Japanese YouTuber Nobita, who runs the channel Find Your Love in Japan, interviewed three self-professed virgins in Shibuya about their lifestyles.
The media discourse about “sexlessness” in Japan remains dominant, particularly overseas. Every few weeks another story will do the rounds based on data from a certain survey, usually making wild generalizations about unhappy marriages or the legions of young people who have apparently withdrawn from having sex lives to play video games or go shopping. The truth is, of course, rather more complex.
These interviews are adding to this discourse in ways that both enlighten but also potentially perpetuate some myths.
First it should be noted that the three Japanese subjects are not typical guys. As one admits in the opening, they live together and have their own YouTube channel, so shy innocents these lads certainly are not. Rather, they are on a mission to tell the world that being a virgin at their age — presumably, in their late teens and early twenties — needn’t be embarrassing and could even be a source of pride and identity.
The three guys are all attractive and fashionably dressed, though the arguably most handsome of the trio claims to be more introverted than he looks. The reasons they give for their virginity are not so clearcut. One says he was too short at school; another that he prefers staying indoors watching anime.
The second half of the video asks various other people, including non-Japanese, for their opinions about men who are virgins.
Despite the name of his popular channel, which sounds more like a matchmaking agency, Nobita is actually a Japanese teacher who records video monologues or interviews about Japanese society — and with a particular focus on dating.
It should be noted, however, that Nobita has made some quite provocative videos in recent months, suggesting, for example, that gay marriage is “unacceptable” in Japan and that black people are “dangerous.” Not surprisingly, he has attracted a lot of flak for this.
