“Sex is just way too much trouble,” a 35-year-old man tells Shukan Asahi (3/7), confessing that ever since he used a masturbation aid at age 19 he’s never wanted to be with a woman again. “As long as I have a sex toy available, I don’t need women. I can’t come when I have sex, and you’ve got to put a lot of emotion into dealing with women. Self-pleasure is a hell of lot less demanding than trying to please somebody else.”
Young Japanese are becoming mixed up about sex. Just a few years ago, people worried that the young were developing a practical enjoyment of sex at too early an age, now they’re getting steamed up because growing numbers of youths are showing little or no interest in the subject.
“There has been a definite increase in the number of men showing signs of vaginal ejaculation dysfunction disorder, which includes such afflictions as premature and delayed ejaculation. There are physical reasons believed to be behind this, including prejudice against women, past trauma and overuse of masturbatory aids so that a vagina is unable to provide sufficient stimulation,” Dr. Tsuneo Akaeda, head of the Akaeda Clinic in Tokyo’s Roppongi entertainment district, tells Shukan Asahi.
“Some of the masturbation aids coming out nowadays are absolutely incredible. Guys become used to using these and there is no doubt that many men are unable to obtain the necessary satisfaction from a female vagina that they need to ejaculate.”
At least the do-it-yourself handymen, so to speak, are showing some interest in the pleasures of the flesh. Figures from the Japanese Association for Sex Education, which has been surveying students at schools and universities nationwide on an annual basis since 1974, show that there has been a dramatic decrease among young Japanese people’s interest in sex since 1999.
“That was the year by which just about every Japanese home had a personal computer and nearly all students had their own mobile phones. With young people dramatically increasing their use of these two pieces of equipment, it led to the bipolarization of their sexual activity,” Nario Kaneko, head of the association’s secretariat tells Shukan Asahi, noting that those who favored mobile phones tended to be more outgoing and sexually adventurous, while people who pounded away at a mouse and keyboard in front of a monitor were withdrawn and less sexually active.
Perhaps that has inspired the massive popularity of “otome” games, role-playing dating simulation games for women where the object is to win the heart of the computer-generated man they desire. Otome games occupied seven of the top 20 best-selling computer software game titles in Japan last year.
“Otome games are more than enough when it comes to love,” one 21-year-old woman says. “I’ve already decided I’m never going to have sex in my life. I do like watching dirty stuff, though. I’ve studied adult movies and erotica, so I know about the kind of sex that pleases guys.”
Some guys, though, can’t be pleased by any sort of sex at all. Take the Zenkoku Dotei Rengo (Japan Cherry Boy Union). It was formed in the watershed year of 1999 by a small group of virgin men who wanted to join together to find effective techniques they could use to lose their virginity. Membership has swelled since then to over 600. But the dynamics of the group have changed, with divisions arising among the rank-and-file among those who are actively pursuing sex and the “conservative faction” whose members advocate a kind of “Cherry Boy Power” and militantly advocate lifelong chastity.
One such member can relate to the women driving otome games to the top of the software hit charts.
“Games are magnificent when it comes to love,” the 30-year-old militant virgin tells Shukan Asahi. “The characters are all beautiful and have great bodies. Their voices are sexy, they’re kind and gentle and show plenty of understanding. And they never hurt you. I’d say that when it comes to looks, at least, you can’t beat the world of virtual reality. Some people say that love in the two-dimensional computer world is all about imagination and misguided dreams, but isn’t that what love in the real world is all about, too?” (By Ryann Connell)