The Truth About Cheating in Japan

Foreign outlets are painting an inaccurate picture of infidelity and prostitution in Japanese society thanks to a recent viral video.

“It’s not what it looks like, honey! It’s, uh, just someone showing me Japanese culture!”

If you try to look up information about Japan on YouTube, chances are that you’ll inevitably come across videos which attempt to cover the steamier and more scandalous aspects of this country.

Drama around love and romance can be found in practically all cultures, but pair that with the fascination Westerners have toward Japan, and content creators practically have a goldmine on their hands. Given how gravure and pornography are unfathomably huge industries here, the Japanese are well-aware of how much sex sells both at home and abroad.

But like with many things about Japan, it’s easy for certain aspects to be taken out of context or highly oversimplified to the point where people who don’t live here come away with the wrong impression. I previously wrote about why I chose to live in Japan, arguing that foreign media tends to hype up elements of Japanese society which results in a lot of misinformation.

I was reminded of this yet again recently when the topic of cheating in Japan went viral across Anglosphere social media due to various clips and later a full video being uploaded by the channel TAKASHii from Japan. Multiple Japanese women in Tokyo are asked about their thoughts on what counts as cheating, if they have ever cheated, and if they would allow their boyfriends to visit prostitution services. Because of their answers, foreign outlets like The New York Post claimed that the “consensus seems very clear” that prostitution is widely accepted among Japanese couples, while tabloids like The Daily Mail giddily reported that viewers were left “speechless” around the video’s findings.

Social media accounts with large followings sharing the clips resulted in the usual dumpster fire of replies from people who clearly know nothing about Japan making sweeping assumptions that have little basis in reality. But what’s the full story behind Japan’s cheating culture?

If you’re planning on living in Japan, I would strongly advise against taking relationship advice from these kinds of clickbait videos.

Firstly, I think it’s important to analyze the content of the viral video in question itself because I take several issues with it and how it’s being framed by foreign media.

I’ve always had mixed feelings toward the channel TAKASHii from Japan. While from the outset it’s admirable that more Japanese content creators are attempting to create more videos in English to explain aspects of their country that get less coverage overseas, Takashii, whether he does it intentionally or not, often ends up producing material that can be easily clipped for viral soundbytes on social media.

One of the biggest problems that I immediately noticed is that Takashii’s video on cheating translates the word 風俗 (fuzoku) as “prostitution” in the English subtitles, but this is not entirely accurate. Prostitution, which most would consider as paying for sexual intercourse, is actually illegal in Japan. While the word fuzoku refers to the sex industry, it is NOT synonymous with prostitution and covers a wide spectrum of alternative services that may or may not include sex.