Despite Japan being at the forefront of fighting HIV/AIDS around the world, 2005 saw a new high for HIV infections in the capital, Tokyo.

While the absolute numbers are low compared to most parts of the world, 417 positive diagnoses in 2005 in Tokyo, it is a big rise from only 51 in 1990. In 2005, the total number of those infected in Japan reached a record of 6,560.

Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi, a physician who has been involved with HIV/AIDS testing in Tokyo for ten years, said that the actual number of those with the disease was four to five times the reported level, and that Japan was the only developed nation where the number of AIDS sufferers was increasing. Furthermore, infections such as chlamydia, which can heighten the risk of contracting HIV, are on the increase.

Japan is giving billions of dollars to the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, yet voluntary counseling and testing in Tokyo is on the decrease. In 1992, over 31,000 people in Tokyo were tested for HIV; in 2005, this had dropped to 22,000. This is despite efforts to make testing easier, such as weekend testing and giving same-day results.

Yamaguchi said that the public is either becoming comfortable with HIV/AIDS, or that their interest has declined, either of which could be life threatening.

HIV/AIDS has been with us for 25 years, but there is still widespread ignorance about it. With the advent of antiretroviral therapy, many people, especially in developed countries, no longer see AIDS as a life threatening infection and fail to, for example, practice safe(r) sex.

Public awareness, especially among young people, seems very low in Japan. One primary school textbook reportedly says that HIV is only transmittable "…through blood and other means…" Furthermore it is reported that the term "sexual intercourse" has been banned in the classroom by the education ministry.

Nearly half of Japanese women infected in 2004 were in their teens or 20s. It would seem that educators and parents have a lot to do to apprise young people of the risks of HIV/AIDS, and that "education is the most effective vaccine."