Provenance — where it came from
In the late 1980s, at the height of the bubble economy, Japanese media summed up the ideal marriage partner for women in one tidy word: 三高 (sankō), “the three highs.” High height, high education, high income. Magazines printed the exact numbers a candidate was expected to clear. Marriage had a spec sheet.
The word could only exist in that moment. Land prices in Tokyo were absurd, salaries climbed every year, and it seemed reasonable to demand all three highs at once — the supply looked endless.
Then the bubble burst, and the three highs quietly left the market. In the decades that followed, media invented new formulas shaped by leaner times: the 2010s offered 三平 (sanpei), “the three averages” — average income, average looks, average calm. From “high, high, high” to “average is fine.” Few words measure the temperature drop of an economy so precisely.
Field notes — how it’s used
やっぱり結婚するなら三高よね
yappari kekkon suru nara sankō yo ne
“If you’re going to marry, it has to be the three highs.” — said over expensive coffee, around 1989.