Japan is famous for many things, including its obsession with sex. The country has one of the world's most robust pornographic and adult-toy industries and airs TV commercials for items as banal as candy that feature sexually suggestive themes. It also has an annual fertility festival that parades two 5-foot-tall penis sculptures down a busy street on a Sunday afternoon.
Yet, despite all of the sexiness, Japan has a lot of single people who don't seem interested in dating. According to a new survey by the Japan Family Planning Association, the number of unmarried Japanese going without sex has nearly doubled since 1990. That's a big deal for officials who have spent years trying to boost the nation's birthrate by offering incentives like speed-dating sessions and singles mixers.
Despite this, it's still hard to know exactly why so many Japanese lack the desire for a romantic relationship. Some blame a large group of men who reject the standard definition of masculinity, which makes them more likely to feel sexually repressed. Others point to a growing population of shut-ins who have opted out of marriage for economic reasons and prefer to live alone.
Whatever the root cause of Japan's sexual apathy, it's unlikely that government programs designed to jolt the national libido will be successful. While Singapore's 2012 "National Night" promoted sex as patriotism and Russia's Day of Contraception gave prizes to women who gave birth, those types of initiatives are unlikely to be replicated in Japan.
