Something strange is happening in Japan. Referred to as the Land of the Rising Sun, Japan’s demographic is facing some alarming new statistics which reveal a quickly decreasing population. 126 million people currently reside in the set of archipelago islands which constitute Japan, a population which is currently estimated to plunge a further one third by the year 2060. So what’s causing the decline in birthrates?
The answer has nothing to do with radiation or disease pandemics. Surprisingly, the decline in birthrates is coming from a large majority of the under-40s who are losing interest in conventional relationships. A survey in 2011 found that 61% of unmarried men and 49% of women aged 18-34 were not in any kind of romantic relationship, a rise of almost 10% from five years earlier. Another study found that a third of people under 30 had never dated at all. (There are no figures for same-sex relationships.) Although there has long been a pragmatic separation of love and sex in Japan – a country mostly free of religious morals – sex fares no better. A survey earlier this year by the Japan Family Planning Association (JFPA) found that 45% of women aged 16-24 “were not interested in or despised sexual contact.” More than a quarter of men felt the same way.
Recently, the Guardian released an article detailing Japan’s relationship crisis, known as sekkusu shinai shokogun, or “celibacy syndrome.” In the article, an ex-dominatrix turned intimacy practitioner/sex counsellor named Ai Aoyama reveals that there is a general trend happening throughout Japan in which there is “a [mass] flight from human intimacy.” Aoyama revealed that millions aren’t dating, and increasing numbers can’t even be “bothered” by sex.
Her clinic takes in men who for the most part have exiled themselves from human affection and because of which have a difficult time connecting physically with other people, even with themselves. Aoyama’s first task with most of her clients is encouraging them “to stop apologising for their own physical existence.”
Bachelor and bachelorette lifestyles are at an all-time high, according to the 2011 study previously mentioned. Another study found that a third of people under 30 had never dated at all. (There are no figures for same-sex relationships.) Although there has long been a pragmatic separation of love and sex in Japan –a country mostly free of religious morals – sex fares no better. A survey earlier this year by the Japan Family Planning Association (JFPA) found that 45% of women aged 16-24 “were not interested in or despised sexual contact.” More than a quarter of men felt the same way.
Aoyama says that there is a general consensus of confusion among the men she treats. These men think that there is potentially something wrong with them because they don’t desire the traditional picturesque lifestyle of having a family complete with the male bread-winner, a stay-at-home mom and children. There is a serious transition taking place, one which draws a clear line between the post-war generation and the current generation. Aoyama stated that men and women “don’t see the point of love, they don’t believe it can lead anywhere” and that “relationships have become too hard.”
This viewpoint is influenced by a few factors. Japanese men have become less career driven due to Japan’s stagnant economy, and the women have become more career ambitious, opting to leave out a family-life in order to maintain status in an unforgiving corporate world. And so, there is a new type of low-commitment relationship Japan’s under-40s are trying out, appropriately titled “pot noodle love,” one that announces casual sex and virtual-porn as its constituents. This sort of lifestyle is creating social impotence for many, as Aoyama claims many of her clients are among the millions who have withdrawn from society to the point where they flinch if even touched by a member of the opposite sex. These hikikmori, or “shut-ins,” are adding to the ever-growing number of mid-30s Japanese men and women who are still living at home with their parents.
One of Aoyama’s clients is a man in his early 30s who is unable to get sexually aroused unless he sees images of female robots from one of his video games. Aoyama reveals she uses relaxation therapies such as yoga and hypnosis to help get him into a comfortable state. Afterwards, she strips naked and exposes her body to her client, helping familiarize him with the female form. These men have become so intertwined with the virtual realities of their video games that they’ve lost sight of basic social interaction. Aoyama says she is determined to restore this fundamental intimacy within Japan’s culture astray.
Japanese women are laden with the choice between a family and a career, as the two lifestyles have been made impossible to be lived-out simultaneously. In the Japanese corporate world, a woman’s chance of promotion is stifled if she has a child, as the inflexible hours are unmanageable. Around 70% of Japanese women leave their jobs after their first child. The idea of a family or even a relationship has become a burden for most Japanese women.
Could Japan’s new lifestyle choices be foreshadowing the rest of the world’s future? It seems that it has become common place in North American society to be having children at an age far later than the age at which the average baby-boomer had children. Emphasis is being put towards having a career, a social life and traveling the world more so than settling down in a traditional family life. Another contributing factor to this shift is in part due to the rising cost of living. Unless someone in a relationship has a stable career with a gratuitous form of income, it has become increasingly difficult to raise a family in a world where housing costs and food costs deplete the majority of a person’s income.
Japanese-American author Roland Kelts, who writes about Japan’s youth, says it’s inevitable that the future of Japanese relationships will be largely technology driven. “Japan has developed incredibly sophisticated virtual worlds and online communication systems. Their smart phone apps are the world’s most imaginative.” Kelts says the need to escape into private, virtual worlds in Japan stems from the fact that it’s an overcrowded nation with limited physical space. But he also believes the rest of the world is not far behind.
Kelts’ statement may not be too far off, as technological distraction has become the enigma of the modern era. iPhones, iPads, notebooks, or video games seem to take up the majority of a person’s free time these days, depleting the time spent interacting socially with others. The question begs, what does this mean for the future of mankind? Are we headed towards a social crisis of unprecedented nature? Japan’s decreasing population could be the forewarning of bigger things to come for the rest of the world.
Source:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/20/young-people-japan-stopped-having-sex
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