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Scorching summer sparks condom, love hotel boom boom
By Ryann Connell August 19, 2004
Japan's hottest summer on record has sparked condomania, with sales of the
prophylactics sizzling, according to Shukan Gendai.
"Condoms certainly are selling well now. Sales are about 30 percent up on other
seasons. This summer is also notable because of the large number of repeat
customers. We've seen an extremely large increase in our number of regular
customers," a spokesman from the Tokyo birth control shop Condomania tells
Shukan Gendai. "Since the summer vacation period started (in late July), the
number of young couples coming in has increased."
Selling particularly well are Sagami Rubber Industries' Vape Cap and Okamoto
Condoms' 003, which is named from its sheerness of just 0.03 mm.
"Condoms usually sell best in the early spring, when people move around a lot,
and the end of the year. It's rare for sales to be boosted in the summer," an
Okamoto spin doctor tells Shukan Gendai. "This year, though, even convenience
stores have reported increased condom sale. We know the 003 allows for greater
feeling and can recommend it with confidence, but we haven't got a clue as to
why it's selling so well this summer."
Summer hasn't only caused humdinger condom sales, it's also apparently sparked
more couples to heat up. Love hotel expert Fumio Iwanaga explains.
"(Hotels) are packed from the middle of the day. Couples are heading to the
hotels to escape the blistering heat so they can be in air-conditioned
comfort," he says. "Another thing noticeable about love hotels this summer is
that couples seem to be going wilder than usual. A buddy of mine who runs a
love hotel told me that he's never seen so many women leave earrings behind as
they have recently. He says that's because they're having such wild sex, they
forget about their earrings when they leave."
Not only are couples getting hotter, they're also staying in love hotels
longer.
"Normally, most people leave at the end of a two-hour rest session, but this
summer there has been an amazingly large number of extensions," the operator of
a suburban Tokyo love hotel says. "It's no longer rare to find couples
extending their sessions to four, or even six hours."
Medical experts are somewhat baffled at the trend toward summer steaminess.
"Hormones that humans emit, testosterone in males and estrogen in females, are
actually very weak in the heat," neurologist Naruhito Fujita says. "When it
gets hot, the amount of hormones emitted decreases and the desire for sex
declines. It's a different story, though, when it gets TOO hot."
Fujita argues that the lure of a cool room offering a haven from the heat
thwarts normal hormonal distribution.
"Humans are most comfortable at about 18 to 23 degrees. If you get in front of
the air conditioner and cool down, hormonal emission is stimulated and so is
the sex drive," the neurologist tells Shukan Gendai. "Add to that the feeling
of being liberated from the oppressive heat and it's quite possible that
couples would want to have sex."
Copyright 2004 The Mainichi Newspapers Company. All rights reserved.
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Girls
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8-18-2004
Japanese
women shun birth control pill
8-17-2004
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