Only our descendants will know for sure, but we may be witnessing something not seen in the world since the slow demise of ancient Egypt — a nation expiring of natural causes. Nations, unlike people, are potentially immortal. When they die, it's usually violently. Japan may make history by its manner of leaving it. It may simply crumble into dust....
Of course, the young are forever astonishing the old; there's nothing new there, but generally it's youthful excess that shocks, not youthful . . . what to call it? When, as a Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry survey revealed last month, fully one-third of adolescent boys aged 16 to 19 claim to have no interest in sex, a line is being crossed that suggests not simply new developments under new circumstances but a newly evolved species. [my note: there's already a name for this new species, it seems: the 'soshokukei danshi' / herbivorous men...]
Disinterest in sex is rising in both genders of all ages, the survey shows. It was this which prompted Shukan Shincho's "rock bottom" remark. "It's true," affirms a 23-year-old male university student to whom the weekly speaks, "that many men have no interest in women. My own friends seem quite satisfied to moon over anime voice actresses and computer game characters."
When a nation sinks to that, it seems reasonable to regard the future with grim foreboding.
From Michael Hoffman, 'The decline and fall of Japan and its sex drive'
The Japan Times: Sunday, Jan. 30, 2011
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