Grab your Japanese domains chaps 
Full story http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24614830
"Unless something happens to boost Japan's birth rate, its population will shrink by a third between now and 2060. One reason for the lack of babies is the emergence of a new breed of Japanese men - the otaku, who love manga, anime and computers more than sex.
Tokyo is the world's largest metropolis and home to more than 35 million people, so on the face of it, it is hard to believe there is any kind of population problem at all.
But Akihabara, an area of the city dedicated to the manga and anime subculture provides one clue to the country's problems.
Akihabara is heaven for otaku.
They are a generation of geeks who have grown up through 20 years of economic stagnation and have chosen to tune out and immerse themselves in their own fantasy worlds.
Kunio Kitamara, of the Japan Family Planning Association, describes many young Japanese men as "herbivores" - passive and lacking carnal desire.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote
I think twice about going out with a 3D woman”
Yuge
It seems they no longer have the ambition of the post-war alpha males who made Japan such an economic powerhouse and no interest in joining a company and becoming a salary man.
They have taken on a mole-like existence and, worryingly, withdrawn from relationships with the opposite sex.
A survey by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in 2010 found 36% of Japanese males aged 16 to 19 had no interest in sex - a figure that had doubled in the space of two years.
I met two otaku, who believe themselves to be in relationships with virtual girlfriends.
This girlfriend is actually a Nintendo computer game called Love Plus, which comes as a small portable tablet.
Nurikan and Yuge take their girlfriends, Rinko and Ne-ne, on actual dates to the park, and buy them cakes to celebrate their birthdays.
"It's the kind of relationship we wish we'd had at high school," says Nurikan.
In the game he is a 15-year-old, though in reality he is 38.
"As long as I have time, I'll continue the relationship forever," says Yuge, who is 39.
"As she's at high school, she picks me up in the morning and we go to school together. After school we meet at the gates and go home together... In the game I am 17."
Story continued http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24614830
Full story http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24614830
"Unless something happens to boost Japan's birth rate, its population will shrink by a third between now and 2060. One reason for the lack of babies is the emergence of a new breed of Japanese men - the otaku, who love manga, anime and computers more than sex.
Tokyo is the world's largest metropolis and home to more than 35 million people, so on the face of it, it is hard to believe there is any kind of population problem at all.
But Akihabara, an area of the city dedicated to the manga and anime subculture provides one clue to the country's problems.
Akihabara is heaven for otaku.
They are a generation of geeks who have grown up through 20 years of economic stagnation and have chosen to tune out and immerse themselves in their own fantasy worlds.
Kunio Kitamara, of the Japan Family Planning Association, describes many young Japanese men as "herbivores" - passive and lacking carnal desire.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote
I think twice about going out with a 3D woman”
Yuge
It seems they no longer have the ambition of the post-war alpha males who made Japan such an economic powerhouse and no interest in joining a company and becoming a salary man.
They have taken on a mole-like existence and, worryingly, withdrawn from relationships with the opposite sex.
A survey by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in 2010 found 36% of Japanese males aged 16 to 19 had no interest in sex - a figure that had doubled in the space of two years.
I met two otaku, who believe themselves to be in relationships with virtual girlfriends.
This girlfriend is actually a Nintendo computer game called Love Plus, which comes as a small portable tablet.
Nurikan and Yuge take their girlfriends, Rinko and Ne-ne, on actual dates to the park, and buy them cakes to celebrate their birthdays.
"It's the kind of relationship we wish we'd had at high school," says Nurikan.
In the game he is a 15-year-old, though in reality he is 38.
"As long as I have time, I'll continue the relationship forever," says Yuge, who is 39.
"As she's at high school, she picks me up in the morning and we go to school together. After school we meet at the gates and go home together... In the game I am 17."
Story continued http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24614830
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