The increasing number of consultations regarding unwanted pregnancies amid the coronavirus pandemic once again highlights the need for sex education that teaches people about the importance of life.

I agree. On the one hand, there are all sorts of A-videos being produced in Japan, and it's common to find magazines in konbini with scantily clad stars who aren't even 18 years old. Some 15 years ago, bikini magazines with little girls in bikinis were common in konbini.

So you'd think sex and things like that would be common here.

But no. There's no such thing as sex education at school. Not as an official subject.

But no. There's no such thing as sex education at school. Not as an official subject.

Is there not? Why? Japanese pop culture is packed with fetishes and highly sexualized images, especially of girls (this aspect is worrying) . Ironic that they get all conservative and modest in the classroom. It's no wonder we keep reading about women giving birth in public bathrooms and hiding the bodies of their unwanted baby in attics and refrigerators.

There's no such thing as sex education at school. Not as an official subject.

That's odd, I distinctly remember attending an open day at my son's primary school where one of the lessons was quite definitely sex ed (age-appropriate, of course; how to care for your bits, how to respect that other folk had different bits, etc. Not how to put what where to make a baby, or not, as the case may be), and the workbooks my kids brought home had sections on sex ed, too.

As a parent, of course I made sure that for my kids it was all revision. Why leave it up to the schools?

@cleoToday

That's odd, I distinctly remember attending an open day at my son's primary school where one of the lessons was quite definitely sex ed (age-appropriate, of course; how to care for your bits, how to respect that other folk had different bits, etc. Not how to put what where to make a baby, or not, as the case may be), and the workbooks my kids brought home had sections on sex ed, too.

As a parent, of course I made sure that for my kids it was all revision. Why leave it up to the schools?

Maybe it was some own initiative of the school your son goes to, or something on a local level? However, as far as I know, nationally this is not in the curriculum, or at least wasn't until 2010. Neither of my daughters had anything like this at school. I don't keep track of how it has been since then, but I know my nephew and niece haven't had it yet (they are 11 years old).

I agree about why leave it up to the schools. However, the point is that such a basic thing should be covered at school. Especially when I compare it to the country I'm originaly from, where you can't get A-magazines so easily in a regular konbini and the AV titles on offer aren't like here in Japan, but the basics are just taught to kids in school. And here in Japan it's almost the opposite - you kind of expect to have some school education on that matter with all the sexualization in all sorts of places.

. More and more young women are coming forward for consultations concerning unwanted pregnancies, sexual abuse, domestic violence and other issues amid the pandemic, as people stay at home longer.

If staying at home longer is the problem, then there are other underlying issues that need to be addressed as well!