In Japan, the age at which young people have their first kiss is steadily rising. — Photo: davidf / Getty Images, via ETX DailyUP
In Japan, youth sexuality comes later than elsewhere in the world. The country's high school students are far less sexually active than their foreign counterparts. According to a recent survey by the Japanese Association for Sex Education, only a quarter of them have ever kissed on the lips.
The survey of 12,562 Japanese students reveals that the proportion of young people who have ever kissed someone has been falling since 2005. This decline is particularly significant for boys in high school, since over the period 2023-2024, only 22.8% of those surveyed said they had ever kissed someone on the lips. This is the lowest figure ever recorded, falling below the 23.1% recorded in 1987, according to the daily newspaper Mainichi Shimbun.
