Being single is an increasingly common experience for Japanese adults. Not only has the average age at first marriage risen continuously over the last decades, so too has the rate of permanent singlehood. Research on the unmarried is therefore critical to an understanding of contemporary Japanese society. DIJ social scientist Nora Kottmann and Laura Dales (University of Western Australia) are currently conducting a survey that aims to better understand how the lives and relationship worlds of unmarried adults (‘singles’) have been affected by the ongoing COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic and how this might affect future practices and perceptions of the increasing numbers of ‘singles’ in Japan (and beyond). Both researchers introduce this survey in their recent co-authored blog posts ‘Solo-camping and solo-hotpots: Rethinking practices and perceptions of singlehood in Japan in COVID-time’ and ‘Looking to capture practices of intimacy in times of social distancing: Mixed-methods research on singles in Japan’. Updates will be published on the project’s webpage.