re: Japanese people aren't having sex. And nobody knows why

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People in Japan, and Tokyo in particular, work ridiculous amounts. For most people it comes down to two choices: work like mad as a single person and have a tiny apartment full of dirty clothes and half-eaten Cup Ramen containers, or get married. That way, the man goes off to work, and when he comes home after midnight, his dinner is sitting on the table covered in Saran Wrap, and there’s hot water in the tub. His wife and daughter are already fast asleep.

The young Japanese people of today grew up watching their parents live this life and it’s understandable that they are not thrilled about this option. Marriage isn’t a great choice; it’s just the second-worst option. For a man, it means he is working to pay for his wife. For a woman, it means a life of indentured servitude. A lot of people are apparently “just saying no” to the whole thing.

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I must be turning Japanese then

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I bet the rate of beatin' off is just as high as ever.

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For a Japanese male it is possible to get sex almost anywhere, at any time, for little more than the price of a decent lunch. Anyone who’s been in Japan for even a short while has seen the rows of shops offering all the usual services. (As an aside, I’ll add that “foreigners” aren’t allowed in but as long as you’re “Japanese,” you are good to go. But Japanese racism is a whole other subject).

So prostitution has turned sex in Japan into a commodity. It’s something that’s available for purchase, like movie tickets. Sex isn’t an expression of love between two people, it’s something that can be bought or sold when necessary. The fact is that prostitution is widespread and its availability changes the way people view relationships.

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I truly did not know this. That is worse than here.

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A 2020 online survey indicated that 20–30 per cent of men aged between 20 and 39 years old said they didn't want to have sex, as well as around 40 per cent of women.

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But the authors of the recent study wrote that this issue was particularly pertinent in Japan, where “sexual behaviours are often described as a contradictory mix of permissiveness and expectations of discretion.”

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There’s the answer. They know how to keep their mouths shut.

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