The tome has sold 170,000 copies since it was released by Tokyo publisher Discover21 in early 2008. The authors urge young singles to actively seek a spouse: Just sitting back and waiting for the right person to come along isn't enough。自2008年年初東京出版社Discover21推出《獵婚時代》以來，其銷量已經達到17萬冊。書中，作者敦促年輕的單身男女積極尋找配偶：只是坐著干等另一半的出現是遠遠不夠的。

Appealing to spouse-hunters has become quite a business in Japan, where marriage rates have plummeted in recent years。獵婚族在日本也已成為一個炙手可熱的行當，這與近年來日本不婚族大增的趨勢密切相關。

Government data show the percentage of unmarried people surged from 14% to 47% for men aged 30 to 34 and from 8% to 32% for women over the three decades ending in 2005。政府數據顯示，在截至2005年的30年間，30歲至34歲的獨身男性比例從14%增至47%，未婚女性比例亦從8%上升到32%。

The authors of 'The Era of Marriage Hunting' cite changes in Japanese society, where traditional matchmaking -- often by so-called neighborhood aunties -- is fading away. Bosses in Japanese companies also used to match up women and men working under them -- then force the women to quit once they were married。《獵婚時代》一書的作者認為日本社會的種種變化是不婚族不斷擴大的原因：經常由鄰居大媽大嬸組織的傳統相親逐漸消失。過去，日本企業的老板通常會為自己的部下牽線搭橋，一旦女性結婚，就迫使她們辭去工作。

That changed after an equal-employment opportunity law was enacted in the late 1980s. Since the law was passed, sociologists have observed an increase in women seeking careers rather than marriage. Men, they say, have become less aggressive about finding partners because of money troubles and uncertain jobs。然而，80年代末平等雇傭機會法的頒布促使這種現象發生變化。自法律通過以來，社會學家注意到更多的女性開始尋求職業生涯的發展，而非婚姻。他們表示，男性則由于財務困境和就業不穩定，尋求伴侶的積極性有所下降。

Businesses ranging from matchmaking services to lingerie makers and professional baseball teams are trying to fill the romance void。眼下，從征婚服務機構，內衣制造商到職業棒球隊，各類企業都在試圖利用獵婚熱潮帶來的商機。

Konkatsu is a new buzzword for Japanese media. The concept has been featured in magazines and is the title of a popular television show. Even shrines are getting in on the konkatsu boom。“獵婚”是日本媒體最近相當盛行的一個新詞。這個理念也頻頻出現在各種雜志上，而且還是一個流行電視節目的名稱。就連神社也卷入了獵婚潮。

（來源：網絡 英語點津Jennifer編輯）

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