Survey shows Japanese women too busy to fall in love

TOKYO -- Some 60 percent of eligible women in Japan are reluctant to start a love relationship due to the growing burden at work, The Japan Times reported Saturday citing a survey at cocoloni.jp, an online dating advice service.

As women today are facing the same workload as men in Japan, the ensuing fatigue has made women more willing to lounge on a sofa and watch soap operas after work instead of going to dates, said the report.

Office love is no longer alluring and blind dates are even regarded as stressful and tedious which seldom bring satisfying results. One in four women admits having fallen asleep on a date due to tiredness caused by work, according to the survey.

Another online dating site Lovely Media says a growing number of women are quitting random dates because they think it's a "waste of time." Instead, they make pregnancy their ultimate goal, thus turning to matchmaking routes for seeking an ideal husband.

Back in the 1980s, over 60 percent of young people in their 20s in Japan were in a relationship, while today this group is in the minority, The Japan Times said.

Shorter working hours, guaranteed maternity and paternity leaves, and a less forbidding atmosphere will go a long way in getting women to think about love," it concluded. (Xinhua)

DOTr, DPWH opens TPLEX Binalonan-Pozzorubio segment

By Aerol John Pateña  

MANILA -- The Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) opened on Wednesday a segment of the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEX) stretching from Binalonan to Pozzorubio, both in Pangasinan which will ensure ease of travel in the northern Luzon.

This as the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) has granted a Toll Operation Permit (TOP) to the Philippine Infrastructure Development Corporation (PIDC) for the maintenance and operation of the new segment of the expressway last November 29.

“The TOP was issued after a joint inspection conducted by the DPWH, TRB Technical Staff, and representatives of PIDC, who confirmed that the particular portion of TPLEX is substantially complete and is safe to be operated commercially,” the DOTr said in a statement Wednesday.

The DPWH and representatives from DOTr and PIDC opened the 10.10-km TPLEX Segment 7, Section 3A-2 which stretches from Binalonan to Pozorrubio, Pangasinan.

This is the second to the last portion of the TPLEX project that would be constructed by PIDC. Segment 7, Section 3A-1 of TPLEX officially opened last July 28, 2016

DPWH Secretary Mark Villar said in an earlier statement that the additional 10 kilometer segment would ease traffic and significantly reduce travel time from Tarlac to Pozorrubio from two and a half hours to just 45 minutes.

The completion of the new segment will make TPLEX a 78.39-km expressway connecting provinces of Tarlac and Pangasinan.

Its last section, the 10.92-km Pozorrubio, Pangasinan to Rosario, La Union segment is set for completion in June 2019.

Upon full completion, TPLEX would be able to reduce travel time from Tarlac to Rosario, La Union from 3.5 hours to just an hour benefiting an average of 20,000 vehicles per day. (PNA)