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shanghaiceltic
Shanghai Royalty
Joined: Sep 20, 2005
Posts: 8134
Location: Perth WA
Status: Offline
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 Posted:
Nov 04, 2009 - 02:03 PM |
 
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| Post subject: Girly men.... |
I could see this catching on in Shanghai too. On a recent flight to Shanghai from the UK there were a couple of guys in the rows nearby who spent the whole trip adjusting their hair and primping...
Girly men of Japan just want to have fun
Richard Lloyd Parry in Tokyo
At the age of 18, Mitsuhiro Matsushita already has a good idea of his ideal future. After he graduates from university a few years of work will be followed by marriage to an industrious wage earner. When children arrive it will be Mitsuhiro who stays at home looking after them, baking cakes and biscuits and living the traditional life of the Japanese housewife.
None of this would be noteworthy but for one thing. Mitsuhiro is not a conventionally minded Japanese woman, but a thoughtful, articulate and fashionably dressed young man. And far from being a marginal eccentric he is a member of a large and growing tribe of Japanese manhood that is attracting the fascinated and anxious attention of companies, academics and the mass media.
Two phrases have been coined to describe them: soshokukei danshi or “herbivorous males”, and Ojo-man – or “girly men”.
Definitions vary, but the new herbivores could be described as metrosexuals without the testosterone. Although most of them are not homosexual they have in common a disdain for the traditional accoutrements of Japanese manhood, and a taste for things formerly regarded as exclusively female. Girly men have no interest in fast cars, career success, designer labels and trophy women. Instead, they hold down humble jobs, cultivate women as friends rather than conquests and spend their free time shopping at small boutiques and pursuing in Japan what is regarded as a profoundly feminine pastime: eating cakes.
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Sociologists worry about the effect on the shrinking population of a generation of men who are not interested in girls. Marketeers ponder how to sell to this new, unfamiliar demographic. Cultural commentators have produced volumes attempting to explain the phenomenon to the rest of Japan, with titles such as Love Study of Herbivores, The Men Who Wear Bras and the Women Who Don’t and Herbivorous Girly Men Are Changing Japan.
The author of the last work, Megumi Ushikubo, estimates that two thirds of men aged 20 to 34 have herbivorous tendencies. Her marketing agency advises Japanese companies on how to appeal to this new demographic — so different from the generation above who came to maturity during the “Bubble Economy” of the late Eighties and early Nineties when rising asset prices in Japan created a frenzy of conspicuous consumption.
“In the Bubble, what people valued in a car was speed and high specifications,” she says. “Herbivorous boys don’t have any interest in that. They want a car which is practical and which gives them the space to be themselves.”
The last few years have seen a range of products to cater to a broadening of tastes among Japanese men. Japanese brewers have introduced weaker beers as sales of conventional alcoholic beverages have declined. A company named WishRoom sells bras for men — designed with manly simplicity, free of lace and frills.
“In the Eighties and Ninetiess, people imagined that men should be men and women should be women,” says Shinya Yamaguchi, 23, a fashion designer. “It was all about brand goods, foreign cars and pretty girls. But now people realise they can live as they wish.”
This week, Mr Yamaguchi will launch his latest collection of skirts and lacy tops, some of them pink, and all aimed at men.
Not everyone regards the emergence of the girly men as completely positive. Masahiro Yamada, a professor of sociology at Tokyo’s Chuo University, said that it had come about as a result of economic decline: if young men were foregoing designer labels, expensive cars and hot dates at flash restaurants it was largely because, after the bursting of the Bubble and 15 years of stagnation, far fewer of them can afford these luxuries.
Japanese women, according to Professor Yamada’s research, have not caught up. Two out of five say they wish to marry a man who earns at least 6 million yen (£40,000) a year — but such men make up only 3.5 per cent of the eligible population. The result of such unrealistic female expectations is a generation of men, and women, who may never marry and have children.
About half of men aged 20 to 34, he says, are unmarried and only 20 per cent of them have girlfriends. Thirty per cent, according to Professor Yamada, have never had a girlfriend in their lives. For a country like Japan, which already has a shrinking population, this is a disaster.
“I worry that herbivorous boys are the future of Japan,” he says. “As young Japanese men become more timid and more averse to taking risks, it will affect the energy and vitality of the society.” |
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I have parrallel bars at home, one for gin and one for whiskey |
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bhbernstein
Reacher
Joined: July 28, 2009
Posts: 346
Status: Offline
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Nov 04, 2009 - 03:24 PM |
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It's happening in China now... Can not even see the clothing labels being worn on the sleeves of suit coats any more |
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hammerup
Lurker
Joined: Nov 14, 2009
Posts: 23
Status: Offline
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Nov 14, 2009 - 04:06 PM |
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Marakanis
Fire-eater
Joined: Jan 11, 2009
Posts: 2944
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Nov 14, 2009 - 11:54 PM |
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I don't get it... what are man bras for? |
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btb
SuperStar
Joined: Aug 09, 2008
Posts: 1445
Status: Offline
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Nov 15, 2009 - 12:03 AM |
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| Marakanis wrote: |
| I don't get it... what are man bras for? |
its called manzier.
for the same purpose to support excess fat around chest area.
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I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.
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LifeMage
Post Roaster
Joined: Sep 30, 2005
Posts: 4435
Location: In the world...... but not of it.
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Nov 15, 2009 - 01:41 AM |
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brossiere |
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visit my flickr page |
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Marakanis
Fire-eater
Joined: Jan 11, 2009
Posts: 2944
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Nov 15, 2009 - 01:46 AM |
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The bro... (ahh Seinfeld) |
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MoonOverMiami
LoopKicker
Joined: Jan 07, 2008
Posts: 865
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Nov 15, 2009 - 02:58 AM |
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| bhbernstein wrote: |
| It's happening in China now... Can not even see the clothing labels being worn on the sleeves of suit coats any more |
Driving around today, I saw a local guy with a beehive hairdo.  |
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"One who falls asleep with an itchy backside, will wake up with smelly fingers..." |
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KalanStar
Reacher
Joined: Oct 06, 2009
Posts: 238
Location: Shanghai
Status: Offline
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Nov 15, 2009 - 09:29 AM |
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Equality of the sexes... is it really so bad?
A couple centuries ago, Western men wore wigs, tights, and makeup... so are we just returning to normal here?
Just wondering why any Japanese guy would need a bra when 90% of Japanese women don't need them? |
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KalanStar
Reacher
Joined: Oct 06, 2009
Posts: 238
Location: Shanghai
Status: Offline
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Nov 15, 2009 - 09:49 AM |
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From: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/japans-generation-xx-1704 155.html
"True carnivores sigh in disgust, but could the grass-eaters be merely the latest flowering of an old tradition? Japanese culture has long had a strong element of androgyny: During the Tokugawa period (1603-1868), men played women and women dressed as men for the theatre, while erotic art celebrated bisexualism and transgender role-playing. The traditions live on in the Takarazuka Review, which features women performers in dress suits playing men, and in Kabuki theatre.
The common element between the Tokugawa era and today, says Osaka-based philosopher Masahiro Morioka, is peace. "Japan has been free from any form of conflict since the Second World War, and that has liberated men from the need to be manly." "
So I guess men need war to be manly?
They facts paint a striking picture:
* Japan's largest ad agency, Dentsu, reported that 60 percent of men in their early 20s and at least 42 percent of men between 23 and 34 consider themselves grass-eating men.
* Japanese dating agency, Partner Agent, surveyed unmarried men in their 30s and discovered that 60 percent of them claim to be herbivores.
* A Japanese insurance company, Lifenet, conducted a similar survey of men between 20 and 30 and found that 75 percent identified themselves as grass-eating men.
Check out the man bras here: http://www.wishroom.net/ |
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CoffeeHawk_0
Board Deity
Joined: July 14, 2005
Posts: 17977
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Nov 15, 2009 - 02:55 PM |
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it's all that soy. soy increases estrogen production in men. really, it does. |
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Marakanis
Fire-eater
Joined: Jan 11, 2009
Posts: 2944
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Nov 15, 2009 - 10:11 PM |
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Hrmm, better not tell Blewmark. He'd be very upset if he knew Jeff were cheating on him. |
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tihZ_hO
Post Roaster
Joined: Feb 17, 2004
Posts: 4231
Location: Shanghai / Jakarta
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Nov 16, 2009 - 01:42 AM |
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| Marakanis wrote: |
| I don't get it... what are man bras for? |
For this:
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Battered deep fried butter, donut hamburgers, is it any wonder America has more body mass than China. China is the counterweight for America or else the Earth would be unbalanced and fly into the sun. |
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