NO SEX PLEASE, WE’RE JAPANESE: Japan Population Decline: Third Of Nation’s Youth Have ‘No Interest’ In Sex.
A startling number of Japanese youths have turned their backs on sex and relationships, a new survey has found.
The survey, conducted by the Japan Family Planning Association, found that 36% of males aged 16 to 19 said that they had “no interest” in or even “despised” sex. That’s almost a 19% increase since the survey was last conducted in 2008.
If that’s not bad enough, The Wall Street Journal reports that a whopping 59% of female respondents aged 16 to 19 said they were uninterested in or averse to sex, a near 12% increase since 2008.
There’s no future in this.
UPDATE: Reader Jeff Johnson writes: “That statistic is shocking – but what causes people to go against their basic instincts, procreation in this situation? One thing that the article didn’t mention is that the Japanese economy and been stagnant for a long time. When there is no bright future, who wants take the time and expense to woo a mate let alone to start a family? Virtual girlfriends and worlds don’t have the problems or complexities that the real world has, but it also doesn’t have the rewards either. Maybe Japan will turn into Solaria as in Asimov’s novels, Robots and Earth and Foundation and Earth?” Well, that didn’t work out so well.
ANOTHER UPDATE: A reader emails:
You likely don’t remember me, but about a decade ago I had a popular English language blog in Asia — “The Gweilo Diaries”. Your links were a big part of whatever success I had in the early days of the blogosphere.
Although I’m retired from blogging and the general debauchery that provided a significant part of my blog fodder, I wanted to share my reaction to your post about the purported emasculation of Japan.
As a preface: my wife — yes, I’m now married, monogamous and very content — is Japanese. Many of my friends and clients are Japanese. I speak passable Japanese and I am still intrigued (and sometimes repelled) by Japanese culture.
The statistics you link to miss the point. Young Japanese guys are as horny and desperate to get laid as any guys in the world. Probably more so, since only young Arabs get less actual sex. Japanese girls are as eager to find an alpha male boyfriend as any other nationality. Japan still produces the most prolific and extraordinary porn in the world. Someone is watching it.
Unfortunately, three lost economic decades has resulted in a plethora of un- or under-employed young beta men, without real jobs or prospects of success, and young women who look at these prospective suitors and despair.
Young Japanese guys who can’t attract women turn to magna, gaming, and juvinalia Young Japanese women, in a society without f*ckworthy guys, turn to fashion, girl friends and the passive/aggressive “cute culture” prevalent among Japanese girls. It turns out that economic stagnation if the enemy of hot sex.
The US is not Japan, but if present trends of debt, unemployment, lack of mobility and stagnation continue, the end result will be similar.
If they want to win the youth vote, I propose the slogan: “Get laid, vote Republican”. Unfortunately, Romney is an unlikely advocate and Newt had better not go there. How about “Obama is saltpeter.” as an alternative?
I remember the Gweilo Diaries. That was a good blog.