There is the real crux of the matter. In a lot of Western society and particularly in America, sex is associated with "dirty" and being involved with "dirty" stuff should result in people feeling "shame".

If you grow up thinking the naked body is just a naked human body, and that sex between consenting adults is a normal part of being human.... then the whole "shame" issue is just not there.

So reading such material in public is not a reason to feel "shame".

It is a total cultural orientation difference.

best,

....................john

Will you read it on the train in front of your children? I'm sorry but that is shameful to me.

I don't think anyone would like their child exposed to that.

I have seen men reading magazines that do have pinups and softcore pictures riding on the trains, but I have never seen anyone reading hardcore pornography on the train.

There are magazines with pictures of naked women in them on every rack at 7-11 in Japan, and the rack at 7-11 near my house has Curves, Maxim, Tattoo and another dozen titles with women in skimpy bikinis making sexy poses. I really don't see THAT much of a difference.

And no, I would not read it on the train in front of MY children, and never have I seen a father reading one of these magazines while on a family outing.

Of course you wouldn't read it in front of your children.
Of course I have never seen anyone reading hardcore pornography on a train.
But I have seen men reading porno manga and children gawking, or mothers shielding them from it.

A friend of mine brought her son over from the US, and some uncouth man was 'reading' some porno manga in front of them. I'm sure the boy was delighted.

When I was a boy, Playboy was on the back rack in the candyshop, but no one read it in public.

I am not sure if ecchi manga and pornography are the same thing. (Sorry, I missed the "manga" in your first statement).

Is it in poor taste to read that stuff out in public? I think it would be hard to argue it isn't, and most Japanese would agree. I think it would make a bigger statement about Japanese society if the mothers didn't try to shield their children from it.

I think what you learned is Japanese men can sometimes be a little clueless, but it doesn't mean that are amoral.

That isn`t quite true - he lived in Japan. It wasn`t quite as simple as jumping at the unknown. He is just a strongly religious person, and the lack of Christian thinking and ideals in Japan was not his cup of tea. In his case it wasn`t the unknown but the known he was talking about.

About pornography...
In the 10(+ now?) years I have lived here, I have never encountered a single person reading pornographic media on the train. And for years I was riding the train very extensively. The worst were the pin-up model shots in the weekly news rags that are advertised to death on the train... And once I saw a guy who`d bought some porn magazines and they were visible through the plastic bag they were in. I`d be willing to guess that more than 99% of people think it is absolutely disgusting to read that sort of thing on a train, or in public at all really.

As for the magazine racks, I personally find it more disturbing to have overtly sexual advertising EVERYWHERE... You have to actually go to the section and pic up the magazine in Japan. In the US it seems like you`re bombarded with sexual imagery from pretty much every direction, even if it doesn`t actually make it to full out pornography.

What a love hotel might look like:

I saw plenty of men and women reading the thick comic type, I believe it was Etchy Manga (That MMM mentioned) on the train, the type with definite pornography, although they were drawings, not real life photos.

It seemed to be rather common and simply part of a Japanese thing.

I'm not 100% sure what the consensus in peoples minds were, possibly art, possibly appreciating the drawing excellence, or simply fantasizing about the activities.

The thing that concerned me was the age of the people reading it, mature adults. If it was young teenagers having a laugh, I could have understood that.

I also saw plenty of magazines being browsed upon that did have naked ladies on some pages, although never naked men.

The reader would often half close the page and do an eye sneak to get a gander.

As for full real life pictures pornography, never saw it on the trains, but definitely used to see it right near where I would park my scooter by way of a vending machine with a pink curtain covering the contents of the goods for sale.

Love hotels, I wasn't offended, and found them to be a novelty, and like R.Samurai, I have a good collection of photos from on the road. The designs were just something I'd never seen back home;)

So you saw both men and women reading "pornography" on the trains? I guess we probably have a different definition of what is pornography.

Keep in mind, people, that often the most lurid and erotic image in these monthly or weekly comics appears on the cover. The contents are often disturbingly tame.

Mostly none of the above...they are following a story.

I am curious why you were concerned about adults reading stories about adult and sexual situations. The books are designed for an adult audience.

Are there a lot of magazines with naked men in Australia? There aren't here in America. Playgirl went out of business years ago. What some are mistaking for "porno mags" like Friday are not much different from British tabloids with Page 6 girls. It isn't pornography. There is no depiction of sex acts.

What could be offensive about a love hotel?

To the original poster