Japan's demographic challenges are well- known : It' s home to the world 's oldest population and has a shrinking birthrate and an astonishing number of single people. And it seems that , despite government efforts to incentivize marriage and child -rearing , things aren't't quite trending in the right direction.

According to the Japan Times , a new survey of Japanese people ages 18 to 34 found that 70 percent of unmarried men and 60 percent of unmarried women are not in a relationship. It gets worse : Around 42 percent of men and 44 . 2 percent of women admitted that they were virgins.

The study is carried out by Japan' s National Institute of Population and Social Security Research every five years. The organisation has noted a marked trend since its first foray on questions of relationships and sex in 1987, when it found that 48.6 percent of men and 39.5 percent of women surveyed were unmarried.
In 2010 , 36.2 percent of men and 38.7 percent of women in the 18 - 34 age bracket said they were virgins . The number of children among couples who have been married for between 15 and 19 years averaged a record low this year.

The Japanese government under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said it wants to raise the nation's fertility rate from 1.4 to 1.8 by 2025 . It' s offering better child - care services and tax incentives for married couples, though such programs have yet to bear statistical fruit.

Most people surveyed said they want to get married at some point . It's just not clear when.

"They want to tie the knot eventually . But they tend to put it off as they have gaps between their ideals and the reality, " Futoshi Ishii, head researcher for the study, told Japan Times. "That’s why people marry later or stay single for life, contributing to the nation’ s low birthrate."

This is not unique to Japan — in various parts of the developed world, economic uncertainty is reshaping the way millennials and other young people conceive of their sex lives and marital choices . But it' s particularly pronounced in the Asian nation, where experts and government officials have spent the better part of a decade fretting over the country's population decline and , as WorldViews once put it, " sexual apathy. "

A booming industry surrounds Japan' s growing condition of loneliness, a phenomenon at once quite particular to the Japanese , yet also a glimpse into a future where many people live atomized lives mediated exclusively through personal technology.

There was one clearly positive indicator in the survey: For the first time, the proportion of women returning to work after having their first child in Japan 's once notoriously patriarchal society exceeded 50 percent .

DIKEnaWAR:
The Japs are the most 'diskplined' (I did not plagiarize Buhari o) people. Everything has its time and place. If you are not ready, no need to start. If you start, you can't quit or fail. I have been doing business with them for long and their ways are almost robotic and boring; as if a central machine somewhere programmed and is controlling them.

We can supply them 200 northerners ONLY, with their wives and watch the population gallop in triple digits every month.

Joavid:
This is not unique to Japan — in various parts of the developed world, economic uncertainty is reshaping the way millennials and other young people conceive of their sex lives and marital choices . But it' s particularly pronounced in the Asian nation, where experts and government officials have spent the better part of a decade fretting over the country's population decline and , as WorldViews once put it, " sexual apathy.

Acidosis:
nice one
Japan is one of the most (I think the MOST) industrialized nation in the world. They are no. 1 in the world of computer chips, electronics (LG, Samsung, etc.). 2nd largest producer of automobile. Interest rates in Japan is less than 2%, while unemployment rate is less than 4%.
Therefore, it is safe to say that high risk sex and sexual relationships are correlated to stagflation, inflation, gross underdevelopment and crass unemployment as seen in Nigeria.
Donald Trump is right after all:
Donald Trump Says Africans Are Lazy Fools, Only Good in Sex

Joavid:


https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/09/16/japan-has-a-worrying-number-of-virgins-government-finds/?tid=hybrid_experimentrandom_3_na

Acidosis:
nice one


Japan is one of the most (I think the MOST) industrialized nation in the world. They are no. 1 in the world of computer chips, electronics (LG, Samsung, etc.). 2nd largest producer of automobile. Interest rates in Japan is less than 2%, while unemployment rate is less than 4%.

Therefore, it is safe to say that high risk sex and sexual relationships are correlated to stagflation, inflation, gross underdevelopment and crass unemployment as seen in Nigeria.

Donald Trump is right after all:

Donald Trump Says Africans Are Lazy Fools, Only Good in Sex

http://naijaside.com/donald-trump-says-africans-are-lazy-fools-only-good-in-sex-stealing-and-cheating-read/

It is common knowledge that development brings about low population growth and reduced frequency of sex.

I won't be surprised to also hear that we have more virgins and singles in Lagos state than Benue or Ekiti state.

crackhaus:

At first look, it's normal to assume that development has something to do with sexual relations and you won't be wrong..but if you look at it closely, you'll realize this isn't the main reason—if it were, countries like the US, Canada, UK, and Scandinavian countries would also have high percentage of virgins.

The very first reason, before development, is rooted in culture.

Unlike Africans, Asian countries like Japan and China do not joke with their culture—unmarried men and women will most likely not have sex until they are married.

Why dont they get married early? This is where your opinion of development now comes in.
Over 60% of the entire Chinese population (almost the same figure with the Japs) live in well-developed urban areas—meaning, more people which are basically youths, work and have less time for 'unnecessary sex'.

You can imagine how the traditional cultures of these countries which span over a thousand years, still have managed to survive despite their technological and scientific advancements—and the admirable thing about it is that these cultures have absolutely nothing to do with Christianity/Islam which vehemently prohibits pre-marital sex.

TV01:

I stand to be corrected, but I don't think either Japanese or Chinese cultures prohibit PMS - very few advanced high-tech countries do, if any? The issue in Japan seems to boiled down to an "apathy" - mostly by men - to actually engage women.

Given what has has gone before, this situation, this malaise, is viewed with concern. With no strong cultural or religious imperatives families are not forming. With the isolation that technology can bring, relationships are not happening - not at the levels required for sustainability anyway.

Under certain conditions, men will take the easy option. Spending their time & indulging their sexual fantasies online. Slobbing out, not making an effort. It is not working conditions or the economic climate causing this.

Japanese men are known for the fascination with sexually explicit - and in instances degenerate - material, including schoolgirl obsessions and the like.

Other Western nations whilst having the sex/relationships, are also failing to form the the families and breed at the required levels. Similar outcomes, if somewhat differing pathways. It's not about sex being prohibited, it's about sex being divorced from procreation and family, and taking on weird forms.

Japan and China are at opposite ends of the spectrum here. And it's worth noting that communities with strong Christian faiths typically produce large and stable families.


TV

crackhaus:

You will first have to determine what you view to be Chinese/Japanese culture in respect to their most practised religions, then we can figure out if these religions frown on pre-marital sex.

About Jap men having weird sexual obsessions, this is not the majority—unless you're implying po.rn actors represent the majority.
The docu-series I saw yesterday on the subject had a face-to-face interview with a working class Japanese man who is a virgin at well above 30.

TV01:
It appears to me that virginity per se is not the issue here. The levels of virginity are merely indicative of the fact that Japanese people of "an age", are not forming relationships. And relationships not forming means marriages not happening and child-rearing not taking place - at the requisite levels.

PMS whether permitted or frowned upon is a side issue. It's the outcome - below replacement birthrates that are the concern. The rest of the West have all types of PMS and are also suffering the same below replacement birthrate situation.

Was he above 30 and a virgin because of socio-religious restrictions? A lack of partners? Or simply personal issues. No, lots of Japanese men have given up on the "stress" of chasing women in favour of more readily accessible and less hassle forms of "sex" & "pastimes.

Without the demands of a wife and kids, there is little or no burden, or motivation to over-produce - which is a family man's lot - leading to a vicious circle of more opted out and unmarriageable men - they don't even have the interest sef.

There is obviously not a strong enough religion, or historical culture to stop, or reverse this trend. Equality would suggest the women chase the men, and take on the burden of expectation .


TV

crackhaus:


This is where traditional/religious cultural influence comes to play and reveals everything.
A young unmarried 30yr old American or Canadian is almost 50times more likely to have premarital sex than a young unmarried 30yr old Japanese or Chinese.

Why is this?
It isn't because of development, living in urban areas, or equality—which countries on both ends actually share, it has to be because of their completely different cultural perspectives.
Of course the Japanese have been influenced by Western way of life even more so than the Chinese, but traditional Japanese/Chinese culture still frown against casual sex between unmarried people even though it isn't a crime in the Constitution nor something that is physically criminalized.

Even if an average Japanese man engages in premarital sex, he won't be so brazen and publicly non-chalant about it the way an American would - they are both living in developed countries, but mindset is still very much different.

Hopefully I made more sense to you this time...lol . My hand dey pain me

oyomii:
The OP made it seem like it's a problem

eleojo23:
How is that something to worry about?

oyomii:
The OP made it seem like it's a problem

eleojo23:
How is that something to worry about?

Joavid:
am still trying to find out myself.

TV01:

Taking everything that was written prior to the quote as read, I'm still unclear.

Even if PMS is frowned upon (as in Christianity) it doesn't mean relationships, specifically marriage are? Like I said, it's not about virginity, or PMS. It's about "why are they not marrying"? Indeed, PMS is typically frowned upon to ensure purity within marriage. Does the culture/religion frown upon PMS and Marriage

PMS is frowned upon in most traditional/historical contexts. It's a very recent thing for the most part, hence the schizophrenia/hypocrisy in a lot of places, where they have not made the full transition. And, government have no interest in who is or isn't having sex, or who is a virgin, be that immediate, once, or twice removed . What they are concerned with is population demographics, specifically birthrates here.

And Japan and China are at opposite ends of the replacement spectrum. It's not culture driving this, this is actually anti-culture.


TV

TV01:



It's not the levels of virginity, or pre-marital sex. The concern is about the birthrate, and an a priori low level or relationships that will potentially lead to marriage and children - read the first line. The headline is slightly mis-leading.

TV

oyomii:
The OP made it seem like it's a problem

crackhaus:
Lol, the article is about virginity...the survey was built around it, and any subsequent discourse has to come from that angle.

crackhaus:
Why are there so many virgins? Large numbers of young people are not married.

crackhaus:
Why are they not married? You have explained why by your own understanding.

crackhaus:
What I need to ask then to better understand your perspective is this; Does being unmarried stop people from having sex in japan? If so, why?

crackhaus:
...and furthermore, why has these same reasons not stopped unmarried people from having sex in places like US or Germany that don't record the same high percentage of virgins?

TV01:

It's not having sex, or even not having sex. It's about relationships that lead to marriage and hence births. In the places you mentioned, even with high levels of PMS, marriage and birthrates are falling for indigene.

In neither case is it about PMS or lack of PMS. Or solely/mainly about the economy - which will always influence some people either way.


TV

TV01:



It's not the levels of virginity, or pre-marital sex. The concern is about the birthrate, and an a priori low level or relationships that will potentially lead to marriage and children - read the first line. The headline is slightly mis-leading.

TV

crackhaus:

Lol, but that's the point I've been making nah.
In those developed countries and with their high levels of PMS, there's also less number of virgins.

The guy that was interviewed on CNN was talking about his virginity, TV01.

Joavid:
yea. virgins can't get pregnant. and to have kids, you gotta have sex.

oyomii:
The OP made it seem like it's a problem

TV01:

Ok. My point was, PMS or not, if there is not a strong culture/religion pointing to marriage, it will suffer and birthrates will fall. The same root cause, with some variation, may take differening pathways, but leads to the same outcome.

The Japanese are highly heterogenous - or xenophobic if you prefer to think badly of them - only 1 in 60 or so is non-Japanese, and they look down on even the Koreans (ethnically the same). I wonder how they will retrieve the situation?


TV