In Japan, strict social codes dictate everything, down to people’s private lives. Men and women are struggling to meet and form relationships while a 2024 survey revealed that 44% of Japanese marriages are sexless. As a result, the country is gradually depopulating. But Japan is determined to do everything in its power to reverse this demographic curve.
The population of Japan is predicted to fall from 125 million today to just 88 million by 2065. The country can no longer finance the explosion in healthcare and pension spending, and the debt is mounting. But authorities are stepping up. In Tokyo, where the birth rate is less than one child per woman, City Hall even has a small team playing Cupid. The municipal department has just launched an AI-powered dating app to match the capital’s singles. And those not keen on new technologies can opt for a konkatsu, a kind of singles camp where friendly organizers run games to put participants at ease and encourage romance.
Nagi, in the Osaka region, is one of the few Japanese towns where children’s cries can
be heard. Here, a scene almost unreal in the archipelago, we even come across large families! So much so, that town councillors and government officials from all over the country flock here to try and discover the well-kept secret of the ‘city of children’.
But in Japan, sexuality is often a solitary activity. And the arrival of AI and virtual reality in the field of sex toys isn’t exactly encouraging the younger generation to take on a real partner. Japan now has the oldest population in the world, with one in three inhabitants is over 65.