Since the beggining of the Meiji period (1868-1912) sexuality in Japan has been a topic of extensive debate among Japanese government officials and reformers. In Sabine Frühstück’s book, Colonizing Sex: Sexology and Social Control in Modern Japan, rather than partake in the debate, Frühstück’s goal is to “[examine] radical changes in the perception and description as well as the colonization of sex and sexuality;” more specifically, her “analysis centers on the strategies employed in the colonization of sex in Japan,” moreover “the techniques at work in the conflicts and negotiations that aimed the creation of a normative Japanese sexuality.”1 In other words, rather than focusing on the consequences of the actors of sexual colonization, she examines the interactions and debates between those who wished to colonize sex. Of the many varying actors referred to throughout the book, most of their thoughts on sexuality can be categorized into two main groups: those who wanted to establish control of sexuality, and those who were devoted to finding the truth about sex.
In Frühstück’s analysis all the actors referenced in her book have the goal of creating “a normative Japanese sexuality;” however, this blog will argue that not all of the sexologists in her book wanted to ‘colonize’ sex.2 A few aimed to find the truth about sex in hopes to disseminate that information to the public and have the people create their own normative sexuality based on correct information. This blog will mainly focus on Yamamoto Senji, the first of these ‘sexologists of the people’.
Previous to Yamamoto’s first successful publishing in 1925, sexual education and sexual studies were aimed towards the eradication of venereal diseases that were crippling the Japanese army. These studies were somewhat scientific, but their goal was to educate people on the dangers of sex. Frühstück explains that Yamamoto “declared war on ‘ancient sexual knowledge.’”3 In other words, previous sexual education was focused on venereal diseases and sought to repress sexuality causing people to fear sex according to Yamamoto. To combat this ‘colonization’, Yamamoto argued for “purely scientific sexual education;” he looked for “those who ‘loved the truth’” in hopes to free sexuality through truthful sexual education.4 Additionally, Frühstück explains that Yamamoto’s goal was to create a “science for humankind,” to make “scientific knowledge comprehensible and accessible to the wider public.”5 Yamamoto’s work was incredibly influential. Other sex researches followed in his footsteps to “popularize the knowledge of sex.”6
In this light, Yamamoto Senji was not one of the actors whose goal was to “‘colonize’ the sex and the sexuality of the Japanese populace,” as originally stated by Frühstück. His goal was to educate the masses on the truth about sex and have the people decide what was socially acceptable.7 That being said, although Yamamoto Senji does not fit Frühstück’s original claim in her introduction, he is still an incredibly important actor in the history of the sexual colonization of Japan and Frühstück’s reference to him and his work is apt.