Japan’s Bedroom Recession When marriage comes with joint finances, shared chores and a permanent headache
Once Upon a Time, in a Bedroom Far, Far Away
Japan has a problem. Not an economic one (those are scheduled quarterly), not a demographic one (those are permanent), but a quieter crisis unfolding under neatly folded futons. Nearly half of married couples in Japan are now officially “sexless.” That’s not a metaphor, not a moral panic just a clinical term meaning no sex for over a month, with no great expectations of a comeback tour.
The Japan Family Planning Association has been keeping score since 2004. Back then, about a third of couples had stopped having sex. Fast-forward to the mid-2020s, and the number has ballooned to around 48%. Growth industry, just not the kind governments like.
Definitions Are Doing a Lot of Heavy Lifting
Japan’s Bedroom Recession Sexless: Before anyone clutches pearls: yes, “sexless” means one month. Four weeks. Thirty days. Long enough to binge a prestige TV series, short enough to make everyone feel personally attacked. Still, when almost half the country’s married population shrugs and says, “Nah, probably not anytime soon,” sociologists stop laughing and start sharpening pencils.
Men Want It. Women… Would Rather Lie Down
Here’s where the numbers get awkward at dinner parties. About 80% of married men say they’re still interested in sex. Only around 60% of women say the same, leaving a solid 40% who are officially over it. When asked why:
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- Men mostly say their partner isn’t interested.
- Women most often say sex is mendokusai—“too much hassle.”
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Not painful. Not traumatic. Just… administratively inconvenient. The head of the survey once described this as “a scream of misery from men.” Women, meanwhile, appear to be responding with the emotional equivalent of a read receipt.
Foreplay Is Doing the Dishes
One clue lies outside the bedroom. Japanese men, according to international comparisons, do less housework and childcare than men in other wealthy nations. This turns out to be shockingly unsexy. After a full workday followed by a second shift at home, many women report feeling exhausted, unromantic, and strangely unmoved by a partner who believes laundry folds itself. Sex, in this context, becomes less an act of passion and more another unpaid task with no performance bonus.
By Sayuri
