ABSTRACT
Objective: To find what freshman medical and nursing students in Japan, think about kissing behavior as practiced in Japan. Methods: Freshman students who entered the medical and nursing curriculum (N = 37, with 12 men and 25 women) at a national university in 2015 were asked the question: 'Write your impressions and criticism to a published editorial 'Kissing behavior among Japanese' (Internat Med J., 2014;21: 374-375) Results: Obtained results are summarized in two tables. Majority of the students expressed that kissing practices in Europe or America differs from the kissing behavior in Japan. Whereas kissing in public places are more common in Europe or America as a form of greeting, this is hardly seen in Japan because kissing is mainly considered as a gesture/signal of erotic love in Japan. Two female students raised a question and a concern related to kissing as a mode of transmission of AIDS disease. Another male student had humorously asked, "Aren't fellatio or cunnilingus, a kind of kissing?" Conclusion: Among the 37 responses on kissing behavior of Japanese, we highlight two;(1) More researchers should research about kissing, not independently but collaboratively;(2) The risk of infections caused by kissing behavior has to be investigated. These suggestions have high relevance now due to the coronavirus disease---2019 (COVID-19) lockdown experi-enced in Japan in 2020 and 2021.