ability to build innovative business models, and second, our talented employees who deliver exceptional service. Our company was originally formed through the merger of three venture firms, giving us a strong foundation in building services from scratch. Combined with the dedication and hospitality of our well-trained staff, we believe we can continue creating meaningful experiences for our customers. That is how we hope to be recognized by your readers.
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted with Shigeru Sato while he served as President and Representative Director of Pearl Izumi, Inc. Since the interview took place, Mr. Shimizu has stepped down from the role. The interview reflects his views at the time of publication.
For more information, visit their website at: https://tameny.jp/
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