Imported brides rise as money mixes Asian marriages

AFP - Asian men from rich countries such as Japan and South Korea are increasingly seeking brides from poorer ones like Vietnam and the Philippines -- as economically liberated local women get picky.

Marriages between Japanese men and foreign women shot up 73 percent between 1995 and 2006, to 35,993, according to the latest government survey. Most of the women were Filipinas, followed by Chinese.

"Asian brides -- notably Chinese and Filipina -- remain popular in the countryside, where it's quite hard to find young women," said Toshio Esaka, president of dating agency Royal in Osaka, western Japan.

"But nowadays, it's getting harder even downtown as a lot of young Japanese women are economically independent and prefer to remain single," Esaka said.

afp, http://www.france24.com/en/20100630-imported-brides-rise-money-mixes-asian-marriages

because I know a couple of people who did this. Two friends parents who emigrated to Canada ages ago sent away for a bride from China. (They were of Chinese origin.) It's weird to think that this still exists in culture.