A recent survey by MTV Japan indicates that teenagers here are safer in their sexual practices than those in their 20s.

Over 70 percent of teenagers surveyed by a satellite television broadcaster said they use condoms whenever they have sex.

In comparison, less than half of those in their late 20s surveyed by MTV Japan Inc. responded that they use condoms when they have sex.

According to the survey 84% of the teens learned about AIDS in health class at school, and 63% said they got information from TV. Conversely, 90% of those in their 20s learned about AIDS from TV.

When asked if they consider the risk of HIV infection when they have sex, 74 percent of the teenagers responded in the affirmative while only 37 percent of those in their late 20s said so, demonstrating a wide perception gap on sexually transmitted diseases between teenagers and those in their 20s.

HIV cases up
In a related report that seems to reach a completely different conclusion, the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS and the World Health Organization says that the number of HIV cases reported annually in Japan has more than doubled to more than 780 between 1994 to 2004.

“Much of this trend is due to increasing infections among men who have sex with men,” the report says, noting that in Japan, sex between men accounted for 60 percent of the new HIV cases in 2004.

The report adds that about a third of the cases in Japan in 2004 occurred among people under age 30, pointing to an increase in sexual activities and unsafe sex among younger men and women.