合コン (Goukon): is a group blind date, typically used to overcome shyness and form at least some friendships between two groups that are each of a single sex.

So, the Goukon, is a typically Japanese social event amongst the younger generation for meeting new people and broadening your prospects. In a typical situation there’d be an organiser that asks a friend of the opposite gender to gather together enough of their friends of the same gender for a social gathering. The event would usually take place at a restaurant or izakaya (another Japanese speciality, which I’ll explain another time), with each group of men and women sitting opposite each other.

I suppose the main objective behind these events is to increase the probability of meeting someone of the opposite sex that you like. It’s also seen as a safer option than one-on-one dating as you can consider the rest of your group to be there as moral support.

That is the art of goukon.