CupidsViews.com Cupid's Dating Site Reviewer
If you’re looking for a Japanese centered dating experience, here it is. JapanCupid’s purpose is to unite singles that are or who want to meet someone who’s Japanese.
The website itself is created with the International user in mind. It’s displayed in English and there’s a choice of seven other languages including Japanese. Of course if you want it in another language that isn’t a problem these days with plenty of browser translators available.
Joining JapanCupid
Joining is a basic formality and can be completed in a couple of minutes. You’ll need to verify your email address. If this isn’t done quickly your account risks being removed. This happened to me a couple of times before I successfully completed the registration.
Creating your Profile
Another point to be aware of is that JapanCupid is heavily moderated. They spend a lot of time keeping out people who are there for dubious purposes like romance scamming. That means profiles are checked.
The following pointers will help you to avoid getting purged by the clean-up team:
- Post at least one photo of yourself – if it looks like something from a magazine that will be a certain red flag
- Write about yourself in the bio section but don’t display things like your telephone number or email address
- Complete your personality profile to show you’ve taken some care to add some relevant detail about yourself
- Include details about your wish to meet a Japanese woman or man or your connection to the culture – generic profiles will be seen as a possible sign of a scammer
- If you choose to you can get your profile formally verified by sending in photo ID.
Finding Your Soulmate
Whether you choose to be pro-active and go looking for the love of your life or just wait for someone to spot your profile and contact you will depend on your personality. Many people, especially women choose the latter. They wait to be contacted.
If you choose a pro-active search you will need to upgrade to one of the regular paid memberships. Without paid memberships you can’t initiate conversations with other members unless they happen to be on one of the paid plans as well.
Basic search choices
The search system in JapanCupid has several different choices and these take a bit of time to master. If you’re familiar with other dating sites, the “regular search” will be a good starting point. This is what most people use and it will let you find people based on where they live, their gender and their basic relationship preferences.
Going further
If this doesn’t pull up the love of your life there are plenty of other choices. The advanced search lets you trawl much deeper by looking at specifics like appearance, personality and interests as well as numerous other criteria. In the end it can feel quite cold and mechanical in searching this way.
If you fancy rolling the dice and trying something different I suggest using the tag search. It always amazes me how a few hobbies and special words can define a person. Here are some examples I saw:
- Surfer
- Homemaker
- Chatter box
Of course these are just a few examples. You’ll find every hobby and interest under the sun.
The dating pool
JapanCupid is a big site with a lot of activity. You won’t find any shortages of people to chat with or just hang out with. There are many living in Japan and nearby countries but there are also expats and people from all over the world who just have an interest in meeting someone.
The vibe is friendly and subdued. It’s not an overly swaggering site and most people I chatted with there were quite modest and conservative following the Japanese norm.
The cost
As with other Cupid sites, the basic service is free. You can join and wait to be contacted. If you prefer a more pro-active dating experience then you will need to upgrade to either Gold or Platinum membership.
Paid membership will unlock all messaging restrictions so that you can “live chat” to anyone or send messages to anyone on the site – even if they are non-paying members.
