Japan’s sexual apathy is endangering the global economy

[Bonobo]

50. I agree with your observations about rural/urban.

Tokyo is not the rest of Japan but the countrysides have emptied out and so many are in Tokyo now.

It is impossible to make it there on one income and yet the view of women staying at home still remains as a vestigial remnant of better economic times.

The stress and strain of living in urban and expensive Japan surely takes some of the steam out of romance and the ability to date. Just too effin' busy and not enough money.

Also, with grandpa and grandma living in the boonies, there's none of the help with the kids that is needed like in the old days. That's why you see 3 kids in countryside families and a happy grandpa and grandma. THEY have their grandkids close and the mom and dad have some extra help (financial help too!).

So it isn't that they aren't humping in the city. They are. It is that they can't afford to have kids or even serious relationships. Women don't want a guy who can only afford 1LDK and ramen for dinner. Japanese have high expectations for what a まともな　（proper) family should be like and it is not one of economic privation. So they choose no family until things get better (which they haven't in almost 20 years).