HIV/AIDS continues steep increase in Japan

Thursday 15th October, 03:09 PM JST

NAGOYA —

Many foreigners who live in Japan are surprised to know that HIV and AIDS is increasing rapidly in Japan. While HIV/AIDS infections in North America, Western Europe and Australia peaked in the late 1980s, Japan’s HIV infections have continued to increase. The Ministry
of Health, Labor and Welfare’s Annual Report on HIV/AIDS Surveillance in Japan reports that in 2008 there were 1,126 HIV and 431 AIDS reports, the largest number of yearly reports to date.

Despite much media attention to the point of what is now known as the “AIDS panic” when the first AIDS patients were diagnosed in 1992, in recent years there has been a lack of media attention given to HIV/AIDS. The lack of English information, in particular, might lead
foreigners in Japan to assume that they do not need to think about HIV when having sex in Japan.

“The majority of HIV and AIDS reports in Japan are among gay and bisexual men, who have little targeted HIV information and support, and there is a particular lack of resources in English. In recent years, the data indicates a slight increase in HIV reports among foreign gay and bisexual men, so we decided there was a need to investigate the health and information needs of foreigners in Japan,” said Prof Seiichi Ichikawa who is head of the Study Group on the Development and Evaluation of Community-based HIV Prevention Interventions for Men who have sex with Men at Nagoya City University.

The study group is looking for gays, lesbians and bisexuals living in Japan who are interested in doing the English language Internet survey which is being conducted until Jan 31 2010. The survey is anonymous and confidential. The Gay Travel Internet Survey can be found on a secure SSL site at https://www.gaytravel.jp.

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Latest 15 of 66 Total Comments Show All

nandakandamanda at 05:39 PM JST - 16th October

Contradiction at work, biglittleman? "Most of the people who have HIV in Africa come from some of the most impoverished countries. They wouldn't be able to afford to live decent lives at home let alone leave their countries."

and at the end, "The carriers are usually the more well to do."

Well, maybe it's the more well-to-do Africans who have disovered how to make money in Tokyo.
biglittleman at 06:04 PM JST - 16th October

@nandakandamanda,

Well, maybe it's the more well-to-do Africans who have disovered how to make money in Tokyo.

Not a contradiction at all. We can both agree that a lot of the well-to-do and business types as well as the middle income in Japan go to places like Thailand, Philipines and Bali often, Yes? They also have high HIV/Aids rates,Yes? It usually spreads faster among the poor, yes? We can also agree these are known sex vacation destinations, yes? We can also agree that most poor peoples are not able to flee their situation of poverty by traveling to another country, yes? Especially an expensive place like the UK or Japan. We can also agree using condoms is not popular among the Japanese, yes? Then it is easier to conclude the majority of the carriers of HIV/AIDS to Japan are the Japanese themselves. Just like in the US and UK. What I also said about Europeans spreading more disease than any other group in past 600 years is also true. Entire civilizations have been almost completely wiped out.

If they were all well-to-do Africans then they wouldn't be working as touts on the streets of Roppongi. You just contradicted your argument with an illogical premise.
biglittleman at 06:11 PM JST - 16th October

@nandakandamanda,

That just explains Japan's situation. If you want to talk about the UK then you should watch the documentary "My boyfriend is a sex-tourist".
auntplum at 07:32 PM JST - 16th October

@biglittleman - correct. I have not heard such ridiculous views as those expressed by Jizzezz's British friend's for quite a number of years. Who is to say that the African touts are infected? Or that they are having less than monogomous sexual relations with Japanese citizens, or that they are having unprotected sex?

Conversley, Japan has a very large sex industry which does not stipulate the use of condoms (of which Foreign clientel are not served), as well as a historically high-participation in sex tourism to Asian desitnations. The incidence of serial adultary is extremely high, with many men having multiple sexual partners well into their retirement. Many middle-school and high-school girls utilize prostitution to supplement their pocket money via mobile dating sites, and are not strong enough to insist that their (middle-aged and married) clients use protection.

Very many Japanese only become alerted to the fact that they are HIV positve when they attempt to give blood, and are subsequently advised to visit their physician without delay. The Japanese are not a nation renowed for their participation in charities, and the incidence of blood donation cannot be described as high. One can only imagine that the percentage of actual cases versus reported must be rather low. Always use protection...
Delarapier at 02:40 PM JST - 17th October

Blaming Africans for HIV infection makes sense except that they don't come from Sub-Saharan Africa-they usually comes from West Africa where the rates are nowhere near as high.

It is got more to do with local sexual habits then anything else.
Beelzebub at 07:13 AM JST - 18th October

AIDS, while deadly, is not that easy to get, or to spread. The AIDS stats in Japan pale in comparison to Hep C and treatment-resistant TB, both of which of course can also be spread through sexual or non-sexual contact. Chlamydia is reported to be rampant among teens and while not fatal is asymptomatic and if untreated can render one sterile. In addition to the hazards at soaplands, there are also growing reports that a variety of nasty cooties can be picked up by bathing in a public bath or -- gasp -- an onsen. Sort of takes the fun out of mixed bathing...
biglittleman at 08:05 AM JST - 18th October

@Delarapier

Blaming Africans for HIV infection makes sense except that they don't
come from Sub-Saharan Africa-they usually comes from West Africa where the rates are nowhere near as high.

So what you are really saying is "it doesn't make sense to blame Africans"?
biglittleman at 08:07 AM JST - 18th October

Sort of takes the fun out of mixed bathing...

From your description it isn't just the mixed baths we have to worry about.
griff at 01:49 AM JST - 19th October

Beelzebub - quite right. and with all the constant talk about aids in africa leads us to ignore the fact that africa is in fact dying of treatable diseases such as diarrhoea, dysentery, cholera, etc. but AIDs is a headline grabber because it plays to that age old notion that sex = death
smithinjapan at 10:43 AM JST - 19th October

The problem is a total lack of awareness here, and a lack of education on the subject. Broaching the subject of sex in school (ie. sex ed.) is still pretty touchy, and forget about kids having access to condoms. In the field of pornography here most still do not use condoms (ahem... so I'm told), and I doubt they use them at the soaplands and healt salons. There are, I've found out when talking to people, a number of anonymous clinics that you can be tested at, but do Japanese know about them? I know that they are not at all encouraged to get tested simply to be responsible if they've engaged in unprotected sex in the past.

I was JUST having this talk with a few people yesterday about current issues and someone mentioned how AIDS/HIV aren't a problem in Japan. I said it's the only G8 nation with a rapidly increasing rate, and the other were shocked (and don't believe me, I think).
biglittleman at 01:38 PM JST - 19th October

There is also a popular belief in Japan that if you use a condom then it means you don`t love me. At least that is what some of the guys/girls say to each other to raw dawg it.
fishy at 01:59 PM JST - 19th October

When you donate blood in japan, they check your blood and give you the test results but they don't tell you when you have HIV positive.. I wonder why. They say you should not donate blood to test and see if you are HIV positive, but I think it is actually good if more people donated blood and in return they get the test results. The hospital simply have to let the people know the results and not use the blood.
asianyetgaijin at 03:10 PM JST - 19th October

Is there any data that said that HIV in Japan came from Africa? As far as I know, the HIV-1 subtype spreading in Japan is different than those that are spreading in Africa. Blaming Africans for HIV infection rate in Japan does not make sense. Period. I agree with smithinjapan. Focus on awareness and education on the subject, and stop denying that it is not a problem. Because it IS a problem.

Fishy, what do you mean 'they don't tell you when you have HIV positive?' If you meant the onset of the disease, there's no way they know when the onset might occur. The HIV window period can last from 2 weeks to 15 years. And it will be difficult for anyone to determine when an HIV-sero-positive had sero-onversion. The best guest can be made by the patient though, based on when he/she started/had the risky behavior for HIV infection.
realist at 05:51 PM JST - 20th October

I loved the end line of this story, about "men who have sex with men at Nagoya City University!" Its a big problem, and when AIDS first appeared it led to lots of racial discrimination against foreigners in Japan, because it was viewed as a "foreigner disease." Well, we all know it isnt, and that the Japanese are a just a part of the human race, like the rest of us.
griff at 10:41 PM JST - 21st October

next time a nihonjin says anything about "foreign diseases", kindly remind them of the existence of Japanese B encephalitis