Japanese women are dropping marriage, but cultural norms fail to catch up

Not so long ago, Japanese women who remained unmarried after the age of 25 were referred to as "Christmas cake," a slur comparing them to old holiday pastries that cannot be sold after December 25

The bride wore a birthday cake of a dress, with a scalloped-edge bodice and a large hoop skirt. A veil sprouted from her black bob. Moments before the wedding began, she stood quietly on a staircase, waiting to descend to the ceremony.
 
“Wow,” she thought. “I’m really doing this.”
 
This was no conventional wedding to join two people in matrimony. Instead, a group of nearly 30 friends gathered in a banquet room in one of Tokyo’s most fashionable districts last year to witness Sanae Hanaoka, 31, as she performed a public declaration of her love — for her