日本：超過1/3的夫婦不過性生活

More than a third of married couples in Japan have stopped having sex, many of them because they are too tired or just can't be bothered, a government-backed medical researcher said on Wednesday.

About 37 percent of couples surveyed this year by Kunio Kitamura, head of the Japan Family Planning Association, said they had not had sex for at least a month, compared with 32 percent in 2004.

The most common reason, given by a quarter of the males surveyed, was being too tired after work, while 19 percent of women said sex was too much of a hassle, he told reporters.

"It's a question of work-life balance," Kitamura said in a telephone interview. "This is not something that the individual can tackle alone. The people who run companies need to do something about it."

His written survey involved 647 men and 821 women aged up to 49, who are married.

The trend could have serious consequences for Japan, whose falling birthrate and aging population are continuing headaches for the government.

The average number of children born to a Japanese woman in her lifetime was 1.34 in 2007, compared with 2.1 in the United States in 2006.

Kitamura said doctors may also be partly to blame for Japan's negative attitudes toward sex during pregnancy or after giving birth.

He is set to report to the Ministry of Health on his findings next year.

日本一名政府醫學研究人員於本週三稱，目前日本有超過三分之一的夫婦不過性生活，其中很多人是因爲太累或者只是嫌麻煩。

日本計劃生育協會會長Kunio Kitamura稱，在今年的調查中，約37%的受訪者稱他們至少有一個月沒過性生活，而2004年的這一比例爲32%。

他在接受記者採訪時說，其中最普遍的原因是下班後太累，有四分之一的男性給出該原因，而19%的受訪女性則認爲性生活太麻煩。

他在接受電話採訪時說：“這是一個工作與生活平衡的問題，無法依靠個人的力量解決。公司管理層應對此採取一些措施。”

這項書面調查共有647名男性和821名女性參加，他們都是年齡在49歲以下的已婚人士。

這一趨勢可能會給日本帶來嚴重後果，出生率持續下降及老齡化加重一直是日本政府最頭疼的問題。

日本去年的生育率（平均每個婦女所生孩子的數量）爲1.34，而2006年美國的生育率爲2.1。

Kitamura稱，醫生的不盡職也是日本對待女性妊娠期和產後性生活問題消極態度的部分原因。

Kitamura將於明年向厚生省提交該調查結果。