I have been reading about Japanese men pulling back their foreskins in “public” settings for years and I wonder if maybe it’s all one big cultural misunderstanding? Let me explain. I’ve visited Japan and spoke to Japanese men about it, but I’ll start with where I heard the rumors first.
The first time I heard about Japanese men pulling back their foreskins in public baths was a pro-circumcision website that was talking about how Japanese men wanted to be circumcised because they have a culture of “pulling back”. This website was really biased and listed no sources for their information so I’ve always doubted it. I think that website was responsible for pushing this pulling back idea in America so Americans wouldn’t feel the social pressure of being “different” with a circumcised penis in a Japanese public bath.
Second, there is a lot of gay foreskin/phimosis fantasy erotica from Japan (manga specifically) and I’m not sure that’s giving an accurate picture into Japanese culture!! You may read something that presents a problem (phimosis) and solution (pulling it back). But from what I’m able to gather it’s just a product of fantasy creating a problem with penises that can only be solved with an erotic plot. The foreskin and phimosis becomes somewhat of a “ macguffin” and may not have a real translation to actual Japanese culture. If you’re being honest, it’s not that shocking as lots of anime and manga from Japan is just fiction and has no bearing on reality. Maybe it’s because this was such a mundane sounding subject that people took it as truth. Imagine if the gay manga artists took up magical foreskin powers instead of phimosis
But you know. . .
In these gay manga I’ve read, the foreskin is unable to be retracted and is symbolic of immaturity and sexual inexperience. Blah blah blah, as the plot moves along, the protagonist is able to move back his foreskin, gains a friend or boyfriend, matures in his sex life and everyone lives happily ever after. In reality, I’m not sure this is something that real actual Japanese men and boys are struggling with or think about.
What I’ve actually observed: When I have visited Japan, I took full advantage of “sentos” and “onsens” (public baths) in hotels, and beautiful gardens everywhere. They are incredibly relaxing and are a great opportunity to experience Japanese culture. Lots of nude men are walking around getting in and out of the water and I’ve had the chance to take a peek. Some guys had retracted foreskins. Most did not! I’m not sure the guys who retracted their foreskins did it on purpose. Why? I notice something about the Japanese male anatomy. I did not see any Japanese men with long, “dangling” foreskins. Foreskins in Japan were pretty short in general. Most men had their glans peeking from the tip of their foreskin. It appeared that some men were retracting their foreskins for bathing reasons only and other men just had naturally short foreskins that, in adulthood, just stay retracted behind their corona on it’s own. There may be a cultural concern with not being able to retract one’s foreskin, but it’s not a “social” thing at baths. The whole affair may be a gay fantasy like in the comics or misinformation from an American pro-circumcision website pushing its point of view on Japanese culture.
So seeing Japanese bathing culture and penises in person I saw a big conflict with the information I had read from the internet. I figured it was a good time to ask a Japanese man what the hell was going on. I asked a pretty straight forward question to my Japanese friend, I said “Is it the custom to retract your foreskin at a public bath”. His response “Huh?” He he no idea what I was talking about! I showed him examples of what I had seen written about Japanese bathing culture and his response was “No, that isn’t a thing. We don’t do that.” This is not a typical shy Japanese man either. He’s not gay but took me to a gay bookshop in Japan with his wife. That would have made most Japanese men hyperventilate! He’s a open minded guy and would have been honest. I asked him to ask some friends and they’ve never heard of it either.
I’m not saying some people’s accounts aren’t correct, I’m wondering if there is a misinterpretation going on here. It could be as innocent as a Japanese dad telling his son at a public bath “Pull back you foreskin so it can get clean” and several mistranslations, international games of “telephone”, “gay literotica” and a few propagandists later and you get what looks like an America myth.
Thoughts?