Making sushi shouldn’t be this hard — or if we’re being completely honest, awkward — but what’s a bit of cringe around the edges when it comes to matters of the heart?

It’s the day after Valentine’s Day, and a group of men — all Singaporean — and women — all Japanese — are crowded around an island counter at WeWork’s Beach Centre premises, doing their level best to roll makizushi with bamboo mats.

The kawaii factor of would-be couples fumbling with nori, rice and avocado slices should theoretically be pretty high, though the guy we saw horrify his partner by licking his fingers then used them to spread rice on his seaweed sheet put that to the test.

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The idea was two-person teams, one man with one woman, though a slight female deficit on this first effort by matchmaking agency Destini IS meant a couple of women ended up making sushi with two male partners.

The event was the first of what the new company promised will be numerous chances for members to make the acquaintance of Japanese women looking for Singaporean love — and vice versa — and given the degree of bashful blokes on hand, it’s a service that many might find attractive.

Destination Destini

True love does not come cheap, of course, no matter what your mom tells you. Destini IS’s packages start at S$288 (as a special launch price), and that’s just the enrollment fee — not counting the continued monthly charges, and the “successful match-making fee,” which would require S$1,888 to be coughed up if you truly hit it off with someone.

And that’s the affordable package. A premium membership involves nearly S$3,000 just to enroll, but Destini IS assured us that it’s all worth it. Being a card-carrying member means invites to exclusive parties, events and seminars, self-improvement courses, and access to a database of about 60,000 registered members (both sexes). Full disclosure: The 60,000-membership base includes registrants from its Japanese partner IBJ, which has been around a whole lot longer.

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Ever since Destini IS went public with its plans back in January (something covered widely by local media), the reception by Singaporean men have been huge, a public relations spokesman for the agency said.

Huge, of course, is relative. While declining to reveal how many people have actually signed up so far, he said the company had received more than 200 inquiries from interested local dudes, and that a better-than-decent percentage had made the leap.

“A lot of them actually signed up on the spot,” the spokesman said. “They know what they want and are ready to pay for it.”

The same applies to the odd 1,000 or so female Japanese members who’ve expressed their desire for a “cross-cultural relationship.”

Singapore being a favored destination for work and play among the Japanese, it was only natural for Destini to connect the dots, he explained.

“Through the years, Singapore has built up a very good reputation and image for itself, so much so that now, Japanese girls looking to get out of Japan would pick Singapore as a destination.”

Inside and out

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