Seriously, Japan, WTF? [NY Times Magazine] "Love in 2-D"

NY Times Magazine: "Love in 2-D"

Didn't see this posted already. It reads a lot like a Stephen Glass article, and I have my doubts about the real-life extent of the trend, but if at all true, how has a substantial subset of the Japanese people somehow mentally fused children's cartoons, dehumanizing objectification/misogyny, and technology with sexuality/p*rnography?

How has such a state of affairs come to pass in a highly-developed industrialized nation?

The following is edited a bit for length, & its most obscene descriptions redacted; though my mind has exploded, and instinct says just to bold the whole thing, I encourage you to read the linked piece in full, then find someone (real/human/adult/breathing) to hold onto and tell you that everything's going to be okay.

Is such a thing, the sexual devolution, on the way in the US/Europe? Already here? (Is this what all the World of Warcrafters are turning into?) Have I (thankfully) missed the boat completely on this?

I'm at a loss on this one; please, explain it to me, or if nothing else at least share in my revulsion, and point at Nisan here & laugh.

 

^^^^

Looking at that photo, I don't think enough faces are blacked out. My own included.

(It appears to be the same girlfriend/pillowcase, but I'm not sure that's the same guy, unless he dyed his hair for his, gasp, double-date?)

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On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, two generations ago Japan was a world conqueror. Its army, its men, were conditioned, able to commit unspeakable acts of brutality, with ruthless efficiency. And now, the grandsons of the men who served in that army form a nation of Linuses, forever soiling & rewashing their security blankets?

I don't doubt that this is not a widespread phenomenon. But it seems to be symptomatic, at least, of the broader cultural implosion: 1/4 of Japanese 30 year olds are still virgins? How is that even possible?

Worst 30-something episodes, ever.

 

Another one, with the same crude jab at the language stereotype (if I could find the original source, I'd use that instead):



Oh, no. Just, no.

news.com.au: "Japanese man petitions to marry comic book wife"

At least the last parargraph provides an answer about the women, if one can extrapolate from it. For the right Tokyo business traveler, there must be an ocean of sexually repressed women in their twenties & thirties, too old for the conventional norms, just dying to get out. Either that, or make their own pillow cases.

People f---ing their own pillows doesn't interest you, if not purely on a sociological level, then a prurient one? Really?

Is Japan the canary? Are we soon to follow? Is this a product of dehumanizing technology, actual human interaction ever more elusive, while images of humans flicker always? Or is this some weird byproduct of Japanese-specific mores?

Really? They're f----ing pillows in Japan. That concerns me.

 

^^^^

Allow me to rephrase: "Really? They're f----ing pillows in Japan instead of each other. That concerns me."

If it was just a few freaks or sadsacks who had a new hobby, no big deal. In fact, if memory serves, I believe a few furries reside on this very message board, and they are regarded with universally high esteem.

However, I think you may have misread the statistic: according to that study, it wasn't that 1/4+ of Japanese virgins are pillow-fluffers, but that 1/4+ of all Japanese people aged 30-34 are virgins.

Absent a generous open border policy conducive to immigrant labor, or some recent widespread-but-contained outbreak of polio, it is not generally a good sign for the health of a nation when less than 75% of your breeding-age population is even capable of, much less actually achieving, reproduction. And the reason for that is, what, psychological? Widespread shame syndrome? Shiny things on the tv/comics? Inability to adapt to parity among the sexes?

All I'm saying is, it's worth looking into.