Air Sex is a performance activity invented in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

; clothed men and women simulate sexual activity

Human sexual behavior

Human sexual activities or human sexual practices or human sexual behavior refers to the manner in which humans experience and express their sexuality. People engage in a variety of sexual acts from time to time, and for a wide variety of reasons...

 with an invisible partner, often in an exaggerated manner, set to music, and in a competition before an audience. This is somewhat akin to playing air guitar

Air guitar

Playing air guitar is a form of dance and movement in which the performer pretends to play rock or heavy metal-style electric guitar, including riffs, solos, etc. Playing an air guitar usually consists of exaggerated strumming and picking motions and is often coupled with loud singing or lip-synching...

, explaining the name. The creator, J-Taro Sugisaku, says that it was invented in Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

 in 2006 by a group of bored men without girlfriends.

A report about the phenomenon in the Japanese magazine Weekly Playboy in 2006 was picked up by the English language web site Mainichi Daily News

Mainichi Shimbun

The is one of the major newspapers in Japan, published by .-History:The history of the Mainichi Shimbun begins with founding of two papers during the Meiji period. The Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun was founded first, in 1872. The Mainichi claims that it is the oldest existing Japanese daily newspaper...

. A video of the air sex "world championship" was uploaded to YouTube

YouTube

YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....

 in January 2007. This was followed by a segment of the BBC Three

BBC Three

BBC Three is a television network from the BBC broadcasting via digital cable, terrestrial, IPTV and satellite platforms. The channel's target audience includes those in the 16-34 year old age group, and has the purpose of providing "innovative" content to younger audiences, focusing on new talent...

 documentary show Japanorama

Japanorama

Japanorama was a series of documentaries presented by Jonathan Ross, exploring various facets of popular culture and trends of modern-day Japan....

in March 2007, subsequently uploaded to YouTube and flagged as "inappropriate for some users".

These videos led to coverage in the blogosphere

Blogosphere

The blogosphere is made up of all blogs and their interconnections. The term implies that blogs exist together as a connected community or as a social network in which everyday authors can publish their opinions...

. The Japanorama video was shown in May 2007 at the JACON 2007

JACON

JACON was an annual three-day anime convention held in Orlando, Florida sometime between the months of April and June. JACON was started by the Japanese Animation Club of Orlando in 2000. The year of 2009 marked the tenth anniversary of the convention and also the last year the event was...

 convention in Orlando, Florida

Orlando, Florida

Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...

, and a spontaneous air sex competition ensued, footage of which also found its way to YouTube.

In late January and early February 2007, a group of American black male teenagers calling themselves "Peer Pressure" produced two videos showing air sex set to music, published on YouTube under the user name "amp6". Fleshbot

Fleshbot

Fleshbot is a sex-oriented weblog, published by Gawker Media. It was launched in November 2003 as the third online title from Gawker. The range of subject matter includes everything from amateur sex blogs and thumbnail gallery posts to news about sex in popular culture and advertising...

 called these "The Best Air Sex Video of All Time".

Since August 2007, The Alamo Drafthouse

Alamo Drafthouse

The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema is an American cinema chain founded in 1997 in Austin, Texas, United States. It has screens in nine locations across Texas and one in Winchester, Virginia...

 has been holding bimonthly Air Sex competitions in the US. In June 2009 The Alamo Drafthouse toured the country on the Air Sex World Championships tour crowning Air Sex Champions in 14 cities. Later that October the first ever world champion was crowned when Shanghai Slammer from Los Angeles out-performed every other city champion. The tour was hosted by comedian Chris Trew

Chris Trew

Chris Trew is an American actor. He sometimes performs under the name Terp 2 it.-Career:He is also a member of Studio8, a sketch comedy group. The group is working with Tommy Wiseau on a comedy series called The House That Drips Blood on Alex...

. In October 2010 the group will tour once more. Photos are posted on the Alamo Drafthouse Flickr page.