Japanese Herbivore Men
Last week, I saw an interesting couple. Strolling in downtown Nagoya, the couple first appeared as any other Japanese romance – the boy with perfectly styled hair, Gucci belt, and tight-fitting blazer; the girl with brown orange hair, intense make-up and fake eyelashes. A wonderfully common Nagoya pair. Upon second look, however, I was struck by the fact that the girl held two Louis Vuitton purses. I’ve surely gotten used to the fact that LV rules supreme in Japan, but two pieces of LV hand-luggage at the same time? I found that a bit superfluous. All of sudden, a phone began to ring in one of the purses; the boy violently grabbed the purse from the girl’s arm, quickly opened the zipper, picked the phone and started talking. It was at this point when I realized that one of the purses was his.
First, I contemplated the boy’s tastes. Louis Vuitton is kitschy to begin with, but as a murse (man-purse) its tackiness reaches Himalayan levels. No matter how much I disagreed with the boy’s style choice, I was much more struck by the fact that he let his girlfriend carry the purse for him. Is he that lazy? Is he so inconsiderate as to force his girlfriend to carry his luggage for him? No. He’s a just a modern Japanese man, or to be more precise – herbivore man.
I first read about the Japanese herbivores two years ago in the New York Times. The person who wrote it described them as disinterested in money, disinterested in career, and – most of all – disinterested in sex. I really enjoyed reading it – as a piece of science fiction. I remember seeing the article as an entertaining yet surely overblown piece of journalism. Herbivore men? Sure, there’s a bunch of freaks of any sort in every country, I recall thinking. Tokyo’s a big place and diversity knows no boundaries. Soon after my arrival to Japan, however, I saw the phenomenon in its full beauty. Tokyo – Osaka – Nagoya. The grass-eaters seem ubiquitous, all pervading, omnipresent. You find them among students, office workers, department store clerks…In fact, I shifted my mindset from thinking “which of these guys are herbivore” to “which of these guys AREN’T!?!” Slowly but surely, the herbivores seem to devour all of Japan’s grass , with a lion-like appetite.
Usually, you know them, when you see them. But if you’re unsure just follow the checklist:
1. in restaurants, the herbivores order the smallest portion possible.
2. they rarely pay for their meal when on a date
3. they let the girls do all the talking
4. they always use polite forms
5. they don’t raise their voice
6. they keep checking their hairstyle throughout the day (for which purpose they carry a small mirror in their murse)
7. they carry a murse
8. they say “maybe” more often than an average Japanese person
9. they don’t do sports
10. they use the word “peace” (平和)interchangeably with “cool”
11. if they run into a problem “しょうがない“— “it can’t be helped” is the usual response
12. they never fight.
13. they don’t eat meat
Most importantly, however, the herbivores simply don’t want to procreate. They don’t want girls to be either their friends or partners. That does not mean that the herbivores are gay, per se. The percentage of gay people among them is probably the same as within the larger population. Rather than gay, they’re just Japanesely asexual. According to a recent survey, 43% of Japanese men would consider themselves “草食系男子,”herbivore men. Why? Here are some reasons due to which herbivores become herbivores:
no interaction with members of the opposite gender — 525 respondents(交際した異性の数が好かない)
no interest in having a partner − 506 （相手に振り回されたくない）
close human relations are annoying — 478（深い人間関係が煩わしい)
affections are bothersome – 424 (恋愛すろのが面倒)
So, essentially the herbivore men (aka nearly half of all Japanese men) are completely disinterested in most romantic encounters with the opposite gender, deeming it annoying and bothersome. BUT, if the herbivores do end up dating girls or potentially getting married, it’s mostly due to pressure from their parents. In a Japanese society, it is still considered ultra-freaky to stay single, an offense to the whole society. And so with a laissez-faire attitude, and a bit of societal and parental pressure, many of the herbivores end up in relationships with women. It can’t be helped, after all. And so bit-by-bit yet incontestably, the gender roles in Japan are shifting. With Japanese men as phlegmatic grass-eaters, Japanese women are the new carnivores. The wind of change blows fiercely, and the Japanese female carnivores are getting more aggressive by the time you read this.
My Japanese friend Yutaro likes to “study” at the Nagoya University Library. Sometimes, when he grows tired of studying the fashion pictures in Vogue, he goes grab a coffee at the library’s Starbuck’s. A month ago, he ordered a small cappuccino, but got a tall one. He didn’t complain. The next day, instead of a small caramel macchiato he got a grande. The same thing the day after – except for, he also got a free cookie.
Yutaro himself works at a Starbuck’s close to his apartment in Higashiyama Park. One day, a girl with a familiar face entered the Starbuck’s where Yutaro was working. She didn’t order anything. Instead, she handed Yutaro a piece of paper with her cell phone number, and left. Flabbergasted, Yutaro stared at the piece of paper, not knowing what to do. Where could he know the girl from? All of sudden he realized that the girl worked at the library’s Starbuck’s! Heureka! She was the one behind tall cappuccinos, grande macchiatos and cookies. Out of politeness, he called her the next day. During the call, she (Yukiko) asked him out on a date . He decided to go – if only to make his mom happy. They went to grab a coffee, after which they got a dinner. Whether or not they’ll start dating, I don’t know. It’s too soon to decide whether Yutaro will cease to be a grass-eater, and will seize the chance. One thing, however, I know for sure – when they go to see Harry Potter this Saturday, they will run to many similar couples. The girls on their high-heels will be struggling to carry the boy’s coke, popcorn and Louis Vuitton murse, while the boys leisurely check their hair in a portable mirror. Out of politeness, they might express some concern for the girls’ safety. But in general, they won’t really worry about anything. Why should they? There’s no reason for them to worry. They’re herbivores; they don’t care about the night’s outcome. And the girls will have paid for the tickets, anyway.
