A survey published by the Japanese Family Planning Association revealed that almost half of couples in Japan live without sex, defined as not having had sexual intercourse for a month or more. This research, titled “Lifestyles and attitudes of men and women“showed that the most common reasons for lack of sexual intimacy in marriage were different for men and women.

The study, launched in the first half of 2024 and the ninth of its kind since 2002, was carried out between September and October 2023. A total of 3,000 randomly selected men and women aged 16–49 were interviewed by mail and online, with a valid response rate of 26.6%.

According to the results, 48.3% of the couples were classified as “asexual”.an increase of 1.1 percentage points compared to the previous survey conducted in 2016. This trend has been increasing since 2004, when it was 31.9%.

Among the men surveyed, the most common reason was that the partner “does not respond to my advances”(24.0%), followed by “difficulties after childbirth”(14.7%) and“it's very complicated”(12.0%). Meanwhile, for women, the most frequent reasons were “it's very complicated”(22.6%),“fatigue at work”(20.8%) and“pregnancy-related or postnatal”(13.2%).

About 80% of the men surveyed expressed an interest in having sexual relations, while about 40% of the women indicated that they were not interested. The average age at which respondents first had sexual intercourse was 18.9 years. Among single people aged 18 to 34, 41.4% of men and 36.6% of women indicated never having had sexual intercourse.

Kunio Kitamura, director of the association and physician responsible for the research, commented: «These results are likely due to several social stressors. This trend toward lack of sex is likely to continue in the future.». And it didn't take long for the comments to appear:

• «With your first salary, go to a brothel».
• «Even if you have a good experience, I don't have that much money. If something goes wrong, it could affect my subsequent masturbation. I will choose to remain a virgin to avoid risks.».
• «For virgins, I don't think you understand, but you can't stop being a virgin by going to a brothel.».
• «They are lying in their 30s. This sudden decrease is suspicious».
• «Even if it's just a survey, it's embarrassing!».
• «Does everyone start lying as they get older?».
• «Is there really a high rate of virginity in people in their 40s and 50s?».
• «Perhaps only those who have been to brothels call themselves non-virgins. Making love is not the same as sex».
• «It can't be that high, right?».
• «The dramatic increase in the 1940s is probably due to the stragglers from the ice age generation, no doubt».
• «Don't they just go to brothels and resign themselves? They will eventually stop getting erections.».
• «To reduce the virginity rate, it seems they are recruiting homosexuals».
• «This doesn't make sense. It seems like they chose a very biased sample for this research. There can't be that many virgins. I don't believe it.».

Source: The Japan Times