[xeberus]

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.

The survey paints a bleak picture for Japan's aging population. The Associated Press reports that the national population of 128 million will have shrunk by one-third by 2060 and seniors will account for 40 percent of people, placing a greater burden on the work force population to support the country's social security and tax systems.

Many commentators in the Japanese and international media have laid the problem squarely at the feet of soshoku danshi -- "herbivore men" -- a term coined by pop culture columnist Maki Fukasawa in 2006. It refers to Japanese young men who have rejected their culture's traditional definition of masculinity, and seemingly eschew relationships with the opposite sex as part.

CNN spoke to a Midori Saida, a 24-year-old Japanese woman who described "herbivore men" as "flaky and weak."

"We like manly men," she said. "We are not interested in those boys -- at all."


BBC News spoke to one such "herbivore" man (see video above). The man, Yusaki Yakahashi said: "Building a relationship seems like too much effort. To get her to like me and for me to like her... I'd have to give up everything I do at the weekend for her. I don't want to do that."

Another theory that seeks to explain Japan's shrinking population is that Japanese youth spend too much time engaged with technology, living in virtual worlds or settling for virtual girlfriends rather than real ones.

Britain's Daily Telegraph reports that Japan's government has undertaken a series of campaigns to encourage couples to have more children -- including making companies insist that their staff leave work at 6 pm to increase child allowances -- but according to Dr. Kunio Kitamura, head of the Japan Family Planning Association, "none of that is going to have an impact if people are not going to have sex."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1242014.html

[Voiceless]

First of all, long term prognosis on population growth has never worked out. Secondly, biology will set in and let the hormones make the sex appetite catching up at a later age.

All in all, a diminution of the population like in all industrialised countries is probable, because there, a big population naturally isn't needed, but I highly doubt that it will be to the extent as written in the article.

[Rusty]

Sounds like mother nature is trying to prevent overpopulation. Might be a reason homosexuality has seen an upswing the last ten years or so.

[Couchwarrior]

Too much masturbation is my usual diagnosis for people at a healthy age who are uninterested in getting laid. However, if your idea of what it takes to get some action is this:

"Building a relationship seems like too much effort. To get her to like me and for me to like her... I'd have to give up everything I do at the weekend for her. I don't want to do that."

...then I understand that you might be hesitant.

[Budhisten]

So they're lacking "manly men?" Can't Asian men be manly or what?

Anyways, maybe I should move to Japan

[Rauno]

Is Sexyama training in the US or what?

[oldfan]

No wonder Bobby loves it there so much. What a wacky world.

They could be on to something though...
Looking back, I can say that alcohol and my interest in sex caused all of the bad things in my life. Without them I'm sure I'd be a millionaire





...anybody tried these "virtual girlfriends" of which they speak?

[xeberus]

Originally Posted by Budhisten

So they're lacking "manly men?" Can't Asian men be manly or what?

Anyways, maybe I should move to Japan

I was waiting for someone else to say it

But really how easy would it be coming in as an American/European with dat accent when like 60% of the ladies in our age bracket are single?

Originally Posted by oldfan

...anybody tried these "virtual girlfriends" of which they speak?

I'm not entirely sure what they mean by "virtual girlfriend" but it doesn't sound promising.

Originally Posted by RustyRenegade

Sounds like mother nature is trying to prevent overpopulation. Might be a reason homosexuality has seen an upswing the last ten years or so.

I'm not positive there are more gay people today than in previous times. I think in most places and times it has been simply too dangerous to have it publicly known so it was kept a secret.

Originally Posted by Couchwarrior

Too much masturbation is my usual diagnosis for people at a healthy age who are uninterested in getting laid. However, if your idea of what it takes to get some action is this:
...then I understand that you might be hesitant.

In reality you don't need a girl friend to have sex. You don't even need the friend part, hell I've slept with people I didn't even like there have been occasions where names haven't even been exchanged.

[Hammerlock2.0]

No wonder they don't like sex. All of their genitals are pixeled.

[BurrowsTheGreat]

Originally Posted by Hammerlock2.0

No wonder they don't like sex. All of their genitals are pixeled.

Bahh! to funny... to true...