Sex, dares, and the truth we discovered after school, part 2

(Sorry. I fell asleep after dinner last night. Here's the continuation of this story.)

Kyoko didn't run up to fulfill her dare like we expected. Instead, she stood under a tree, holding her stomach, looking like she was about to cry. Her friend patted her shoulder sympathetically.

Had we done something wrong? Was she feeling sick? Was Truth or Dare an inherently evil game that reared its ugly head via this seemingly benign question? I glanced over at Derek. The 12-year old hunk was eagerly climbing the jungle gym in his gray sweatpants. He's so hot, I thought to myself.

Not sure exactly what to do with this awkward situation we'd inadvertently created, we sent a representative over to assess. The rest of us followed, forming a circle around the two Japanese school girls, feigning compassion when all we were was curious.

"Hey, what's wrong?" we asked.

Kyoko was too shook up to talk, so her friend--who will remain anonymous because I don't remember anything about her except that she said this--explained in a desperate whisper: "Kyoko isn't sure if she can hug Derek right now because she's scared she might get pregnant. She has her period!"

OK. So even though most of us hadn't even gotten our first periods yet, we all knew from sex-ed class that this was ridiculous. But we managed to keep those artificial concerned looks on our faces as we gently explained that the chances of getting knocked up from a fully clothed hug while menstruating were pretty slim. Meanwhile, one of our delegates headed over to the jungle gym and brought Derek over so he could give Kyoko a sympathy hug for being so ignorant.

Why do I tell this story? Because this was the first time I encountered the extreme lack of sex education and information in the Japanese school system. I think this is related to why Japanese men would rather buy panties from a vending machine than get laid and why abortion is the number two method of birth control. Of course, Japan's not the only place where this is a problem. (And by this, I mean sex education, not panty vending machines--I think the latter is uniquely Japanese.) It's not like Bush's abstinence campaign is any better.

In closing, I dedicate this story to Mr. Green and Mrs. Clevenger, who armed us with the tools to empower one Japanese school girl to just drop her fears and hug.

Comments

[Rich Pav]

You mentioned panty vending machines in this post. My #1 pet peeve. It's a myth. They don't exist. Period. If you can find a used panty machine, I solemly swear to buy a pair and wear them on my head for a week. Google for 使用済みの下着 and you'll find all the prefectures that have laws against selling them in vending machines.A few months ago I caught a train chikan red-handed, so to speak. While I was at the Ikebukuro train station, I asked a police officer if such machines exist. He excused himself, asked around the office, then came back and said neither he nor any of the other officers he asked had ever heard of one. In fact, I secretly recorded his testimony on my MP3 recorder.Someday, I would love to put this urban myth to rest once and for all. I have no idea why, but it drives me absolutely nuts.

[Rich Pav]

Whoops, 使用済みの下着 and 自動販売機。Gotta search for both.

[Lisa Katayama]

Interesting. I've actually seen a couple in Tokyo. Maybe they don't exist anymore...if there are laws against selling them, their probably was once a problem with panty sales that warranted these laws, no?And good job catching the chikan!