Abstract
Using data from a national survey on work and family life in Japan, this chapter examines the frequency of sexual intercourse between married or cohabitating partners. The data show that the frequency of intercourse in Japan is low: slightly less than half (45 %) of the couples reported not having had sexual intercourse for at least 1 month. A logit regression analysis suggests that husbands’ long working hours, the presence of children under age 3, and poor marital relations were major determinants of sexless marriages. In addition, qualitative data from focus-group discussions indicate that “having sex” is a less important activity to Japanese couples in their busy daily schedules than are childrearing tasks or work responsibilities. The respondents were not particularly bothered by their sexless status within marriage as long as the marital partnership worked well in the context of a child-centered family.
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Notes
- 1.
We are aware of only two other scientific and representative datasets that have information on the frequency of sexual intercourse in Japan. One is derived from the Japanese General Social Surveys of 2000 and 2001, which targeted men and women 20–89 years old. It asked about the frequency of sexual intercourse over the preceding year without specifying the sexual partner. The other is from the Survey on Life and Attitudes of Men and Women conducted in 2004, 2006, 2008, and 2010, with a target population of men and women aged 16–49. That survey asked respondents who had ever had sex about the number of sexual encounters they had had within the previous month.
- 2.
(1 − 0.13) × 0.51 = 0.44.
- 3.
Udry et al. (1982) reported a higher frequency of marital intercourse in Japan in the 1970s than that found here. Besides differences in social conditions between the 1970s and 2007, the data in their study came from patients at obstetrical hospitals and family planning facilities in the Tokyo–Yokohama area; and because of possible biases associated with the data collection sites, it is hard to compare the frequencies. (See Coleman 1981 for details of the data used by Udry et al.)
- 4.
Because the survey question specifically asked about the frequency of sexual intercourse with the spouse, the level of reporting should not be statistically different between the sexes if these possible sources of biases are controlled.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by a grant to the Nihon University Population Research Institute from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, 2006–2010, in the form of a matching-fund subsidy from the Academic Frontier Project for Private Universities.
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Moriki, Y., Hayashi, K., Matsukura, R. (2015). Sexless Marriages in Japan: Prevalence and Reasons. In: Ogawa, N., Shah, I. (eds) Low Fertility and Reproductive Health in East Asia. International Studies in Population, vol 11. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9226-4_9
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