Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Sex as Leisure for the Japanese Women

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Positive Sociology of Leisure

Part of the book series: Leisure Studies in a Global Era ((LSGE))

  • 815 Accesses

Abstract

In Japan, nearly half of the married couples are unable to maintain their sex life, and no one seems to change this situation successfully. On the other hand, only men have enjoyed sex as leisure by purchasing various forms of sexual service, and women have hardly had sex as leisure in any way. This chapter first delves into the causes of current difficulties in marital sex life with the methods of historical research and second analysis on the statistics and finds the gendered dual structure of sexuality in modern Japan. Next, it points that currently increasing affairs often allow sex as leisure for both men and women and argues their leisure is unintentionally transforming the gendered dual structure of sexuality into a more egalitarian one.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    JAPORN: Porn That Makes Girls Wet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrNAPBnR1Dw.

  2. 2.

    However, it must be noted that the 2000 survey may have had some data quality issues, including unusually high rates of nom-responses; such patterns were absent in 2012.

  3. 3.

    In 2000 survey, the question was somewhat different so I cannot compare the two results.

References

  • Araki, C. (2014). Haigusha kan no Sexless ka (Sexless in Marital Couples). Japanese Journal of Sexology, 32(Suppl.), 7–21. Japan Society of Sexual Science.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fujime, Y. (2011). Sei-no Rekisigaku (History of Sexuality). Fuji shuppan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Group Wife. (1984). Sei Tsuma tachino messeiji (Sex; Messages of Wives). Group Wife.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hirayama, M. (2015). Sei no Sengoshi Gairyaku 1950s–1980s (Brief history of sexuality in Japan 1950s–1980s). Meiji University Journal of Psycho-Sociology, 10, 1–17. Department of Psycho-Sociology, Meiji University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hirooka, K. (1978). Torukology. Bansei-sha.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hubbard, P. (2018). Geography and sexuality. Why space (still) matters. Sexualities, 21(8), 1295–1299. Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ito, S. (1981). Kindai Nihonjin no Hassou no Shokeisiki (Forms of the ideas in modern Japan). Iwanami-syoten.

    Google Scholar 

  • Iwata, A. et al. (2018, July). Female sexual function index Chousa-hyo wo mochiita Seinenki Josei no Seikinou Chousa. Japanese Journal of Sexology, 36(1). Japan Society of Sexual Science.

    Google Scholar 

  • Japan Family Planning Association. (2016). Danjo no Seikatu to Isiki ni Kansuru Chousa Houkokusyo (Report of survey on life and ideas of men and women). JFPA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Japan Society of Sexual Science. (1994). Sexless-ness. JapaneseJournal of Sexology, 12(1), 3–30. Japan Society of Sexual Science.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kameyama, C. (2010). Otto towa Dekinai Koto (What i cannot do with my husband). Wave Shuppan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaneko, K. (2014). Yuhaigu-sha no seiseikatu no jissai to henka (Current situation and shifts in sex life of married couples). Japanese Journal of Sexology, 32(Suppl.), 39–46. Japan Society of Sexual Science.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kawamura, K. (2004). Seikazoku no Tanjo, Sexuality no Kindai (Birth of sexual family, modernity of sexuality). Chikuma-shobo.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nakamura, A. (2014). Nippon no Fuzokujou (Female sex workers in Japan). Shincho sha.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nakano, A. (2010). Hadaka wa Itsukara Hazukasikunattaka (When the Japanese began to hesitate to be naked?). Shincho sha.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nakashio, C. (2018). Dansyou (Male Prostitutes). Kobunsha.

    Google Scholar 

  • Norgren, T. (2001). Abortion before birth control: The politics of reproduction in postwar Japan. Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosen, R., Brown, C., Heiman, J., Leiblum, S., Meston, C., Shabsigh, R., et al. (2000). The Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI): A multidimensional self-report instrument for the assessment of female sexual function. Journal of Sex Marital Therapy, 26, 191–208.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sano, S. (2000). Nippon Hatujo-kyo Jidai (Japan in the age of craze in sex). Chikuma shobo.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saotome, T. (2018). Sexual dysfunction and satisfaction in Japanese couples during pregnancy and postpartum. Sexual Medicine, 6, 348–355. Elsevier Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sexuality Research Association. (2014). Data of the survey on sexuality among middle-aged and elderly people in 2012. Japanese Journal of Sexology, 32(Suppl.), 67–117. Japan Society of Sexual Science.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sexuality Research Association. (2019). Chukounen no tameno Seiseikatu no Chie (For better sex life of middle and elderly age). Achievement Shuppan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shimokawa, K. (2011). Bon-odori, ranko no minzokugaku (Bon dance; Ethnic study on orgies). Sakuhinsha.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spracklen, K. (2015). Digital leisure, the internet and popular culture: Communities and Identities in the digital age. Palgrave.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stebbins, R. A. (2018). The sociology of leisure: An estranged child of mainstream sociology. International Journal of the Sociology of Leisure, 1, 43–53. Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yuzawa, Y. (2005). Meiji no Kekkon, Meiji no Rikon (Marriage in Meiji Era, divorce in Meiji Era). Kadokawa Shoten.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Meiji University, Tokyo, Japan

    Maki Hirayama

Authors
  1. Maki Hirayama
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Maki Hirayama .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada

    Shintaro Kono

  2. Government Meera Girls College, Rajasthan, India

    Anju Beniwal

  3. Rajasthan University, Jaipur, India

    Priyanka Baweja

  4. Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, UK

    Karl Spracklen

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Hirayama, M. (2020). Sex as Leisure for the Japanese Women. In: Kono, S., Beniwal, A., Baweja, P., Spracklen, K. (eds) Positive Sociology of Leisure. Leisure Studies in a Global Era. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41812-0_12

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41812-0_12

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-41811-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-41812-0

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation