At the beginning of each year, the announcement of the marriage of Japanese artists has become a hot topic in the entertainment industry, and this year is particularly eye-catching. In the tsunami of marriage news that the spectators have become accustomed to, the marriage news of a couple has sparked a lot of discussion - Tsuyoshi Domoto x Natsuko Momota.
Let's get to know the newlyweds first. Tsuyoshi Domoto, a member of Genesys' Kink Kids, is 44 years old; And the woman, Natsuko Momota, is a member of the girl group Momoiro Clover and is 29 years old this year. The duo's marriage in the first month of the Year of the Dragon** immediately caused an uproar.
Why is the couple's marriage so compelling? Because Tsuyoshi Domoto has always been a pioneer of mobility, he is regarded as a representative of "great artists" and "never married". His artistic personality was praised by fans as sensitive and delicate, but at the time of the fall of Genesys at 40+, he chose to devote himself to his family and married a wife who was 15 years younger than him.
This phenomenon of old husbands and young wives is not uncommon in the Japanese entertainment industry. The gap between Liu Shishi and Wu Qilong is 17 years, Teruyuki Kagawa and his wife who is 30 years younger than him, Ken Watanabe and his wife who is 21 years younger than him, Tadanobu Asano and his wife who is 18 years younger than him, and Abe Kan and his wife who is 15 years younger than him ......The list of examples is dizzying. In this phenomenon, men tend to choose younger women as their spouses, while women are relatively less likely to marry men younger than themselves.
This phenomenon can't help but remind people of Liu Shishi and Wu Qilong's marriage news**, when they were ridiculed by netizens for "Liu Shishi wants to support five old people ten years later". However, in Japan, old husbands and young wives seem to have become the standard for couples in the entertainment industry, and even if the age gap is large, there is little criticism.
However, once you turn your attention to couples whose woman is ten years older than the man, the situation is very different. When the news of Ryoko Hirosue's remarriage was announced, society was full of discussions. The marriage between Nozomi Sasaki and Watanabe Ken is even more controversial, and the rumors of Watanabe's cheating are staggering, but the two still maintain their marriage, and even announced the birth of a second child.
All this begs the question, why is it that men are rarely criticized when they choose younger women, while women marry men younger than themselves become outliers. Is this a reflection of the deep patriarchal system in Japanese society? Between the entertainment industry and ordinary people, has this logic of mate selection long been ingrained in Japanese society?
Looking back at the development of women's rights in Japan, we can find that during the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese women's liberation movement began to emerge. In the 1878 election, Kita Kusunase did not have the right to vote for women, and fought for women's suffrage. However, with the restrictive policies of the Meiji era**, women's rights were gradually denied until the early 20th century.
The feminist movement flourished again in 1911, and the Seisha Society, founded by Hiratsuka Thunderbird, became an important force for women's emancipation. However, restrictions on women's rights silenced the feminist movement for a while. It wasn't until the 1970s that feminism re-emerged, and women such as Chizuruko Ueno began to suffer sexism against women within left-wing organizations.
Although feminism has been going on in Japan for more than 100 years, Japanese society still maintains a strong patriarchal image in contemporary times. **The concept of "women's economics" proposed by Shinzo called for women to return to the workforce, but in fact it did not bring about fundamental change. The housework undertaken by the women in the family is still the father's 36 times, making it difficult for women to juggle their careers after giving birth.
And in terms of social perceptions, although the feminist movement in Japan has experienced many upsurges, the role of women is still severely limited under the influence of the economic crisis and social conservatism. As a result, there is a growing trend of older husbands and younger wives in Japanese marriages, and women choosing careers rather than being housewives.
However, when we wondered if women's rights in Japan had died out, a series of women's revolts sprung up on social **. In 2019, the kutoo movement in Japan arose, calling against the custom of forcing women to wear high heels. The "ku" in the name of this movement is taken from the Japanese word for "bitter", which symbolizes the suffering suffered by women.
While these actions have not yet brought about radical change, they at least show that Japanese women are dissatisfied with inequality. At the same time, the development of social networking has also provided a platform for women to express their voices. In this process, the entertainment industry has become one of the stages for women to show their strength and pursue equality.
In this context, the marriage news of Tsuyoshi Domoto and Natsunako Momota has caused many people to think. Does Domoto just choose to marry a wife who is 15 years younger than himself at this moment, does it mean that the entertainment industry is returning to the patriarchal system? Or is it just a personal choice?
In any case, such a marriage phenomenon is not isolated in the Japanese entertainment industry. As viewers, we can see the diversity of ideas about marriage and society's reflection on gender equality. Perhaps, it is through these marriage choices that Japanese society can gradually break with the old gender concept and move towards a more equal and open future.
The announcement of the marriage of a new couple of old husbands and young wives in the entertainment industry has sparked heated discussions, how to explain the marriage trend? "