this is a bit of topic but the hormonal stuff is intersting

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Scorching summer sparks

condom, love hotel boom boom

By Ryann Connell

Staff Writer

August 5, 2004

Shukan Jitsuwa (8/19-26) exposes a shamelessly lecherous driving school director who sexually harassed female students.

An office lady pouts to Asahi Geino (8/12-19) that when a burglar stole her vibrator, the investigating policeman questioned her on how often she used it.

Japan's hottest summer on record has sparked condomania, with sales of the prophylactics sizzling, according to Shukan Gendai (8/14).

"Condoms certainly are selling well now. Sales are about 30 percent up on other seasons. This summer is also notable because of the large number of repeat customers. We've seen an extremely large increase in our number of regular customers," a spokesman from the Tokyo birth control shop Condomania tells Shukan Gendai. "Since the summer vacation period started (in late July), the number of young couples coming in has increased."

Selling particularly well are Sagami Rubber Industries' Vape Cap and Okamoto Condoms' 003, which is named from its sheerness of just 0.03 mm.

"Condoms usually sell best in the early spring, when people move around a lot, and the end of the year. It's rare for sales to be boosted in the summer," an Okamoto spin doctor tells Shukan Gendai. "This year, though, even convenience stores have reported increased condom sale. We know the 003 allows for greater feeling and can recommend it with confidence, but we haven't got a clue as to why it's selling so well this summer."

Summer hasn't only caused humdinger condom sales, it's also apparently sparked more couples to heat up. Love hotel expert Fumio Iwanaga explains.

"(Hotels) are packed from the middle of the day. Couples are heading to the hotels to escape the blistering heat so they can be in air-conditioned comfort," he says. "Another thing noticeable about love hotels this summer is that couples seem to be going wilder than usual. A buddy of mine who runs a love hotel told me that he's never seen so many women leave earrings behind as they have recently. He says that's because they're having such wild sex, they forget about their earrings when they leave."

Not only are couples getting hotter, they're also staying in love hotels longer.

"Normally, most people leave at the end of a two-hour rest session, but this summer there has been an amazingly large number of extensions," the operator of a suburban Tokyo love hotel says. "It's no longer rare to find couples extending their sessions to four, or even six hours."

Medical experts are somewhat baffled at the trend toward summer steaminess.

"Hormones that humans emit, testosterone in males and estrogen in females, are actually very weak in the heat," neurologist Naruhito Fujita says. "When it gets hot, the amount of hormones emitted decreases and the desire for sex declines. It's a different story, though, when it gets TOO hot."

Fujita argues that the lure of a cool room offering a haven from the heat thwarts normal hormonal distribution.

"Humans are most comfortable at about 18 to 23 degrees. If you get in front of the air conditioner and cool down, hormonal emission is stimulated and so is the sex drive," the neurologist tells Shukan Gendai. "Add to that the feeling of being liberated from the oppressive heat and it's quite possible that couples would want to have sex."

I wonder how one goes about signing up for these type medical studies?