This article is reproduced from the discontinued, but much loved Mainichi Waiwai column by Ryann Connell. Read more about this at the bottom of this article.
A 34-year-old Tokyo housewife started her fling a couple of years ago, according to Shukan Post (5/5-12). “My husband works for a foreign company, so he makes a bit more money than most. But he’s always so busy, it’s been ages since we’ve had a romp,” the woman, identified only as Mrs. A, tells Shukan Post. “I started going out at night more. Recently, a friend of ours invited me out to a disco, which is back in fashion again now. While there, I wait for somebody to come along and put the hard word on me. We’ll go for a date a few nights later, but invariably end up heading off to a hotel. Feeling guilty about my husband while having sex with somebody else just makes it all the more thrilling.”
Japan’s couples are collapsing, according to the top selling weekly, adding that the number of women looking for amorous adventures is on the rise. Mayumi Nimatsu, head of the Sex and Couples Consultation Center, agrees.
“In 2003, a survey I carried out on 1,609 housewives showed that 17 percent had engaged in sex with a man other their husband at least once since they got married. Another 7.4 percent said they maintained an extramarital, heterosexual relationship,” Nimatsu tells Shukan Post. “I expect the number of housewives engaged in activities like this will increase.”
One of the main reasons for women looking outside of the connubial conclave is the sexless plague afflicting married Japanese.
A survey by the Japan Family Planning Association shows that 35 percent of married Japanese have not engaged in marital relations over the past month.
“Guys who choose to bring to an end their sex lives with their wives often use excuses such as their spouse losing interest after childbirth, or that work is keeping them so tired, they’re left with a choice of pursuing hobbies or relations, and they regularly choose the former,” Dr. Kunio Kitamura, head of the association, tells Shukan Post. “Sexless wives, meanwhile, say that sex is a bore and, when it does happen, it’s always entirely what the husband wants with little attention paid to their own needs. If the couples don’t work at it and let the problem lie, the divide between the couples will only be cleaved further.”
Indeed, many women aren’t even bothering with trying to coax their hubbies into better relationships. Instead, they sow a few wild oats of their own.
The men’s weekly notes that Japan’s multifaceted adult movie industry is proving to be a sturdy employer for housewives seeking some extra cash by starring in dirty movies.
“A large majority of women doing this sort of thing don’t realize that their actions could end up ruining their families. They think marriage and affairs are two different issues,” Sanae Kameyama, author of “Marriage Sex,” tells Shukan Post. “Women now think they’re only doing what men have always done up until now. But, I often hear of guys feeling guilty for cheating on their wives, but not as many women playing around feel as bad for their husbands. I’d guess that extramarital relationships are quietly going to become even more popular from now on, too.”
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(The Mainichi Waiwai column ran online from April 19, 2001 – June 21, 2008. It was a much loved form of entertainment amongst foreigner in and outside of Japan. To any reader it was obviously not serious news, but it was a set of articles that portrayed quite well how the Japanese tabloids actually write about their own country. In 2008, a small number of Japanese people bought it to the attention of rival news groups that Mainichi was running an anti-Japan column on its website. With the bad publicity, Mainichi was forced to shut the page down, and take punitive measures against the journalists that were working on it, claiming that it was receiving opinions that were critical of the column, such as “its contents are too vulgar” and “the stories could cause Japanese people to be misunderstood abroad”. A perfect example of how Japanese consider what they write in their own script to be an acceptable secret code, that the rest of the world cant understand. When that same tabloid rubbish gets inconveniently translated to English to make light of some aspects of the Japanese people, it gets canned. Stippy.com finds this unacceptable, and will reproduce as much of the Waiwai content as possible in order to bring it once again to our computer screens for a good laugh. Of course we claim no credit for this content, and attribute it to it’s writers who were former Mainichi employees. Waiwai in its true and glorious form has been discontinued, but it’s legacy will live on at stippy.com for all to enjoy.)