Sexless Couple Relationship of Modern Japan

This study examines couple relationships, which avoids sexual acts in their relationship.

Since 1994, the Japanese society has started  paying attention to the sexless couples; the discussion is focused on the reasons of not having sex and not about the prevention. 

The purpose of this study is to clarify the actual situation of Japanese sexless phenomenom.

 First, to understand the sexless phenomenon, this research looks at preliminary study of sexual consciousness and behavior of Japanese men and women in modern Japan.

Second, to understand the background of the sexless phenomenon deeply, the research method we used is an interview research aimed at 35 young adults of Japanese men and women in age of 20’s-30’s.

Especially among the interviewees of younger adults in 20’s we can see that, they haven’t got any specific sexual education to get close with the question about sexual health or sexual satisfaction. One main factor is that most of the younger adults believe that after turning 30, the interest in sexual relationship will decrease because of the age. Among Interviewees in their 30’s it shows that, after living together, marriage, or childbirth, the interest for sexual contact decreases in general.

In this research, it comes out that the common grounds for sexless couples are, that they have less social support like sexual education to prevent the sexless phenomenon or learn about sexual satisfaction. On one hand, interviewees don't see sexuality as an important form of communication in a relationship and on the other, they consider love and sex as separate in a relationship. Some interviewees preferred to have sex outside the relationship, like dating another person or use some erotic services instead of having sex with their partner.