In Japan, sexual images and materials are widely available both online and in various public spaces. Yet, in educational settings, sexuality is treated as if it does not exist. This paper explores the experiences and reflections of sexuality education held by those who graduated from high school in recent years.

Sexuality education has been stagnant in Japan for the last two decades. Textbooks only reluctantly mention mechanisms of reproduction and issues surrounding sexuality, and the discussions in classrooms tend to be limited. Starting with the backlash against the attempts to provide more comprehensive sexuality education in the 1990s, conservative forces have been attacking teachers who engage in sexuality education.

Especially since the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Board of Education intervened such programs in a special education school in 2003, teachers limit the engagement with such issues in fear of negative consequences. This incident resulted in a court case where the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal by the Board of Education in 2013.

Despite the legal outcome, educators remain cautious, as the threat remain serious. Drawing on the analysis of the data based on the survey of college students in Tokyo, this study examines how young adults view the education they have received as they spent their adolescent years and entered adulthood. Results highlight the ways in which the lack of engagement affect how college students understand and express sexuality in their everyday lives.