Investigation shows generation gap in emissions’ audio levels.

Once upon a time, if you a wealthy enough member of Japanese society, you could hire a person to take the blame whenever you farted in public. However, much like being a ninja or samurai, this vocation was lost at the end of Japan’s feudal era, and in the modern, more egalitarian age, it’s up to every man, woman, and child in Japan to take care of their own fart management.

Still, with Japanese society being so highly concerned with etiquette, many people are uncomfortable letting out audible anus blasts, which brings us to the subject of sukashippe. Sukashippe, one of those useful expressions they won’t teach you in Japanese class, come from sukasu, which loosely translates as “thin” or “transparent” and he, meaning fart. Perhaps the best way to translate sukashippe would be “subdued fart,” since it refers to a fart let out in a slow, controlled manner so it won’t make any noise, sort of like English’s “silent but deadly,” but without the stinky stigma of being any more pungent than audible flatulence.

▼ Though sukashippe can be foul-smelling too.

However, since they don’t make any sound, it can be tough to confirm just how often sukashippe are occurring. So to find out, Internet survey site Shirabee polled 1,354 people in Japan, between the ages of 20 and 69, about their silent farting habits. It turns out the practice is pretty common, with over half of both the men and women polled admitting to letting out sukashippe with at least occasional frequency.

How often do you let out silent farts?
● Often
Men: 10 percent of respondents
Women: 8.4 percent
● Moderately often
Men: 13.2 percent
Women: 14.5 percent
● Sometimes
Men: 27.6 percent
Women: 28.2 percent
● Not very often
Men: 22 percent
Women: 23.8 percent
● Hardly ever
Men: 27.2 percent
Women: 25.1 percent

Surprisingly, a slightly larger portion of men than women self-identified with the greatest frequency of sukashippe. However, that could be because the surveyed men are just gassier overall, since you can’t really say you silently fart “often” if you’re not letting out gas all that regularly to begin with.

For the most part, though, there isn’t much of a gender gap in silent farting. On the other hand, there’s a pretty noticeable trend when the data is sorted by age, discovered after Shirabee tallied the responses from participants who said they silently farted often or moderately often.

I often or moderately often silently fart
● Men 20-29: 36.3 percent of age/gender group
Women 20-29: 35.8 percent
● Men 30-39: 24.6 percent
Women 30-39: 27.1 percent
● Men 40-49: 24.1 percent
Women 40-49: 22.4 percent
● Men 50-59: 20.3 percent
Women 50-59: 16.9 percent
● Men 60-69: 10.4 percent
Women 60-69: 13 percent

▼ “Sorry, I’m farting, so you’ll have to speak up.”

Once again, there’s not much difference between men and women, but there’ a steady decline in silent fart frequency as the respondents get older. As discussed above, this could just be a result of the older demographics farting less in general, but it’s also possible that after decades of suppressing their farts in school and work settings, once people get to retirement age, they’re tired of the charade. If that’s the case, with Japan’s population getting progressively older, the country might be in for a noisy future.

Source: Shirabee via Niconico News via Jin
Top image: Pakutaso
Insert images: Pakutaso (1, 2)

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