Of course...you know all about STI`s - you did it at school and magazines are always banging on about them. And of course, it`s not going to happen to YOU, chaste (chased?) and careful creature that you are...

... but there`s nothing like spending half an hour browsing the `net reading about sex diseases to really put a damper on your day.

Aids Workers Fukuoka

What`s hair-raising is how WIDESPREAD they are amongst young people (i.e. the CUTEST bit of the population.

Of ALL countries, of course Japan is no different from any other developed nation.)

But the real frightener is some of the most common ones have NO SYMPTOMS in many people. NONE. ZILCH. Until a fairly late stage, by which time they can be difficult to treat.

(The commonest ones clear up after a short course of antibiotics - if you diagnose early.)

Of course condoms are great for preventing them, but condom sales are FALLING and have been for the past 10 years...

Most people would assume that playing in Nakasu is playing with fire (and of course we DO NOT recommend it) - but - gulp! : make of this what you will - we hear unofficially but repeatedly from reputable sources that sexual health in Nakasu may well be better than in the broader population.

The safe sex message has got home there - mostly at least...

And this got us `ere at GFB into reflective mood.

We are fairly sure we have dodged all the bullets - safe sex and all that, but since some of the "bullets" don`t have any immediate effect - how would we know....?

And then we read "it`s best for sexually active young people to be tested every year for chlamydia whether they have symptoms or not". Add to that fears that the HIV/AIDS rate in Japan will rise dramatically over the next few years and we just knew we had to do a feature on STI testing options in Fukuoka.

As some food for thought - here is a wee graph of condom sales in Japan mapped against cases of various STI`s...

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