Herbivorous men! Bacon-wrapped asparagus men ! Stuffed cabbage men !

Have you heard of the Japanese phrase "草食系男子/soushoku-kei-danshi (herbivorous men) " ? The phrase became very popular a few years ago.　It indicates a certain group of young Japanese men. If you don't know about it, please first read my blog article in the link below.

http://japan-through-my-eyes.blogspot.com/2009/04/characteristics-of-young-japanese-men.html

In the link, I described the characteristics of "草食系男子/soushoku-kei-danshi (herbivorous men)", but they were ambiguous from the beginning. As time goes by, the meanings change. However, we always use the phrase when we want to refer to men who have less interest in or are bad at finding girlfriends and dating, and don't want to take the initiative in a relationship.

In contrast with "草食系男子/soushoku-kei-danshi (herbivorous men)", another phrase "肉食系女子/nikushoku-kei-jyoshi (carnivorous women)" became popular (If you want to know about what the kanji character "肉/niku" in the phrase implies, please see the link above). The phrase indicates women who try to enjoy their relationships. They approach and make passes at people they like. It seems that they are often forward and take the initiative in a relationship, although some of them say that they are forced to do that because many younger men don't want to.

Other than that, these days, we sometimes use ”肉食系男子/nikushoku-kei-danshi (carnivorous men)" and "草食系女子/soushoku-kei-jyoshi (herbivorous women)". I think you can guess what these phrases indicate. If you can't, please ask me. However, these two phrases are not that popular. I hardly ever hear "草食系女子/soushoku-kei-jyoshi (herbivorous women)"

Now, I can finally move on to the topic which I want to talk about here.

A few weeks ago, I learned two newly coined phrases which are popular among young people. One is アスパラベーコン男子/asupara-becon-danshi (bacon-wrapped asparagus men). The other is ロールキャベツ男子/ro-ru-kyabetsu-danshi (stuffed cabbage men). In the two phrases, the asparagus and cabbage imply "草食系/soushoku-kei (herbivorous) " because they are vegetables. The bacon and meat in stuffed cabbage imply "肉食系/nikushoku-kei (carnivorous)". The term bacon-wrapped asparagus men indicates those who are seemingly ”肉食系男子/nikushoku-kei-danshi (carnivorous men)", but in reality, they are "草食系男子/soushoku-kei-dansshi (herbivorous men). The term stuffed cabbage men indicates men who are the opposite.

The two terms "草食系/soushoku-kei(herbivorous) and 肉食系/nikushoku-kei(carnivorous)" are very popular. Even elderly people who generally have difficulty catching up with new words often use them when they describe people.

The words illustrate how the characteristics of Japanese people in their 20s have changed for the past few decades.

In a previous post, I described how Japanese society has changed for the past 25 years by means of making a comparison of a welcome ceremony for new employees held by Japan Airline in 1986 to one in 2010. Today, I read a Nikkei article which cites an interesting survey on what words said by others make people in their 20s happy. The survey asks 300 people in their 20s and 300 people between their 30s and 50s. As for the latter ones, the survey asks them what words said by others made them happy when they were in their 20s. I think that the result illustrates well how the characteristics of Japanese people in their 20s have changed for the past few decades. I'll translate the words listed in the survey into English, although some of them are difficult to translate since the meanings are ambiguous and partly dependent on people and situations.

Category 1

親しみがある：You are familiar or congenial or approachable.
つきあいやすい：You are companionable or easy to hang out with.
ノリがいい：You can read the situation, adjust yourself to the situation and try to lift the people there.

マイペース：You go your own way.
面白い：You are funny.
優秀：You are excellent.
いい子：You are good, well behaved and do things as expected.
家庭的：You pay more attention to your family.
素直：You are honest or obedient.

Category 2

主張のある：You are assertive in good meaning.
正義感の強い：You have a strong sense of justice.
反骨精神あふれる：You are fiercely struggling with power or the times.
個性的：You have individuality or unique character.
バイタリティーがある：You have the vitality to do things.
向上心のある：You are ambitious or always try to improve yourself.
上昇志向の：You are career-conscious or try to climb the ladder.

Can you guess to which category words listed by people in their 20s belong? The answer is Category 1. The survey has reached a conclusion that people in their 20s like words which describe amiability while people between their 30s and 50s liked words which describe strength or hardiness when they were in their 20s. The result is convincing to me. What do you think about it?

http://www.ntt-ad.co.jp/publication/kuukidokuhon/04/index.html

This describes the current Japanese society.

First of all, could you see the attached picture?

This is an article of a major Japanese newspaper. The article compares a welcome ceremony for its new employees held by Japan Airline (JAL) in 2010 with the same kind of ceremony held by the same company in 1986. The first color photo is the 2010's one in the article, and the second black and white photo is the 1986'sone. What do you think about them?

All the fresh women wearing black suits in the first photo look the same, don't they? According to the article, they aren't required to wear black suits and white shirts. It's reported that before they attended the ceremony, they checked out the information about welcome ceremonies for new employees to make sure which outfit was the most suitable and common. It's been said that this is because they, young people, don't want to stick out. As a result, they inevitably chose the similar outfits and hairstyles, and ended up looking the same.

On the other hand, in the second photo, fresh women are wearing various kinds of suits. They don't look the same, and look relaxed. Speaking of 1986 when the second photo was taken, the Japanese economy was good, and a lot of companies tried to hire people who had individuality or had unique character. When I was working for the first company immediately after graduation, although the economy wasn't that good, I still felt that I was always required to think of unique ideas and change traditional things. In fact, when I was assigned to a male-dominated division, I was told that I was expected to change things by means of unique ideas from "a young woman". As for outfits, I would try to wear something different to impress myself to my clients and so on.

With the globalization of business, Japanese people should pay more attention to developing their individuality and expressing themselves. Despite that, as many companies have reduced new hires due to the sluggish economy, the companies ended up paying less attention to individuality. Incidentally, it's been said that companies, which have already adopted some Western management styles and business culture while keeping the advantage of Japanese traditional ones like group harmony, have been growing.

On top of that, in the past few years, there has been a tendency that people, especially young ones, place weight on reading the situation. This in itself is good. However, since they place too much weight on it, it seems to me that young people often eliminate different things from the majority although they don't intend to do that.

Anyway, to be honest, I've been wondering why a lot of young business women wear similar black suits. I know that these suits are not expensive since many shops offer them. Still, I don't understand why.

Japanese mothers accompanying their smart, grown-up children.

Last week, I stopped by a four-star hotel in downtown Tokyo. When I arrived there in the morning, I noticed that there was something unusual in the lobby. Usually, the lobby is bustling with men and women in suits in the morning. In contrast, on that day, middle-aged women in casual clothes were standing in groups there. On top of that, other middle-aged women occupied the large part of a cafe in the lobby. It turned out that these women were mothers whose children were sitting the entrance examination for the University of Tokyo, the most prestigious university in Japan.

The hotel is located near the University of Tokyo. I've heard that the hotel has been popular among students who plan on taking the entrance examination for this prestigious university but live far from it. Given that the hotel is more expensive than average, I feel like the popularity has proven the fact that children from affluent families are more likely to enroll in prestigious universities than others.

Anyway, what I want to say here is that I was really surprised by how many mothers accompanied their grown-up children to Tokyo. When I was a student many years ago, students usually went by themselves to take entrance examinations wherever they were. Even if their mothers insisted on accompanying them, they, especially boys, would spurn the offer. Some of them would even feel annoyed. I'm not saying that mothers accompanying their grown-up children is wrong. However, I can't help but wonder whether or not they have realized that society requires young people to become more independent. It has been said that young people need to learn to make decisions by themselves and take responsibility for the decisions. Graduates from the University of Tokyo are the most likely to be given various opportunities, and they are greatly expected to play important roles in various fields. I hope that these mothers will let their children go after they pass the examination. Otherwise, Japan won't have a future.

Valentine's Day is highly commercialized in Japan. Chocolate, investment and.....

Like Christmas, Valentine's Day is highly commercialized in Japan. As you may know, on the day, women are expected to give men chocolate. Although I'm sure that confectionery and retailing industries took advantage of the day and popularized the costum, I don't know exactly when it became that common. Originally, in Japan, Valentine's Day was especially for a woman who liked a man but hadn't yet told him her feeling. Since it was believed that a man was supposed to first tell a woman that he liked her until probably three decades ago, Valentine's Day gave those women an opportunity of expressing themselves by giving chocolate. As the times have changed, women have become more aggressive in a positive way. On top of that, these days, a younger man often expects a woman to first tell him that she likes him, so I think that Valentine's Day has become less meaningful. Anyway, chocolate which a woman gives a man whom she really likes is called 本命チョコ/honmei-choko (本命 means the favorite and チョコmeans chocolate).

At office and school, women usually pass chocolate to their male friends and colleagues. If these men are those to whom they want to show their gratitude, they will be willing to buy chocolate for the men. On the other hand, if women feel under peer pressure to follow the custom and are reluctant to give chocolate to their colleagues, not only women but also men will find the custom bothering. Actually, women often have a hard time deciding to whom they are going to give chocolate while worrying about the total cost, and men are inevitably exposed to competition since many of them care about how many chocolate boxes they can get. On top of that, some women have ulterior motives. They view the chocolate as a lucrative investment. In Japan, if a man is given a box of chocolate by a woman, he will be expected to give a gift back to her on the 14th of March. It's assumed that the gift is supposed to be worth twice as much as the chocolate given. Because of this awkward custom, some women intentionally give chocolate to men who are likely to give luxury gifts back to them. Anyway, chocolate which women give to men out of courtesy are called 義理チョコ/giri-choco（義理 means obligation etc. ).

I assume that ”giri-choco” (chocolate for male colleagues and friends) largely contributes to its sales. However, as you can see, the chocolate often makes women feel like they are wasting money. So, I think that "giri-choco" has become less popular. At least, many women try to cut the budget for it. Under these circumstances, a new custom was created and has become very common in the past few years among school girls and young women. They exchange chocolate. This chocolate is called 友チョコ/tomo-choco (友means friends). Basically, women love chocolate more than men, so it probably helped the custom gain popularity.

I'm tired of customs created by industries and people making me feel like I need to follow the customs.

The website below: A confectionery company "明治製菓/Meiji Seika" built a bar of giant chocolate in front of itsfactory a week before Valentin's Day.

http://www.asahi.com/national/update/0208/OSK201102080057.html

Young Japanese people tend to remain in their hometowns

In Japan, up until two decades ago, many young people were fascinated by large cities. They were willing to study or work there. In fact, a lot of young people came to large cities, especially Tokyo. Exciting city lives were really appealing to them. As a matter of fact, at the time, there were a lot of things that you could obtain only in Tokyo. As a result, Tokyo came to have more population, and more things and information have naturally concentrated in Tokyo.

Today, young people, in contrast, tend to remain in their hometowns, saying that Tokyo has nothing to attract them. Tokyo appears to give them negative impressions like hectic lives, a high cost of living and unfriendly people. It's been said that the great popularity of the internet has contributed to create this tendency since the internet enables people anywhere to get anything they want. I've heard that more university graduates who studied in large cities want to work in their hometowns or in mid-sized cities near their hometowns.

These days, some of the younger people try to do something in order to revitalize their hometowns which are suffering from shrinking population and poor economic conditions. Under these circumstances, a few days ago, the 5th contest for grade-Blocal dishes called B1 Grand Prix/B1 グランプリ was held. This contest caught considerable public attention and was widely reported in the news. Actually, winning the contest is an effective way to boost the local economy and attract people throughout Japan. I'll talk more about the contest in the next post.

Things in which young Japanese people are less interested

Today, a TV program introduced some social trends. According to it, young Japanese people tend to have no interest in some things that older generations have been eager to get. Although I've written about similar things before, I'll introduce some of their tendencies.

Compared with older generations, young Japanese people are not or less interested in the following things.

1.Cars
As I often wrote about it in my previous posts, many young men aren't interested in buying a own car. They prefer to rent cars when they really want to enjoy driving or need them. The number of new car sales in 2009 in Japan fell below 5 million for the first time in 31 years. It was caused by not only the current economic crisis but also this tendency. Surprisingly, about a quarter of young people have never been interested in cars.

2. Alcohol
Older generations sometime need liquid encouragement. They like talking with their friends while drinking to release their stress. In contrast, many young people basically don't like alcohol. Even young men prefer to talk with their friends at cafes instead of bars.

3.Going out for meal

4.Going on trips

5.Watching TV

6.Going to department stores.
When I was a little girl many years ago, department stores were sort of symbol of affluence. Many people were looking forward to buying something there. Today, shopping malls are everywhere. Some of them are original and have been fascinating younger generations. So, some major department stores were already forced to close. Also, It was announced that a few long-running department stores in Tokyo and Kyoto would close this year.

7.Expensive big-name brand goods.

I think these are enough, so I'll stop listing.
As I wrote in my previous post (please click here), since young Japanese people were born and raised in the affluent Japan, they basically have no desire for purchase.

Japanese young people having no desire for purchase

In Japan, people in their 40s and 50s tend to work hard in order to fulfill their extravagant desires. Since they were raised in the times when Japan wasn't affluent enough for them to easily buy ordinary things they wanted, it's been said that they have a relatively strong desire to lead a better life along with their favourite good-quality products. High on their list of desirables is trips abroad. Especially when they were young, these desires inspired them to work hard and helped them endure long working hours. High-end, quality cars always attracted them. Many of them preferred to wear brand-named outfits. Until recently, it was apparent that young people had been driving domestic consumption.

Today, young people no longer fulfil this role, which has resulted in the Japanese market being deprived of the driving forces of the domestic economy. They basically aren't interested in making new purchases. They consider it foolish that people spend a lot of money on extravagant things that some middle-aged people are still willing to buy. They don't want to have unnecessary things and prefer to lead a simple life. Overseas trips don't provoke their interest, either.

Many of them were born in houses that were full of material products acquired in Japan's affluent times. Also, I think that they haven't developed a strong desire to purchase material items since they have been able to acquire the things that they want with family assistance, such as from their grandparents. Due to fewer children being born into families, they have more opportunities to be given things. In addition, the prolonged economic stagnation has been discouraging them to spend money on things that they consider extra and has contributed towards their prudent attitude to product consumption.

Under these circumstances, companies here have been struggling not only with the current economic crisis but also to establish their new business models. Also, the critical challenge of environmental conservation has affected young people's buying habits.

Recently, companies that have accurately fulfilled young people's needs and adjusted itself to the times have been enjoying its rapid growth and receiving a lot of attention.

Very popular Japanese male groups "SMAP"and 嵐/Arashi.

In Japan, there is a top talent agency that is well known for managing only good-looking men and boys. This agency selects potentialidols at its auditions and trains them. They receive training in singing, dancing, acting performances, comedy performances and others. After that, the agency picks out prominent, talented ones among these trained boys and officially makes them debut.

Up to about 25 years ago, the agency successfully had many boysdebut on TV as idol singers, since music TV programs were very popular here. With the fade-out of these programs, the way these boys at the agency make their debut and gain popularity was forced to change. I think that a group called "SMAP", which consists of five men now in their 30s, developed a new way (the first video, SMAP in New York, this is a cell phone's TV commercial). Although they made their debut as a singer group two decades ago, they became popular mainly through their performances on TV comedy shows. Two decades ago, it was actually surprising that good-looking guys wore funny costumes and did stand-up comedy. They have been enjoying their super popularity for more than 10 years. They have been supported especially by women of all ages and have gained a national superstar status.

After SMAP became popular, other boys at the agency have achieved great success in the same way that SMAP did. Among them, one group is very hot lately. They are called 嵐/Arashi and they consist of five men in their 20s. Since they seem to have been gaining a lot of momentum, I frequently see them on TV.

I think that some differences between SMAP and 嵐/Arashi reflect the ones between two generations; the middle 30s and the middle 20s. From the time the members of SMAP were young, they have frequently said they don't know about the other members' private lives. Some of them even don't know some others' numbers. They appear to consider the others as business partners or coworkers. They sometimes argue. In contrast, when you see 嵐 on TV, you might notice that all the members of the group are close. In fact, they have had a few short trips together. They try to share private time even though each of them has his own busy schedule. They are surely friends. I don't know if my observations are right. However, I can see some similar differences between the two generations I mentioned above.