Abstract
A major reason for sexlessness can be traced back to a lack of open communication within the couple relationship in terms of sexuality, along with an insufficient knowledge about each other’s sexual desires. In addition, a perceived separation between the role of a family member (not associated with sexuality) and the role of a romantic partner before or outside familial ties (endowed with a perceived sexuality) also contributes to sexlessness in contemporary Japan.
This chapter uses the term ‘couple relationship’ and ‘couple’ to denote “a permanent and sexually founded connection between two persons with a particular form of institutionalization (sexual partnership, residential community, marriage) and an intimate everyday practice” (Burkart 2018:29). This means that the term ‘couple’ as used in this chapter refers to married connections between two persons, but also to unmarried ones which aim to attain a higher degree of social institutionalization and intimate every practice; however, the term does not denote extramarital sexual relationships that do not aim to obtain institutionalization. This distinction is important in particular for Japanese readers because the common Japanese understanding of the term ‘couple’ covers a different scope than in Western semantics, often integrating rather loose and superficial interpersonal relations, but not married persons.
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Notes
- 1.
In every culture and society, if we see it from micro-level, they have their own sexual script, pattern, norms, etc. After all, sexuality in European society discussed often as macro-level, as ‘global culture’. In this paper, the author is using the term ‘Europe’ (or Western society) to make the Japanese sexual phenomenon more understandable.
- 2.
- 3.
The author uses the term ‘leisure’ as the meaning relevant to ‘recreational’ and ‘pleasure’.
- 4.
Some informants said reading books, going out for shopping, going out with friends and traveling are more related to feelings of pleasure and fun than having sex with a partner.
- 5.
A soap land—also called a Turkish bath or sauna house of prostitution—has a long, if not the longest, history among all Japanese sexual services. It refers to a bathhouse where the customer is provided with a sexual service called ‘soapland’. Pink salon, on the other hand, is a type of brothel that offers oral satisfaction.
- 6.
Although some of the informants were indeed uncomfortable talking about sex, there were some who did not feel reluctant at all. For example, one informant who had studied abroad (in Sweden) for one year provided more coherent and clear answers. He was much more open about sex than the others. He himself stated that he was able to speak more freely about sex because during his exchange year, there were more people talking about sex, thus he had been able to think about it.
- 7.
Only one informant answered “yes” (F20.01). She said that her parents hold hands and kiss in front of her (she also said that, even if she gets married, she will enjoy physical contact with her partner and that she wants to become like her parents, who drink alcohol and enjoy themselves) (F20.01).
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Pacher, A. (2018). Sexlessness Among Contemporary Japanese Couples. In: Beniwal, A., Jain, R., Spracklen, K. (eds) Global Leisure and the Struggle for a Better World. Leisure Studies in a Global Era. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70975-8_2
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