Grace, a 29-year-old publicist in New York, has regularly used a slew of dating apps for more than four years, with little luck. Among millions, a consensus is forming: Dating apps suck so bad that they might even be deliberately keeping us from finding love. In Tokyo, the city government is even releasing its own dating app, part of a campaign called Tokyo Futari Story ("futari" means couple). Bouke de Vries, an associate professor of philosophy at Ghent University in Belgium who's studied dating apps, argues that state-run dating apps are at least in theory better positioned to help people find partners without spending too much money or time in the process. Last year, Japan's most popular dating app, the Match Group-owned Pairs, began collaborating with several prefectures and cities.

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Persons: Grace, She's, it's, who'd, Tinder, Damona Hoffman, Bianca Stelian, Ryan Clarkson, —, They've, Ali Jackson, Bouke de, cupid, Bouke de Vries, Belgium who's, de Vries, Omar Minami, Cheryl Drury, They're, Francesca Katayama, Junko Yamada, Yamada, Elon Musk, I'm, Justin Garcia, Garcia, what's, there's, Eric Adams, Adams, Eve Organizations: Raya, Forbes, League, Match, Children, Families Agency, Ghent University, Government, National, Insurance, Rissho University, Department of Health, Human Services, Conservatives, Trump, PAC, Indiana University, Kinsey Institute, Match Group, Republican, Kinsey, New, New York City — Locations: New York, New York City, Japan, Australia, America, Saitama, Tokyo, Bouke de Vries, Belgium, Singapore