Posted on 2014.09.16
From Cuddle Cafes and animated girlfriends to paying for sex, the Japanese have managed to commodify every aspect of intimate relationships. More and more people in Japan are choosing to forgo traditional partnerships – the first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes lady with a baby carriage scenario.
Instead, they are turning to service providers to fill their intimate needs and remaining single while they do it. If you want to be dominated; you can pay for that. If you want to go out for drinks and have a flirty conversation; you can pay for that. If you just want to cuddle; you can pay for that too. With all this money being exchanged for goods and services in a very lucrative and necessary industry, the industry of love and affection, it can’t be bad for commerce.
However, it can be detrimental to birth rates. Japan has a negative population growth which puts them in a perilous position when considering the future of their nation. Who will inherit their legacy if pleasure and personal fulfilment continue to be more important than procreation?
Vice delved in and made a mini-documentary about their findings The Japanese Love Industry.
