Tenga Sex Toys Review, Interview With President Matsumoto

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Rolling Stone may receive an affiliate commission.

Masturbation remains a constant, but the way we approach it (or, come to it) is changing. Namely, sex toys are becoming more popular, both for men and women. The U.S. sex toy market has been steadily growing for years, especially thanks to a boost during the COVID lockdowns.

Koichi Matsumoto, the founder of Japanese sex toy giant Tenga, has been an active player in this change for over 20 years. “I did research before founding Tenga in 2005, and found that only 1% of men had experienced sex toys,” he tells Rolling Stone, through a translator. “I took another survey a couple of years ago, and found that 39.4% of males had tried Tenga toys specifically.”

Although men masturbate more frequently than women, sex toy use is higher among women. Matsumoto says that men’s aversion to toys, especially when he started Tenga, is largely due to sex toy design. “The majority of sex toys [for men] were like an alternative to women. They were basically imitations of female genitalia, ” he says. “This is root cause which made using sex toys something to be ashamed of.”

Matsumoto’s solution when founding Tenga was to create sex toys that didn’t look like crude reproductions of genitalia, but still felt great. “At Tenga, we convey the message that sex toys are not an alternative to women; they’re something that gives you pleasure whenever you want.” In other words, Matsumoto wanted to position sex toys as a masturbation upgrade instead of a sex alternative.

And he succeeded: The untrained eye might never guess the pleasurable purpose of a Tenga sex toy. All of this works towards Matsumoto’s goal of reducing stigma around masturbation and sexuality in general. “I want to provide the belief that sexuality should be enjoyed just like eating is enjoyed,” he says.

Tenga Sex Toy Lineup

If you’re looking to upgrade your alone time with a discreet, elegant toy, Tenga’s hugely popular inventions are a great place to start. Below is a rundown of some of the brand’s most popular offerings.

The Vacuum Cup was Tenga’s first invention, and it remains one of the brand’s best. The simple, single-use masturbator is slightly flexible, allowing you to squeeze the soft interior tighter. But the best feature is an air hole at the top that lets you create a sucking sensation inside. It’s meant to be tossed after use; no cleanup required.

Matsumoto tells us that the Spinner is Tenga’s most popular product in the U.S. market. The reusable sleeve is very approachable and elegantly designed with an internal coil that spins the material as you stroke up and down. It also comes with a built-in drying stand to use after you rinse the sleeve out.

Perhaps Tenga’s most famous offering is the Easy Beat Egg, a discreet, disposable sleeve disguised in an egg-shaped shell. Inside the shell is a super-stretchy silicone sleeve with a textured interior. There are several different Eggs, each with its own texture inside for some pick-your-adventure pleasure.

If you’re looking for a longer-lasting masturbator, check out the Tenga Flip Zero. Like all of Tenga’s products, it doesn’t look like a sex toy, but (secretly) delivers tons of pleasure. The whole sleeve is designed like a shell, letting you open it up for easy cleaning and drying on the included stand.

After conquering male sex toys, Tenga has expanded into women’s toys too. Their Iroha line offers a bevvy of elegantly discreet, seriously satisfying massagers. The devices all have different vibration settings and the brand’s Soft-Touch Silicone.