$20 Billion Japanese Porn Industry Hit By Shortage of Men

The $20 billion dollar Japanese porn industry is under some threat, with only 70 male actors for 10,000 women actors. Hit the jump to see why.

Japanese “porn king Shimiken” is carrying the team on his back; the team being his entire nation. The 35-year-old is described as being the Cristiano Ronaldo of sex. He says, “It’s a hard job, but somebody’s got to do it.”

The actor, whose real name is Ken Shimizu, has slept with more than 8,000 women for his 7,500 movie career. Recently he caused a stir by begging for reinforcements, tweeting that there were more Bengali tigers alive than male porn actors in Japan. “There are about 70 male actors to 10,000 women,” he claims. Shimiken’s claim was retweeted thousands of times by fans worried about Japan’s $20 billion adult video industry coming under threat. “It is boring for viewers to watch the same actors all the time. That’s the biggest worry,” he said.

Shimiken insisted he has the staying power to keep on going, despite making an eye-popping two to three films in an average day.

Usually I sleep with two or three girls a day, so I have sex for about two hours every day. It’s my dream job — I’ve been doing this for 17 years and I never get bored of it. It beats working in an office. I’ll do this until I’m 100.

Shimiken just might be working until he’s 100 if the decline in male actors continues. Many industry insiders blame the conundrum on a growing social trend known as herbivore men. The term is used to describe men who stray away from sex and things that are traditionally considered masculine. These men would rather live quiet and uncompetitive lifestyles.

Tohjiro, a famed director, agrees Japanese men are going soft.

I’ve been in this business for 27 years and you can see the increase in herbivore males. Men aren’t hungry anymore. They’ve lost their desire. Everything’s on a plate for them. It wasn’t like that for my generation. If we got a banana or a pineapple, we went crazy with joy. These days, men don’t get excited by anything. The same applies to sex and attitude towards women and relationships. They just click on the internet for it.

I don’t know about you, but I’m about to look up ticket prices to Japan. I always wanted to visit Tokyo.

Published by alaiwah

ALAIWAH'S PHILOSOPHY About 12 years ago, while studying Arabic in Cairo, I became friends with some Egyptian students. As we got to know each other better we also became concerned about each other’s way of life. They wanted to save my soul from eternally burning in hell by converting me to Islam. I wanted to save them from wasting their real life for an illusory afterlife by converting them to the secular worldview I grew up with. In one of our discussions they asked me if I was sure that there is no proof for God’s existence. The question took me by surprise. Where I had been intellectually socialized it was taken for granted that there was none. I tried to remember Kant’s critique of the ontological proof for God. “Fine,” Muhammad said, “but what about this table, does its existence depend on a cause?” “Of course,” I answered. “And its cause depends on a further cause?” Muhammad was referring to the metaphysical proof for God’s existence, first formulated by the Muslim philosopher Avicenna. Avicenna argues, things that depend on a cause for their existence must have something that exists through itself as their first cause. And this necessary existent is God. I had a counter-argument to that to which they in turn had a rejoinder. The discussion ended inconclusively. I did not convert to Islam, nor did my Egyptian friends become atheists. But I learned an important lesson from our discussions: that I hadn’t properly thought through some of the most basic convictions underlying my way of life and worldview — from God’s existence to the human good. The challenge of my Egyptian friends forced me to think hard about these issues and defend views that had never been questioned in the milieu where I came from. These discussions gave me first-hand insight into how deeply divided we are on fundamental moral, religious and philosophical questions. While many find these disagreements disheartening, I will argue that they can be a good thing — if we manage to make them fruitful for a culture debate. Can we be sure that our beliefs about the world match how the world actually is and that our subjective preferences match what is objectively in our best interest? If the truth is important to us these are pressing questions. We might value the truth for different reasons: because we want to live a life that is good and doesn’t just appear so; because we take knowing the truth to be an important component of the good life; because we consider living by the truth a moral obligation independent of any consequences; or because we want to come closer to God who is the Truth. Of course we wouldn’t hold our beliefs and values if we weren’t convinced that they are true. But that’s no evidence that they are. Weren’t my Egyptian friends just as convinced of their views as I was of mine? More generally: don’t we find a bewildering diversity of beliefs and values, all held with great conviction, across different times and cultures? If considerations such as these lead you to concede that your present convictions could be false, then you are a fallibilist. And if you are a fallibilist you can see why valuing the truth and valuing a culture of debate are related: because you will want to critically examine your beliefs and values, for which a culture of debate offers an excellent setting. View more posts