In case you weren't aware, May 6th is condom day.
Despite producing the thinnest contraceptives in the world, Japanese condoms are an underused item and the manufacturers know it.
That's why they come up with silly ideas like Condom Day.
The choice of date comes from the Japanese for "five" (go) and "six" (mu): gomu, which means "rubber", is a nickname for condom.
Cue lots of pictures of cute girls holding condoms in their mouths (careful, posing for that kind of photo might just lose you your job).
Putting it in your mouth seems to be the de facto "cute" pose if you give ...
Tenga is having a massive year to celebrate its tenth anniversary.
It has continued its series of special new releases for the milestone with the Tenga Condoms.
While the condoms themselves are regular sleeves (natural color, natural-type tip), the packaging is awesome. Each of the condoms in the six-pack comes in its own mini case (common in Japan) with an individual pop art design.
The six are then stored in a round case that looks like it could house almost anything (sweets, snuff, a monocle) except condoms! As discreet and stylish as Tenga always is.
As usual the ...
Japanese guys, like their counterparts in porn, rarely use condoms -- which is a nightmare for condom makers and for health services, since it also means STDs are rampant.
Condom makers call on unusual tactics to promote their innovative contraceptives, and this also extends to those trying to promote safe sex.
There is a considerable irony that Japan's condom industry is large -- producing up to 30% of the world's rubbers -- but local usage is possibly ranked in the bottom three in the world.
To improve this state of affairs, Kyosuke Kagami and Opanpon came up with a very ...
What to do about Japan? Its population is aging and its birth rate is falling. That's the double whammy and not a week goes by without some new farfetched plan being proposed by some idiotic politico.
Well, this one might just be the most outlandish one we've heard so far and the latest in a long, long line of gaffes by Japanese male politicians.
A member of the Shinshiro Municipal Assembly in Aichi Prefecture last month suggested a way to increase the Shinshiro City population. While nove, it is probably illegal and also just plain outright crazy.
Give out “punctured condoms” to ...
Photographer Hal is, as the name suggests, a photographer in Japan. While that may not sound unusual, one glance at his output and you'll see this is not the stuff you tend to encounter on Flickr.
Photographer Hal creates amazing vacuum-packed photography in which naked couples embrace each other in a plastic bag.
"Photographer Hal started packing couples together in futon vacuum bags to preserve their love forever. The process to achieve this eternal image is very organic and each couple can only be left inside the seal bag for 10 seconds."
Using futon sealing bags, the ...
Durex, the condom brand, have an interest in things sexual.
This doesn't just mean marketing their prophylactic, it also means studying global sex habits.
From Durex's Sexual Wellbeing Survey (2007/2008) and Face of Global Sex (2012), they gained some insights into international bedroom tendencies among heterosexual couples.
The Japan results intrigued us...
The main conclusion is that apparently people in Japan are very unhappy with their sex lives.
Japan was the only country where more people said they were dissatisfied with their sex lives than satisfied.
See the chart ...
When we think of Japan, we don't tend to think of condoms.
Far from it, this is the land of thousands of unwanted pregnancies, where most celebrities tend to get married shotgun-style and STDs are rampant.
But one company is fighting this. Sagami is not only doing its utmost to product incredible contraceptive products but is also trying to promote sex in general.
It is part condom maker, part sociology lab. It has set out to investigate the truth about sex in Japan and is responsible for some of the best research done into mainstream sex habits in Japan.
It also produces the ...
Well, the Safe Sex Association would be proud.
It is very popular for young Japanese schoolgirls to pose for group pictures in purikura, customizable photo booths where you can add dollops of cute decoration to images.
These six ladies have gone the extra mile to add a message that's both personal and social.
Contraception.
As the writing says, "We use condoms."
Would you like to partake of some safe sex with these lovely six lasses?
The usual Japanese approach to condoms is not to bother, despite love hotels providing them as a courtesy beside all beds and local maker ...
We've looked at surveys before -- from men who never date to the best breasts, habits and the most-viewed Wikipedia pages.
Now Sagami, one of Japan's leading condom makers, has released the results of a big nationwide survey, Nippon no Sex, it did in January this year.
It surveyed 14,100 men and women online (plus 29,315 in a pre-survey), aged from their twenties to their sixties, and from all of Japan's forty-seven prefectures.
The results are a little alarming in places, such as that 40.6% of Japanese males are still virgins (as opposed to just 25.5% of women), and that the average ...
This may well be a prank but based on visuals alone, prepare to be stunned.
This young lady has had a lot of sex and isn't afraid to advertise that fact in an example of Japan's strangest (or most sexually provocative) fashion choice yet.
In the same way that native "savages" might wear the ears or other body parts of slain enemies like a trophy, this Japanese girl is wearing a sell-made skirt of condoms. Which appear to be used.
Presumably she has done things to produce the materials inside the condoms and she is wearing the unusual item of clothing accessory as a mark of ...
