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Well... what I meant is that they don't have the judeo-christian moral codes that sometimes lead to odd little patterns of rather unhealthy behavior or guilt trips.
Japanese have their own moral codes built apon a sense of obligation and doing whats best for the community. Sex isn't 'inherently sinful' as some interpretations of J-C-I seem to imply. However, it is still considered something not engage in lightly by the average japanese. Statistically, they're having some trouble grasping that it isn't just "bad people" who get STDs.
The broken family issue plagues much of the industrialized world -- that boils down to people marrying too lightly, not working hard enough at it, ... just a pretty shallow level of commitment (especially after kids are involved). I won't pretend to have solutions for any culture -- I just know that it takes a lot of cooperation to have a proper marriage.
The divorce rate in Japan has more to do with recent changes in how pension plans are distributed. The women don't *have* to stay with unpleasant partners anymore to get their part of the pension. Some 50+yrs aged males are actually attending "how not to be an ass" schools to avoid this.
The falling marriage rate and plummeting birth rate are pretty directly related to the average japanese adult male having a "1950s" brain and being a very poor communicator while the women have moved on to the "1970s" mindset of expecting an actual *companion*. They would like to get married but not if it means shutting down careers or losing all their independence. Japanese businesses are being resistant to changes that support families (like not overworking so much or the practice of afterwork-drinking-binges. Both are abusive to both career worker females and the left-at-home female spouses).
The younger japanese males seem to be getting a clue and adapting so this is a transient issue... but they are in danger of a demographic population crash while the transition happens.
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