Unless something happens to boost Japan's
birth rate, its population will shrink by a third
between now and 2060. One reason for the lack
of babies is the emergence of a new breed of
Japanese men, the otaku, who love manga,
anime and computers - and sometimes show
little interest in sex.
Tokyo is the world's largest metropolis and home
to more than 35 million people, so on the face of
it, it is hard to believe there is any kind of
population problem at all.
But Akihabara, an area of the city dedicated to
the manga and anime subculture provides one
clue to the country's problems.
Akihabara is heaven for otaku.
They are a generation of geeks who have grown
up through 20 years of economic stagnation and
have chosen to tune out and immerse
themselves in their own fantasy worlds.
Kunio Kitamura, of the Japan Family Planning
Association, describes many young Japanese
men as "herbivores" - passive and lacking carnal
desire.
It seems they no longer have the ambition of the
post-war alpha males who made Japan such an
economic powerhouse and no interest in joining
a company and becoming a salary man.
They have taken on a mole-like existence and,
worryingly, withdrawn from relationships with the
opposite sex.
A survey by the Ministry of Health, Labour and
Welfare in 2010 found 36% of Japanese males
aged 16 to 19 had no interest in sex - a figure
that had doubled in the space of two years.
I met two otaku, who believe themselves to be in
relationships with virtual girlfriends.
This girlfriend is actually a Nintendo computer
game called Love Plus, which comes as a small
portable tablet.
Nurikan and Yuge take their girlfriends, Rinko
and Ne-ne, on actual dates to the park, and buy
them cakes to celebrate their birthdays.
"It's the kind of relationship we wish we'd had at
high school," says Nurikan.
In the game he is a 15-year-old, though in reality
he is 38.
"As long as I have time, I'll continue the
relationship forever," says Yuge, who is 39.
"As she's at high school, she picks me up in the
morning and we go to school together. After
school we meet at the gates and go home
together... In the game I am 17."
Yuge says he often puts Ne-ne - or the games
console containing her - into the basket of his
bicycle, then he takes photographs of them at
his destination.
Though Yuge would like to meet a real woman,
and Nurikan is married, they say this is easier
than having a real girlfriend.
"At high school you can have relationships
without having to think about marriage," says
Yuge. "With real girlfriends you have to consider
marriage. So I think twice about going out with a
3D woman."
Nurikan says he keeps Rinko a secret from his
wife, and hopes he never has to choose between
them.
It's hard to avoid feeling that otaku are in a
perpetual state of childhood and are quite
comfortable with their lives this way.
Exactly why they have retreated into fantasy
land is not obvious.

Tokyo-based social commentator Roland Kelts
says many young Japanese men are pessimistic
about the future. They don't believe they will
match their parents' wealth and don't want to
commit themselves to relationships.
"If you compare China or Vietnam, most of those
kids on scooters going to nightclubs, and
dancing their heart away and perhaps having sex
- they know it's getting better, they know they
are probably going to rock their parents'
income," he says. "No-one in Japan feels that
way."


Several surveys have shown that even when
Japanese men and women are in relationships,
they have very little sex. In one survey just 27%
said they had sex every week.
Marriage rates are also plunging, and very few
babies - only 2% - are born out of wedlock.
Japan's demographic timebomb is also linked to
the lack of immigration.
In Britain one in eight people were born abroad,
compared to one in 60 in Japan. But immigration
in Japan is still heavily restricted, despite a
dearth of some qualified workers.
In Britain there are 60,000 healthcare workers
from overseas, while in Japan - where there is a
serious shortage of nurses - there are only 60.


Japan has managed to preserve its unique
culture in an increasingly globalised world but
could that very sense of identity stand in the
way of solving its population problems?
Or is it just time for Japanese men to grow up,
have more sex and make more babies?

Problem dey this life sha.

I swear it gbege dey ooo

I swear it gbege dey ooo

elshz:
Problem dey this life sha.