to drink indicates a person is arrogant, excessively proud, or unfriendly.
This attitude naturally influences the women as well as the men of Japan. To a girl, a man who refuses to drink is somehow less than a man. The average girl who associates with a Westerner wants to see him get drunk at least once and will generally insist that he do so. When he does get drunk she will take care of him as if he were a child, and is very tolerant of his behavior. Most Japanese women themselves drink but usually very moderately. Thus the attitude Japanese women have toward drinking and drunks is another plus in their favor where most males are concerned.
The Japanese attitude toward sex stems primarily from their indigenous religion, Shinto, which is basically a reverence for nature and a deep concern about fertility in all living things. This religious preoccupation with fertility led to the development of festivals and other ritualistic ceremonies designed to ensure plentiful crops and human fecundity.
As the most conspicuous symbol of fertility, replicas of the erect male organ played an important role in many of the festivals and ceremonies. Still today, rural women who want to become pregnant may go to a special "sex" shrine to buy small ceramic or wooden reproductions of the male organ to carry around with them as good-luck charms. Until recent times, women in rural villages would welcome their returning menfolk who had been away to war or work with ribald dances in which they held large wooden penises in front of them and pretended to rape unmarried girls in the village.
In earlier times, stone phalli were placed at crossroads and in other auspicious locations around the country. Probably the most commonly seen symbol of fertility in Japan today are the hundreds of thousands of big and little ceramic and wooden figurines and carvings of tanuki or badgers, with their giant-sized scrotums prominently featured, which are sold in shops and displayed in front of various businesses.
In addition to sanctioning sex as a necessary function in the scheme of life, Shinto also promoted sex for its pleasurable qualities as well.
At the same time, sex in Japan has never been a matter of completely free choice for women. A double standard developed very early, and until 1945 was strictly enforced, sometimes in a harsh manner. Men of wealth and rank had the privilege of maintaining concubines and mistresses, while lower-class men could patronize the numerous gay quarters anytime they wished and had the price. The sexual behavior of women was determined by their position and class. As in most countries, the highest and the lowest classes of women enjoyed more sexual freedom than the women in between. During much of Japan's history, women in the upper class were known for their love affairs. Ordinary women who were not employed for the specific purpose of entertaining men in teahouses, bathhouses, or gay quarters were expected to be virtuous and suppress their jealousy—and the majority of them lived up to this expectation.
In Japan sexual promiscuity as a profession has never been considered as morally sinful. As a rule, low-class girls could enhance both their economic and social position by becoming the mistresses of men of standing. Poor girls with beauty and brains who became professional courtesans often became popular heroines, sought after both as mistresses and wives by the most powerful and respected men of their times.
Thus for centuries Japanese women lived in a society in which commercial sex for pleasure was an accepted, prominent feature of daily life. Most of the social life of the illustrious Tokugawa reign from 1603 until 1868 centered around elaborate red-light districts and assignation houses which abounded in the country. The most famous sex district was the Yoshiwara in Edo (Tokyo), a walled city within a city devoted entirely to sensual pleasures.
Then in the 1870s reform-minded Japanese leaders came under the influence of Western missionaries and moralists. At the same time, these leaders learned that in America and some European countries the legal sanction of red-light districts and extramarital sex was considered scandalous. Anxious to make a good impression on the Western powers, the new Japanese government quickly stripped professional courtesans of respectability and reduced them to the lowest social order. The practice of mistress-keeping became more or less a sub rosa affair. The attitude of the ordinary Japanese toward sex was not significantly changed by these developments, but the influence of Western-oriented reformers—mostly women—gradually grew until in 1956 they prevailed upon the government to make the practice of prostitution illegal. The ruling went into effect on April 1 (Fool's Day) in 1957.
Since 1945 there have been many changes in the way women in Japan regard extra-marital sex. Many wives, particularly younger ones, no longer approve, tacitly or otherwise, of their husbands engaging in sex with other women anytime the whim strikes them. Some take the drastic step of divorcing unfaithful husbands, something which was almost unthinkable in feudal Japan. The attitude of most unmarried girls has also changed considerably. In former times, girls were often forced by economic expediency and precedence to engage in prostitution. During those times engaging in sex for pay was a last-resort measure for most girls who did it, but it was an accepted occupation nevertheless.
Nowadays there are very few if any girls in Japan who are forced by economic pressure to engage in prostitution, although large numbers choose to do so because it is an easy way to make a high income. Most of those who do engage in professional prostitution are employed in the entertainment trades as cabaret hostesses, geisha, and bathhouse masseuses. The significant change is in the large number of young girls from all classes who regularly engage in premarital sex for reasons of pleasure, convenience, or just plain curiosity. More importantly, few Japanese girls are inactive because they believe premarital sex is wrong. Many want to save themselves for their future husbands simply because they know men still prefer to marry virgins, and they are anxious to make good marriages. But if the average Japanese girl in any class or category is subjected to the attentions of a determined lover her resistance is very low.
In a remarkable demonstration of their pragmatic approach to sex, many nonvirgin girls now have their "virginity" replaced by plastic surgery. According to a report by a Tokyo doctor, tens of thousands of ex-hostesses and mistresses have had new hymens built in to wipe out their past, enhance their marriage prospects and "start married life off on the right foot." Foreign women have been flocking to Tokyo for years to have their busts and faces rejuvenated. It seems safe to predict that this new made-in-Japan product may become just as popular as cameras, pearls, and bust-repairing.
When the hymen-replacement operation was first developed in the early 1960s the cost for local girls was only 10,000 yen ($28.78), and girls who had the operation were known as "10,000-yen virgins," or jinko shojo. Now, of course, the operation is much more expensive.
Japanese girls tend to look upon sex as a natural human function subject only to the arbitrary rules and whims of society. As a result of this attitude, they are not bothered by inhibitions arising from fear of divine displeasure or future punishment. On the contrary, there is a strong belief among both Japanese men and women that it is harmful for people (especially men!) to be deprived of regular sexual activity. Japanese folklore points out in no uncertain terms that most of the psychological problems women have are a direct result of too little sexual release.
For their own part, Japanese women readily agree that men need and should have regular sexual intercourse. Until the beginning of the modern era, it was the official Japanese government attitude that prostitutes performed an important service to society
