One in four Japanese men in their thirties have never had sex, claims UK newspaper The Independent, drawing from an AFP article doing the rounds.
In what is now an all-too familiar trope for Japan veterans, the foreign media has wheeled out the tired anti-Japanese male propaganda for another punishment session.
Last week it was Japanese dog-groomers shaving their dogs into square shapes (actually, not real dogs at all). This week it’s Japanese guys can’t have sex.
41-year-old Takashi Sakai is just one of many middle-aged Japanese men who have still not have sex. He has never even had any form of a relationship with a woman. He told the AFP, “When you are young, you are afraid of rejection. I think it’s true that many people know just pretend that they have no feelings about sex, instead of risking outright failure.”
Sakai says it’s not that he’s not interested in women; he says he “admires” them. Rather, the inertia in his sexual life has gone on so long that he has no idea how to, in his words, “get on the right track”.
These older virgins are called yaramiso (a portmanteau word combining yarazu — to not have sex — and misoji, someone in their thirties).
A 2010 survey by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research found that around 25% of unmarried Japanese men in their thirties were still virgins. The figure was an increase of 3% from a similar survey in 1992.
Actually, this is lower than some more alarming sex survey results in the past.
Sakai is part of a sketching class for older guys who draw naked women to learn about their bodies.
“The first time I did this, in autumn last year, oh… I was so amazed. Their bodies are incredibly beautiful,” he said.
“One thing I learned is that there are many different shapes of breasts and even genitals,” he said.
Try telling that to Megumi Igarashi! Sakai et al should be careful not to exhibit the fruits of their artistic explorations. They might end up arrested.
The so-called Virgin Academia may be the answer to Japan’s problems, which is roundly condemned by international sex standards: “Japanese people across the board appear to have less sex than those in other developed countries.”
Part of the issue apparently is the collapse of old social customs so today “it is now all up to each individual to find a potential partner and negotiate for sex”. Heaven forbid!
“In today’s Japan, we have no place to learn about sex or how to form a romantic relationship,” one activist told the press.
Well, we at Tokyo Kinky are happy to help too!
We personally think having a dinner date with porn stars is the best remedy for older male virgins.
