Are you a grass eater?

Hiroshima, Japan — The image of the Japanese male as the quintessential samurai warrior—brave, loyal, and, on the side, a great lover of women — is being challenged not from outside Japan but from within.

The term ‘shoshokukei’ (grass eater or herbivore), once reserved for lower forms of animal life has now entered Japanese discourse on gender and it’s causing ripples.

It was first coined by Japanese freelance writer and marketing expert Fukasawa Maki in a 2006 article published in the Nikkei Business website in reference to young heterosexual men who were not assertive in pursuing women. At the time, no one took notice until a popular women’s magazine called ‘No-no’ advised its female readers in 2008 to be more assertive as a revolution in men’s attitudes to love was happening. By the following year, books started to be written about grass-eating men.

Who are they? As opposed to the standard image of the Japanese male as meat-eater (aggressive, assertive, family-oriented, selfless, etc.), herbivore boys were described in 2009 by the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun this way: “He prefers his favorite drink over ‘downing a beer.’ He is slim and doesn’t eat much. He loves desserts and sweets, is fashion-conscious and enthusiastic about ecology. He has a good relationship with his parents, is inseparable from his mobile and even splits the bill for love hotels (motels in our Filipino
parlance).

Japanese Studies grad student Chris Deacon of the University of London School of Oriental and Africa Studies (SOAS) has written a thesis on the phenomenon that has caused, according to him, a kind of moral panic about what men are turning into in Japan amidst its declining birth rate. Against the backdrop of dire prognostications that if the decline continues unabated, there would be no more pure-bred Japanese by the year 2300 (or just 182 years from now), these grass eaters now figure prominently not just in gender discourse but ultimately on the future of Japan. Grass eaters are being blamed, rightly or wrongly, for contributing to the rapid decline of births in this ultra-modern nation of 127 Million.

Certainly, a country with a long history of macho culture, of samurai warriors waging war for their master, a phenomenon that eventually lead to militarism and the tragedy of World War II, it is not good news when men below the age of 40 are not interested in sex. Instead they are more engrossed about their appearance, spending more money on computer games and saving money to but the latest gadgets.

I am not sure if young people in the Philippines are heading in this direction. The emergence of the metrosexual, young, urban heterosexual professionals interested in nothing more than their own physical appearance and well-being, has been with us for quite some time. But the idea of heterosexual Filipino boys uninterested in sex has not entered the horizon yet. Strong family bonds and a dominant religion that sees more children as good for as long as one can support them will not disappear anytime soon.

However, consumerism among young Filipinos of modest means is without doubt on the rise. Delaying marriage as far as possible — due in part to high costs of living in cities where work abounds — is without doubt on the rise. Whether this will soon result in a large segment of Cebuano or Filipino youths becoming greedy, selfish and self-engrossed grass eaters within the next two decades is intriguing to imagine.
* * *
I wish to thank the Japan Foundation-Manila for funding this brief but very illuminating trip to Hiroshima to attend the 4th Philippine Studies in Japan Conference and network with museum practitioners at Hiroshima University (HU). Let me personally thank Dr. Lawrence Liao, a fellow Cebuano and alumnus of the University of San Carlos, who is now with the faculty of the Graduate School of Biosphere Science at HU, for taking good care of me during this trip.