Why the Sensual Side of Japan Attracts Western Men

New book provides detailed description of the sensual elements that make the Japanese experience so attractive to Westerners, especially Western men.

Tokyo, Japan (PRWEB) January 29, 2006 -- The sensual side of life in Asia has never been perverted or suppressed by religious dogmas, resulting in lifestyles that have traditionally been far more sensual than those in Christianized and Islamized societies.

In his e-book "The Sensual Side of the Orient" author Boyé Lafayette De Mente, known for his cultural-insight books on China, Korea and Japan, says that the Japanese are the most sensually oriented of all Asians.
    
De Mente attributes this factor to Shinto, Japan’s native religion, which he describes as a “fertility cult that recognized and promoted the importance of sex in the existence of all species.”
    
In "The Sensual Side of the Orient," which might be called “an arm-chair guide to Asia” and is aimed at Western travelers, De Mente says there are two Japans—the modern or Western, and the traditional.
    
“It is often said that the Western amenities of Japan that make it a comfortable place to visit, but it is the sensual elements of traditional Japan that make it fascinating to the foreign visitor and one of the world’s best travel destinations,” he adds.
    
De Mente goes on to say that the fascination that Japan holds for foreigners derives not only from the charm of the unfamiliar, but also from the fact that so many facets of traditional Japan are strikingly and intriguingly unusual and beautiful and the very essence of exotic to foreign eyes.
    
What makes Japan even more interesting to the foreign visitor, De Mente continues, is that one can move freely and effortlessly back and forth between the modern and traditional, as easily and as quickly as passing through a door. “In fact, a door is often the only dividing line between the two worlds,” he notes.
    
De Mente says that the strong sensual element in Japan is found not only in the traditional architecture, arts, crafts and wearing apparel and in the variety of festivals with sexual themes, it is also a major factor in present-day entertainment and social behavior in general.
    
“What makes the impact of the traditional side of Japan so powerful is that the exotic and the sensual are combined. Both are integral elements of virtually everything that is culturally Japanese,” De Mente writes.
    
He continues: “One might say that the Kanamara Festival of the Wakamiya Hachiman Shrine in Kawasaki City, between Tokyo and Yokohama, and the Honen Festival of the Tagata Shrine in Komaki City, are two of the extremes of the sensual side of Japanese culture.
    
“These annual events, sometimes referred to as “fertility festivals,” are built around activities involving replicas of the male phallus that range from small to eight feet or more in length. Young women ride phallus-shaped seesaws and eat phallus-shaped candies. Men, women and children get their pictures taken embracing huge phallic reproductions.
    
“The sensual element in the kimono, the yukata, the paper doors and partitions in traditional homes and inns, the kitchen utensils, the wall decorations, the gardens—again in virtually everything that is Japanese—is far more subtle than the phallic festivals, but equally powerful over a period of time.
    
“Another facet in the combination of the exotic and sensual in Japanese culture that attracts foreign visitors, especially Westerners, is the element of mystery. No matter how long foreigners stay in Japan, or how familiar they become with the people and the culture, the mystery remains.
    
“This mystery persists because there are so many facets of Japanese culture that do not lend themselves to ready explanation and remain beguiling and intriguing. Part of this perception may be attributed to the overblown “mystery of the Orient” image that has prevailed in the West for centuries. But most of it derives from elements of Japan’s traditional culture that are demonstrated in the arts and crafts as well as in household furnishings and utensils…in the essence of things that make them Japanese.
    
“In other words, a certain “Japanese sense” that is both conscious and unconscious is responsible for the exotic and erotic aspects of Japanese culture that foreigners find so appealing and so satisfying. This “sense” is automatically applied to virtually everything the Japanese do, from such mundane actions as preparing and arranging food on a plate to landscaping a Zen garden or conducting a tea ceremony.”
    
"The Sensual Side of the Orient" also addresses the role of the erotic side of life in Korea, China and a number of Southeast Asian countries. It is available from Amazon.com as a digital book. Some 50 other books by the author, both digital and printed, are also available from Amazon.com and bookstore chains.
    
A list of his books may also be seen on his personal website: phoenixbookspublishers.com.

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