世論 What Japan Thinks

[part 1] [part 2] [part 3]

The answer to headline is “not very much, quite frankly. And just 17 times a year.”

The Japanese division of the drug company Bayer recently published the results of a survey into Japanese married couples’ bedroom life. They interviewed 103 men and 103 women, all currently married, from each decade of life from their thirties to their sixties, excepting men in their forties, where they only had 102 people, making 823 people in total. The fieldwork was conducted between the 9th and 12th of June this year, by means of an internet questionnaire. No information is available on how the respondents were chosen.

In the second part we look at the degree of satisfaction in marriages; total sexlessness seems to be bad for a relationship, but even those with a somewhat sexless marriage seem to be reasonably satisfied overall. As one might expect, those most active in the bedroom seem to be the happiest.

Unfortunately, in Q8 the print on the graph is far too small and I cannot read it all; if anyone can help out, please leave me a short message.

Q6-1: Are you satisfied with sex with your spouse? (Sample size=823)

Very satisfied	8.4%
Quite satisfied	49.7%
Not very satisfied	27.2%
Not satisfied at all	14.7%

Q6-2: Have you ever talked with your spouse about your sex life? (Sample size=823)

Often talk	2.4%
Sometimes talk	23.8%
Don’t talk much	44.8%
Don’t talk at all	28.9%

Q7: Have you ever talked with your spouse about your sex life? (Sample size=823, by sexlessness)

	Often talk	Sometimes talk	Don’t talk much	Don’t talk at all
Sexless N=206	0.5%	6.9%	27.1%	65.4%
Somewhat sexless N=214	0.0%	17.3%	54.7%	28.0%
Not really sexless N=263	2.7%	27.4%	56.7%	13.3%
Not sexless at all N=158	7.6%	46.8%	32.9%	12.7%

Q8: What do you think is important for good sex with your spouse? (Sample size=823, up to two answers)

	Men N=411	Women N=412
When we’re in a good mood	56.5%	70.4%
When not too tired	47.8%	40.0%
When both want to do it	31.1%	21.1%
When expressing love	11.4%	11.9%
Can’t read!	9.0%	12.8%
When a little tipsy	10.0%	8.0%
Out of the usual location, underwear, etc	5.1%	3.2%
When aware of each other’s can’t read!	2.4%	3.4%
Other	2.7%	2.4%

An extra figure mentioned in the text was that four-fifths of men but only one-fifth of women said they initiated sex.

Q9-1: Do you feel your spouse’s love in your daily life? (Sample size=823)

	Strongly feel	Somewhat feel	Don’t feel much	Don’t feel at all
All N=823	20.0%	59.7%	16.4%	3.9%
Sexless N=206	11.2%	43.1%	31.9%	13.8%
Somewhat sexless N=214	11.2%	72.0%	15.4%	1.4%
Not really sexless N=263	19.4%	67.3%	12.9%	0.4%
Not sexless at all N=158	43.7%	50.0%	5.1%	1.3%

Q9-2: Do you think your emotional bond to your spouse is strong? (Sample size=823)

	Very strong	Somewhat strong	Weak	Very weak
All N=823	17.5%	62.5%	15.8%	4.3%
Sexless N=206	10.6%	43.1%	30.3%	15.0%
Somewhat sexless N=214	8.9%	73.8%	16.8%	0.5%
Not really sexless N=263	18.3%	68.4%	11.8%	1.5%
Not sexless at all N=158	36.1%	60.1%	9.8%	0.0%

Q9-3: Have you ever thought about divorcing your partner? (Sample size=823)

	Often thought	Sometimes thought	Not really thought	Not thought at all
All N=823	5.8%	23.2%	40.7%	30.3%
Sexless N=206	17.6%	29.8%	33.0%	19.7%
Somewhat sexless N=214	1.9%	25.7%	45.8%	26.6%
Not really sexless N=263	3.0%	22.8%	44.5%	29.7%
Not sexless at all N=158	1.9%	12.7%	36.7%	48.7%

Q10-1: Do you feel stress in your daily life? (Sample size=823)

Strongly feel it	16.5%
Somewhat feel it	52.9%
Don’t really feel	27.9%
Don’t feel at all	2.7%

Q10-2: Do you think you have a sexless marriage? (Sample size=823, by stress levels)

	Sexless	Somewhat sexless	Not really sexless	Not sexless at all
Strongly feel it N=136	39.0%	25.0%	26.5%	9.6%
Somewhat feel it N=435	19.5%	28.0%	34.3%	18.2%
Don’t really feel N=230	21.3%	24.8%	30.4%	23.5%
Don’t feel at all N=22	4.5%	4.5%	36.4%	54.5%

Q10-3: If the sexless problem could be resolved, what sort of changes do you think there would be? (Sample size=402, up to two answers)

Be happier than I am now	31.8%
Could relate with more gentleness to my spouse	28.4%
Could show my love for my spouse	21.4%
Could have confidence in myself	16.9%
Could stop thinking about divorce	4.2%
Could resolve problems with caring for children or parents	4.0%
Other	27.4%

[part 1] [part 2] [part 3]