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Showing Original Post only (View all)Japan’s sexual apathy is endangering the global economy [View all]
(Washington Post) People in Japan are so averse to romantic relationships that the country's media even has a name for it: sekkusu shinai shokogun, or "celibacy syndrome," according to a widely circulated Guardian story on the country's low rates of marriage, childbearing and even sex.
But this is more than a story about Japan and its cultural quirks: It's a story about the global economy. Japan is the world's third-largest economy, a crucial link in global trade and a significant factor everyone else's economic well-being. It owns almost as much U.S. debt as does China. It's a top trading partner of the U.S., China and lots of other countries. The Japanese economy is in serious enough trouble that it could set the rest of us back. And the biggest source of that trouble is demographic: Japanese people aren't having enough kids to sustain a healthy economy. One big reason they're having fewer kids is that they're not as interested in dating or marrying one another, in part because they're less interested in sex.
Here are a few of the statistics, some from the Guardian story and others from a 2011 report by Japan's population center:
Extremely high numbers of Japanese do not find sex appealing. 45 percent of women and 25 percent of men, ages 16 to 24, are "not interested in or despised sexual contact."
.....(snip).....
More than a third of childbearing-age Japanese have never had sex: 39 percent of women and 36 percent of men, ages 18 to 34. That number hasn't actually changed much over the last decade, but it is unusually high. ..................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/10/22/japans-sexual-apathy-is-endangering-the-global-economy/
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humans beings did not evolve to be truly effective multi-taskers. We do it, but we don't do
KittyWampus
Jan 2015
#87
Whatever... this small problem is better than female infanticed in China!
Jeffersons Ghost
Jan 2015
#43
The media is constantly pushing this line about the danger of shrinking population while simulta-
NewDeal_Dem
Jan 2015
#8
I believe it. And I believe they'd gladly get rid of us as soon as they have enough production
NewDeal_Dem
Jan 2015
#40
The Japanese that of to the states are a subset and a bad example to generalize with because there
Bonobo
Jan 2015
#70
Can't figure out why my fav guitar player Marty Friedman lives there but he does draw a huge crowd.
L0oniX
Jan 2015
#89
That documentary is about a club in Dotonbori, the most disgusting place in Osaka if not all Japan
Bonobo
Jan 2015
#53
Its strange the transition from urban areas to countryside agricultural areas is abrupt.
Jesus Malverde
Jan 2015
#33
Missing from this story is that a Japanese family doesn't work with shitty part time job
Jesus Malverde
Jan 2015
#19
I'd say the wheels have come off the bus, but I think that is an insult to wheel-less buses.
Warren DeMontague
Jan 2015
#48
I think the major issue Japan will face will be a shortage of people to take care of their elderly.
dilby
Jan 2015
#25
And now PM Abe wants to reform education to "instill patriotism in schoolchildren ...
betsuni
Jan 2015
#101
They are having enough kids to support healthy economy. Just not run away capitalist one.
on point
Jan 2015
#28
They're all living on a crowded island. Might that have something to do with it? n/t
eridani
Jan 2015
#78