Herbivore men in Japan?

[GoingAwol]

Anyone here been to Japan? What's the deal with these herbivore men? Are Japanese women that bad?

[MarcosZeitola]

Just a complete and utter lack of testosterone. They are an evolutionary anomaly, removing themselves through the genepool through their own apathy. My inner optimist likes to believe they are still a minority of Japan's male population, and the majority still consists of married salarymen. Perhaps I am too optimistic and an entire generation will be lost to video games and anime series filled lives devoid of sexual and romantic contact...

[zboy1]

The odd thing was...on my trip to Japan, I saw plenty of healthy families in the Japanese countryside, but it was an absolute wasteland in the big cities. Strange...

As for Japanese women, some of them seem really nice and cute, so I don't think all Japanese women are bad. The really snobby ones tend to be career women types, or the super hot 9-10s--but they tend to be bitchy in every country in the world, regardless of nationality.

I met a Taiwanese guy married to a hot Japanese girl. I got approached by a cute Japanese girl in a coffee shop. To be honest, I'm not really sure why the herbivore men phenomenon is such a big thing in the big cities. Honestly, maybe Yohan, Everdred or Momopi can answer this question? I'm out of answers, to be honest.

[Yohan]

Just a complete and utter lack of testosterone. They are an evolutionary anomaly, removing themselves through the genepool through their own apathy. My inner optimist likes to believe they are still a minority of Japan's male population, and the majority still consists of married salarymen. Perhaps I am too optimistic and an entire generation will be lost to video games and anime series filled lives devoid of sexual and romantic contact...

I do really not understand your openly so hateful comment against some young men in Japan. These young Japanese men do not harm anybody, you write about them as if they are criminals.

These men are doing some regular simple work, they are honest people, non-violent, but they do not want to be pressed into a system which makes them working long hours and in case of creating a family in the cities, they will face debts and loans over many decades. They prefer to choose the easy way of life which fits them best and not the others - and what is wrong with this? I cannot blame them for that.

There is some similarity between the 'Green Grass' and the 'Red Pill' and this is a nice article about it. Please read it.
http://www.goingyourownway.com/content. ... bivore-Men

You should also accept the fact that many Japanese young women, clearly MORE than men, are also into just an easy life-style, the Japanese society is changing rapidly during the last 15 years or so.

http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2011 ... anese-men/

Whether they’re too busy lining up for new Apple Inc. gadgets, reading questionable manga or watching videos of pop group AKB48, it seems Japan’s male youth is increasingly united on one thing – a lack of interest in real-life sex.

..... over a third of Japanese men were averse to sex, according to a study conducted Sept. 2010.

At least according to a study published Thursday by the Japan Family Planning Association, that is. In the latest survey of attitudes to sex conducted September 2010 by the agency, part of the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare, fully 36% of males aged 16 to 19 surveyed described themselves as “indifferent or averse” towards having sex. That’s a near 19% increase since the survey was last conducted in 2008.

As if that weren’t enough of a red flag for a country plagued by a low birthrate and an ageing, shrinking population, women seem to be even more reluctant to consider having sex. While no one is suggesting people of that age group should automatically be procreating, a whopping 59% of female respondents aged 16 to 19 said they were uninterested in or averse to sex, a near 12% increase since 2008.

Still, perhaps the reported interest levels in the younger group should be taken with a grain of salt, and as something subject to radical change as younger generations grow up. The new survey also showed that the only group that seemed to feel a greater attraction to the idea of sex in the last two years was men aged 30 to 34, with just 5.8% of respondents disinterested, as opposed to 8.3% in 2008.

You should also accept the fact that this is all about YOUNG men and women, after they are around 30 to 35 years old, the idea of staying alone forever is strongly declining.

Also, many young Japanese men and women are totally into going out, restaurants, golf or other hobbies, karaoke, driving around with cars for short trips and so on. Young Japanese men and women are often together, this is not a hateful pro-feminist society as in Western countries, but they are not into a sexual relationship.

About the legal situation in Japan, it is for sure not against men and marriage, it's not like in Western countries that the law is biased against men.

[Yohan]

The odd thing was...on my trip to Japan, I saw plenty of healthy families in the Japanese countryside, but it was an absolute wasteland in the big cities. Strange...

As for Japanese women, some of them seem really nice and cute, so I don't think all Japanese women are bad. The really snobby ones tend to be career women types, or the super hot 9-10s--but they tend to be bitchy in every country in the world, regardless of nationality.

I met a Taiwanese guy married to a hot Japanese girl. I got approached by a cute Japanese girl in a coffee shop. To be honest, I'm not really sure why the herbivore men phenomenon is such a big thing in the big cities. Honestly, maybe Yohan, Everdred or Momopi can answer this question? I'm out of answers, to be honest.

Japanese women are not bad, you cannot compare them with Western women, I myself have 2 daughters, my brother-in-law has also 2 daughters, and I know some of the women from the neighborhood since they were still in elementary school. All of them are married, but I know only about 2 women who gave birth to a child.

If you compare rural areas/small cities with large Metropolitan areas of Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Fukuoka you will notice that outside of these large cities life is much cheaper and there is much more space available, often sons are taking over the business from their parents and stay with them. Housing in general is not a problem if you can manage to have an income there. Problem is an existing gender imbalance, significantly more young men than young women. Some young Japanese men in such a situation consider a foreign wife from other Asian countries.

In the large cities the problem is clearly about very expensive housing and there is no longer any secure employment available for young Japanese men. The situation is now very different from 30 or 40 years ago, where large Japanese companies offered employment for lifetime.

A young Japanese man who wants to create a family is facing big problems. He will need at least USD 500.000,- to USD 700.000,- in Tokyo to buy a reasonable condominium unit for a family (70 sqm, within the 23 districts of Tokyo City) and how can such a young man have such a lot of money? Loans? What will happen if he marries and has children, who pays for their education?
What will happen if he gets suddenly ill and he is out of job?

Simply said, young men, but also young women do not bother with this situation. They are tired of it. They are unwilling even to try - and can you blame them?

So they stay single, often living in their parents home, doing some jobs, but also have no debits or loans and still have more money than if they move out and start a family life.

This situation is changing however later on in life, when men and women are 30+, many are still willing to marry or live together, but are highly skeptical of children.

Most Japanese men and women are however not hostile to each other, Japan is not a pro-feminist country. You noticed maybe in Tokyo, that many restaurants, bars, karaoke and so on are full with Japanese people, with men and women together.

About no children - as you noticed in little Japan are over 127 million people, most people wish a population reduction, especially in the large cities - we are too many on these islands. In South Korea it is even worse, they are now 50 million people on this half peninsula, and housing prices are high almost like in Japan.

What the Japanese government can do with 'herbivore men' if women are also openly 'herbivore' I don't know. You cannot force young people to have sex and later on a family if they are reasonably worried if they can financially afford it in future.

In developing countries if you have a high education you can expect a very good income, but in Japan this is not the case anymore, there are medical doctors, who are taxi-drivers or bi-lingual secretaries who are filling up shelves in convenience stores.

When my company had a simple vacancy for a receptionist (but MUST speak German, English and Japanese) we got over 400 applications, when a 50/50 German/Japanese man applied for a technical job he expected no problems to be accepted in a German branch office near Tokyo, he was shocked when over 250 others with similar background were also showing up for interviews.

Yes, there are plenty of jobs in the large cities, small jobs, ideal for herbivore people, but good jobs with long-term employment? Not easy. It can take years to find long-term employment in Japan.

Will you sign a house loan for USD 700.000,- to create a family home, if you are working part-time and get USD 12,- per hour in a fast-food restaurant as a young academic?

What these herbivore men are doing is mostly waiting it out and not risking anything. What's wrong with that?

[Blue Murder]

In developing countries if you have a high education you can expect a very good income, but in Japan this is not the case anymore, there are medical doctors, who are taxi-drivers or bi-lingual secretaries who are filling up shelves in convenience stores.

. . . You have to be joking. On what planet does a doctor stock shelves?

[Yohan]

. . . You have to be joking. On what planet does a doctor stock shelves?

Well, what to do if you finished university, and there is no job for you? You have to wait until there is a vacancy and this can take years.
Here in Japan are simply said, too many academics, fresh out of university, fully graduated, but where are the jobs?

And even if you find something, in a large hospital likely, they will give you over years the worst of the worst jobs to do, like traffic accidents ER, psychiatry, elderly care, night shifts, holiday and Sunday work and so on...

And your salary as a young doctor will be lower as likely the income of an experienced barber, who is charging USD 40,- for a haircut...

It takes many years until you can work independent as an academic or find a senior position in a big company and earn more than others here in Japan.

[chanta76]

This is happening to South Korea to and I imagine parts of China also.

In Asian culture the man has to have a good job a home already or pay rent for that home. In other words the man has to being materialistic security to the marriage. This is marriage not dating...a big part of the reason why in Japan and South Korea they are not having too many kids or getting married late is combination of women rising but also the cost of raising a family.

But still you have those love hotels and people dating so they do have sex .