Part 2

Ushikubo has even gone so far as giving these types a new label: ojo-man (ladylike men).

“Many of the boys I’ve met told me they cannot go out of their house if their hair doesn’t look perfect,” she said. “They have also told me that their self-esteem goes up when their nails look nice.”

Ushikubo estimates that 60 percent of today’s men aged 20-34 fall somewhat into the soshokukei category. Sounds exaggerated? Of the 500 single men in their 20s and 30s surveyed in March by Lifenet Seimei Life Insurance Co., 378 — or 75.6 percent — replied that they regarded themselves more as herbivores than nikushokukei (carnivores).

But why are they suddenly popping everywhere? Ushikubo cites a number of factors. First, the younger generation today has grown up never knowing what it is like to live in good economic times. The generation just above them — now aged 35 and older — had its heyday during the asset-bubble economy of the late 1980s, when cash was abundant, jobs were easy to find and people couldn’t be more optimistic about their future. In contrast, the economy the ojo-man generation knows has been in constant decline, with only occasional upturns, which have not directly affected their everyday lives.

They have also seen the income gap between seishain (permanent employees) and groups such as haken(contract workers) widen, with many of them belonging to the latter group. In fact, the average annual pay of men in their 20s now stands at ¥3.25 million, the marketer says, citing National Tax 

Japanese profikz

Every society has its own terminology for a young generation regarded as odd or unfathomable, and marketers are quick to give them catchy labels. It’s no exception in Japan, which is now abuzz with talk of men with a soft spot who are becoming known as soshokukei,meaning “herbivorous” or “herbivores.”

The word soshokukei, coined by a writer named Maki Fukasawa in 2007, has been widely picked up in the media in the last six months or so, owing in part to Megumi Ushikubo, president of the Tokyo market-research firm Infinity, and author of “Soshokukei Danshi Ojo-man Ga Nippon wo Kaeru (The Herbivorous Ladylike Men Are Changing Japan),” which was published in November 2008. Through interviews with around 100 men in their mid 20s and early 30s in Tokyo and other major cities, Ushikubo concluded that the soshokukei boys have a combination of the following characteristics:

• They are not as competitively minded about their jobs as men in older generations.

• They are fashion conscious and eat sparingly so they can stay thin and fit into skintight clothes.

• They are chummy with their moms and often go shopping together.

• They are not interested in dating girls, having relationships, or even having sex (choosing from a plethora of “self-help” toys instead).

• They are very tight with their money and often carry several retailers’ “point cards” around, declaring that those who don’t pinch pennies are stupid.