Is there a shortage of men in the Japanese porn industry?

Honestly, I was skeptical. I had Claude AI dig deeper and sadly this is true. I don't know what else to say except to express my disbelief that the mainstream media appears to have little interest.

Yes, this is a well-documented and ongoing phenomenon. Here's a summary:

The Numbers

Estimates indicate there are only about 70 male performers for nearly 10,000 female actors in Japan's adult film industry M9.news — an industry valued at around $20 billion and considered the largest in the world. Medium

The Strain on Working Actors

Production companies release around 4,000 new titles a month, but the pool of male talent stays tiny. That means top performers work nonstop, sometimes filming multiple scenes back to back. Bana Kenya The most famous male performer, known as Shimiken, says he typically sleeps with two or three women a day and has been doing it for 17 years. Nairobi News

Why So Few Men?

Two main reasons are cited:

1. Social stigma — In Japan, the shame of acting in one of these films (as opposed to just watching one) outweighs the perceived benefits. Japanese culture treats shame and embarrassment as a much more permanent state of being than Western cultures tend to. Medium

2. "Herbivore men" — Many industry insiders blame the shortage on a growing social trend known as "herbivore men": those who shun sex and traditional masculine values in favor of a quiet, uncompetitive lifestyle. Nairobi News

3. Grueling schedules — Many men leave the industry because they cannot keep up with the demanding schedule. TokyoReporter

Pay Doesn't Help

Male actors can expect to earn around ¥1,000 per movie upon entering the industry, which might help explain why there are so few of them. Tokyo Weekender (That's roughly $7 USD per film.)

It's a quirky but real labor market imbalance that has attracted attention periodically over the past decade — and apparently hasn't resolved itself.