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Jun Terada is a healthy 28-year-old, who has a decent job in a nationally-recognized law firm after graduating from a prestigious university, and nice to talk to, being mild mannered, intelligent and well-versed in a number of topics from politics to sport, to social issues here in Japan.
But young people like him has in fact become one of the social issues here that the TV talk shows, tabloids and the netizens can' t seem to get enough of, and while such stories might come across as mere jocular entertainment as introduced by comedians and discussed by droll panels on TV and quick-witted writers online, the problem for Japan as the years tick by is in fact a grave one.
Known in the Japanese press as "sekkusu shinai shokogun" meaning celibacy syndrome in English, Terada is among a growing number of viable young males in Japan who, for whatever reason, are just not interested in having sex.
"There are good-looking girls in my office and I guess some of them might like me as I'm in the marriage-zone range for them, and they might be flirting with me a little bit when we have office parties and stuff, but I'm just not interested in them," Terada told Xinhua, adding that he hadn't been in a serious relationship since his final year in university.
"Girls here are very demanding and there's a hierarchy they know and exploit, depending on how good looking they are, coupled with their educational background and family status. That means they will ultimately be trying to get hitched to someone who is 2- 6 years older (than I am), at least in an upper-middle management position, drives his own car and can take her abroad at least twice a year," he said.
Terada said for the girls, and perhaps less so for the guys, it was just a question of ticking boxes related to status and money and it was something he found to be as fake as it was tedious.
"I have better ways to spend my time and money and the girls in my office think I'm playing hard to get, or am gay, which is funny to me, as I am neither. I simply just don't care," said Terada, adding that his boss loves him for ignoring the "distractions" that would make him a less-focused lawyer and his parents believe his standards were so high that he was just "waiting for the right one."
Terada is just one of thousands of males, and females for that matter too as the statistics show who comprise the sekkusu shinai shokogun, or celibacy syndrome genus.
According to the latest figures from the Japan Family Planning Association (JFPA), more than 49 percent of those surveyed between the ages of 16 and 49 said they hadn't had sex in the past month, with 48.3 percent of men reported not having sex, compared to 50.1 percent of women who also reported being celibate in the recording period.
This according to local media, is a 5 percent leap on figures taken two years ago, in a sure sign that nocturnal activities in Japanese bedrooms between couples are dramatically on the decline.
According to the JFPA survey, there were a number of reasons why both sexes had lost their libido or didn't have it in the first place, with just more than 21 percent of married men and nearly 18 percent of married women blaming fatigue from work for zapping their passion, but perhaps more poignantly, 18 percent of men went on to say that they had little or no interest in sex or actually strongly disliked it, while 23 percent of their female counterparts said that for them sex was "troublesome."
"Much has been said and written about the male herbivores in Japan, who have no interest in actively pursuing women like previous generations did, and these guys are also not attractive to girls who consider them to be at best "metrosexual" and at worst kind of wimpy or geeky, and they'd loose out to alpha males eventually anyway,"renown sociologist Keiko Gono told Xinhua.
"If we add these social celibacy idiosyncrasies into the social mix and are mindful of the fact that celibacy is rising yearly in Japan, then look at the overall fact that currently, nearly 50 percent of Japanese adults are not having sex, then we can see a huge demographic problem, or demographic 'time bomb' as it's been dubbed in the press, adding to the existing population decline as couples aren't having babies -- this being rather hard if you're not having sex in the first place -- and the rapidly aging population, as Japanese people are living longer than ever," Gono said.
She went on to explain that the figures continued to paint a grave picture of Japan's population crisis. A study carried out by Japan's population center revealed that, in stark contrast to women two generations ago, women in their early 20s have a 25 percent chance of never marrying and a 40 percent chance of never having kids.
Added to this the fact that in 2014 Japan's birth rate plummeted to a record low at just more than 1 million infants, with just 1.3 million people passing away in the same period, the gravity of the population crisis speaks for itself. In fact, Japan 's population institute has said that the overall population in Japan could tumble by 20 million to 107 million people by 2040.
"As the government grapples with the implications of these figures and the fact that the work force, within a matter of years, will essentially be hollowed out, aided by the continued disparity in the treatment of men and women in the workplace as evidenced by Japan ranking 104 out of 140 countries regarding gender equality, according to the World Economic Forum, meaning women are less likely to join the work force in the first place or stay working after childbirth due to Japan's inherent patriarchal customs and the sexual discrimination that is deep-rooted in the work place, the numbers continue to paint a bleak picture and the government needs to act fast," Gono said.
Such numbers include the fact that 27 percent of men and 23 percent of women simply aren't interested in having a romantic relationship at all and of those aged between 18 and 34, 61 percent of men and 49 percent of women are not involved in a relationship, according to Japan's population center. Furthermore, of those aged between 18 and 34, 36 percent of men and 39 percent of women have never had sex.
"I live my life and I'm happy. I can't see how a girl could improve my situation. In my free time I do what I want, with whom I want, when I want. If I want to go to the gym, I do. If I want to take a short trip to the beach with my friends, I do -- it's not as if I'm a total loner -- it's just that if I had a girlfriend all of these choices would then have to take her into consideration," said Terada.
"I'm not to blame for the population crisis, society is, or perhaps human greed. If I were to take my girlfriend to a nice Italian restaurant one time, she'd want to go to a more expensive French one the next. And if I bought her an Hermes bag for her birthday, she'd expect a Chanel one for Christmas. It's that kind of expectation, I hate," lamented Terada, with a sigh.
Similarly, Miyuki Sato, 32, a homemaker, seemed equally as disenchanted with the opposite sex.
"I got married when I was 24, which at the time was quite young but not unusual and there was quite a lot of pressure from both of our families to do so, but he was a dashing, handsome young man; full of life and vitality and for the first f ew years we couldn't keep our hands off each other," Sato said, her face turning beetroot red.
"When he was young he said he was going to work hard and really make something of himself so our family could have a good life, but after our first child was born he was overlooked for a promotion and has just been sit in lower management of a construction firm ever since and I have had to take on part-time work at a nursery school to help out financially."
"He promised me the world and has delivered nothing. I'm ashamed of him and of course there's no chance of us having sex as he repulses me. He's put on wait and stinks of alcohol and cigarettes all the time, and at weekends just slobs about the apartment watching baseball as I look after our kid."
"It's hardly a Hollywood romance and thank god we sleep in separate bedrooms, although I can still hear him snoring. If he tried to touch me in 'that' way, I think I'd hit him -- anyway he knows that's not an option. In fact just sitting here talking about this now, I'm not sure why we are still together, I'd be better off as a single mother. At least then, the smell would be gone," said Sato, only half-jokingly.
