http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/i...C220090727

A fascinating trend.

For example:

Almost half of 1,000 men aged 20-34 surveyed by market research firm M1 F1 Soken identified themselves as "herbivorous," defined literally as grass-eating but in this context as not being interested in flesh or passive about pursuing women.

The media hype has sent marketing experts scurrying to see if there is money to be made from herbivores, many of whom are spending more time and money on their appearance.

"We cannot ignore herbivorous boys because they are almost a majority," said Shigeru Sakai, a researcher at M1 F1 Soken.

Most herbivorous boys lack self-confidence, like to spend time alone, and use the Internet a lot, the survey showed.

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I wonder what possible trains of thought cause increased internet use and lack of self-confidence to connect with an expanding investment in appearance while simultaneously avowing a distinterest in pursuing women.

This is an old article, must be a slow news day... till the next celeb death.
So is everything blamed on the bubble economy?

nonpoint Wrote:This is an old article, must be a slow news day... till the next celeb death.
So is everything blamed on the bubble economy?

It certainly seems a lot of it is...

But I'm hoping people who are in or have been in Japan might have some herbivore friends or some knowledge about what this trend is and what they believe the causes and consequences may be.

I forget the actual word for herbivore used for these dudes, but a friend of mine (Japanese lady and English teacher) told me that she calls them ばんばんs.

That would be Soushoku (草食)

Quote:Most herbivorous boys lack self-confidence, like to spend time alone, and use the Internet a lot, the survey showed.

I had been wondering what was wrong with me..

I just realized I'm a herbivore :o Except the thing about self-confidence...

To be honest I don't what's going on over here. I see and hear about this kind of thing and it seems like the solution is obvious, but nobody does it. From what I've heard, a lot of young people live with their parents their whole lives and never leave this protective bubble. A lot of single people I've met want boyfriends or girlfriends, but are too lazy/scared to do anything. A lot of them seem like they just gave up. It's kind of sad because IMO it should be easy for these people to find a partner. Even though there seems to be many guys like this, there are just as many girls. I can just imagine a boy and a girl in their 20's living next to each other, sitting in their rooms complaining about how they can't get a boy/girl to people on the internet.
Obviously this isn't everybody in Japan and I think that article is exaggerating, because I'm don't think it's anywhere near 50% of men.

I totally agree the figures are BS. Yet, we live in an insane world and Japan is the most insane place of all. I lot of people's childhoods don't leave them with the social skills or self-confidence to make friends let alone partners. When you have no or very few friends, you aren't getting the social interaction you need to be happy and so it is doubly hard to make new ones. The older you get the worse it becomes as the shame about who you are and your life builds. It can be very hard to break out of this negative momentum.

Great, so when you aren't

a) A pathetic materialist spending whatever you buy on a useless item that will be chucked out soonter or later,

b) A guy chasing after girls, who may as well be chucked into category A as far as most men are concerned, women are items and objects that are to be purchased and shown off, and bucked of course.

c) Aiming to jump into the bandwagon of other men graduating and becomming a salary man

there is suddenly something wrong with you?
Holy ***** people, different people like to live to different standards,

By those definitions above, I would class myself as a 'herbivore', though I don't really have a lack of self confidence, that varies depending on the context, my ego is sometimes too high for my own good.

Im sure they'll release some new survey saying that women these days are attracted to these strange vege eating beings and then bimbos who read these magazines will suddenly have an epiphany and say "wow I want me a herbivore!"

Excuse my temper but I really don't like these sorts of 'studies', they merely coerce people how to think and how to generalise. Why not meet someone, see how they are, see if you like them, if not big woop. Some people may be attracted to the passive sort of approach that 'herbivores' may take, while others like the daring rough and wild carnivores.

***** it.

thermal Wrote:. . . Yet, we live in an insane world and Japan is the most insane place of all. . . . It can be very hard to break out of this negative momentum.

Ahem.

Methinks you have never been to Texas.

IceCream Wrote:I think in a lot of places, a real feeling of community has disappeared a bit right?

Less in Japan, even in Tokyo, than most places our posters on these threads are from, I would say, despite talk of 'herbivore' men as if they are a separate species.

IceCream Wrote:Within time, new communities and ways of living will be shaped through the new expectations, i think.

It's already happened, hasn't it, ages ago, even if the news hasn't reached NHK or CNN?

IceCream Wrote:Cool, i've not been to japan yet... how is it now?

Have you read Michel Maffesoli's _Le temps des tribus: le déclin de l'individualisme dans les sociétés postmodernes_? In English it's _The Time of the Tribes_.

It's like that.

Guess I can't enter a Japanese restaurant and order a meatless dish now.

I don't understand how any man would accept the traditional Japanese Salaryman role. I always felt sorry for those guys. Far from lacking confidence, it would seem to take great courage to break free from what society, wife and parents expect. Shunning corporate life = shunning sex? If a guy isn't at the office/commuting 16 hours a day, that leaves some nice nooky time. Non-conformists make the most passionate lovers!

IceCream Wrote:I found that in the phillipines and taiwan too actually. So much easier to meet people than London, cos people just come and talk to you.

90% of the conversations Filipinos start with me begin, "Hey Joe! You married?"

bodhisamaya Wrote:Guess I can't enter a Japanese restaurant and order a meatless dish now.

Well, you can, but you'll be branded a fish by who knows who if you do. Have a gyoza to save face.

bodhisamaya Wrote:Shunning corporate life = shunning sex?

No, shunning corporate life = stunning sex.

Sorry, you know what time it is in Tokyo. Puns are always too easy here.

IceCream Wrote:I met some of the kindest, funniest, most entertaining people there that i've ever met... people just seem to find life a big joke. Especially in Manila... i love it there so much!!

The people in the Philippines who have at least basic living requirements are indeed much happier and friendlier than most people I meet in America. I try to get out of Manila as quickly as possible though. The pollution, traffic and crime associated with a third world nation are on full display in Manila. The Visayans is my favorite area.

bodhisamaya Wrote:The people in the Philippines who have at least basic living requirements are indeed much happier and friendlier than most people I meet in America. I try to get out of Manila as quickly as possible though. The pollution, traffic and crime associated with a third world nation are on full display in Manila. The Visayans is my favorite area.

Just had a look at the website you link, bodhisamaya. Kudos.

This is what you get in a society where you are expected to marry your school or job, have consumerism gone wild, and probably have parents nagging you to death since you were 15 about having grandchildren.

How long does it take for these things to usually make their way out of Japan and states, maybe 5-10 years? Look for it hitting home soon then, since it's already old news in Japan (in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if it has started already.)

Cebu with its international airport is an obvious home base for visiting the neighboring islands of Bohol, Negros and Leyte. A Superferry ride from Cebu is about 90 minutes to Bohol where you can get a cabin on a white sandy beach really cheap. I haven't been any further south as the Mindanao region has restaurants that are known to blow up from time to time due to Abu Sayyaf separatist activity.

Some interesting personal narratives from "herbivores":

http://www.slate.com/id/2220535/

Ryoma Igarashi likes going for long drives through the mountains, taking photographs of Buddhist temples and exploring old neighborhoods. He's just taken up gardening, growing radishes in a planter in his apartment. Until recently, Igarashi, a 27-year-old Japanese television presenter, would have been considered effeminate, even gay. Japanese men have long been expected to live like characters on Mad Men, chasing secretaries, drinking with the boys, and splurging on watches, golf, and new cars.


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Grass-eating boys' commitment phobia is not the only thing that's worrying Japanese women. Unlike earlier generations of Japanese men, they prefer not to make the first move, they like to split the bill, and they're not particularly motivated by sex. "I spent the night at one guy's house, and nothing happened—we just went to sleep!" moaned one incredulous woman on a TV program devoted to herbivores. "It's like something's missing with them," said Yoko Yatsu, a 34-year-old housewife, in an interview. "If they were more normal, they'd be more interested in women. They'd at least want to talk to women."

rofl!

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Many of Hosho's friends spend so much time playing computer games that they prefer the company of cyber women to the real thing.

cyber...women?



なにそれ。。。

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Japanese women are not taking the herbivores' indifference lightly. In response to the herbivorous boys' tepidity, "carnivorous girls" are taking matters into their own hands, pursuing men more aggressively. Also known as "hunters," these women could be seen as Japan's version of America's cougars.

Nice! Hopefully they aren't all in their 40's+ like the botox-tastic "Witches of Eastwick"-style cougars here in the U.S.

Ha! When women can on longer lord sex over men, what will they have left?