草食男子[soushoku danshi]
Love Theory of Soushoku Danshi
It seems like I have introduced such a trendy word as アラフォー[aro-four] rather than anime-related words lately. Boring? I am sorry. As I doubted, perhaps I have started to care about my not-so-far future. Most otakish words do not seem to be clear that who actually came up with. As we are aware of it, those words are already in the mainstream. Don’t you think so? そう思いませんか？Unlike those words, some of the trendy words coined by the irresponsible press are clear at this point. But meanwhile, it doesn’t take that much for people to forget.
At any rate, I was quite disappointed to hear this word for the first time because I thought there was another word that should have come before this, 草食男子[soushoku danshi]. I will explain it later, but now I shall introduce this new word first. 草食[soushoku] means herbivorous. Yes, it is supposed to be used for animal to categorize what kind of thing they eat. Because they eat grass, they are classified as 草食動物[soushoku doubutsu]or herbivore. So if they eat flesh, they are 肉食動物[nikushoku doubutsu] or flesh eater. If they eat whatever, they are 雑食動物[zasshoku doubutsu] or omnivora.
So why is this used for men to categorize? We men don’t eat grass (neither do women). No no no, that’s not so. Herbivore like a goat are very quiet, not wild, aren’t they? What if this goes for men? The answer is, yes, a man who is gentle, quiet, and soft. Such a guy is what’s called 草食男子[soushoku danshi] or 草食系男子[soushoku-kei danshi]. Wait, back up. What exactly does that mean? Just because it means such a softie, a word 草食 is not even necessarily required here. Caught on, haven’t you? You’re right. It also means a stoic guy about sex, or a guy who is not positive in love. If that’s the case, 肉食男子[nikushoku danshi] means such a stud, huh? Then could 雑食男子 be bisexual? 両方OKってこと？
In 2007, as a book named 平成男子図鑑[Heisei danshi zukan] was published, the author Maki Fukasawa[深澤真紀] named this type of guy and classified. And the following year, when the monthly magazine for women, non-no interviewed her, it started to be famous. Let’s see the characterstics of 草食男子, then.
a. Not positive nor aggressive in love although he can get a girlfriend if they want.
b. He tends to value women as a human being, not regard as a sexual object.
c. He prefers to stay at home rather go out.
d. Very sensitive.
e. He would travel with a woman, but wouldn’t do anything to her. Even if he stays overnight with her, he wouldn’t do anything.
f. He would prefer to spend money for his hobby or clothes rather than for girls.
g. He would be counted as just a nice person[ただのいい人] by women.
h. He likes to cook, and loves confectionery.
i. ※
Remember I said I was disappointed to hear this word? That is because I really really wondered why the author didn’t use オトメン[otomen] before she named it 草食男子. If she had done it, オトメン must have been in the mainstream. I dare to say the era of otomen might have come…yes, my era! See above? Most of the items go for otomen, especially d and h. Darn it!
Putting it aside, why did this word get popular? For one thing, it is said that men are no longer powerful than women. Like I said in アラフォー, women work as well as men. So men called 草食男子 seem to accept the fact. Rather, if they are so wild as before, it might get to sexual harassment, possibly. Besides, it is not exaggerated to say the terrible recession is one of the reasons. Men are too mentally and physically tired to…do it. Come to think of it, I’ve heard even married couples are sexless lately. That is, most men are getting 草食.
Speaking of 草食男子, most Japanese people might think of 草なぎ 剛[Tsuyoshi Kusanagi] who is a member of the most popular idol group, SMAP. He is so gentle and good-hearted that he is counted as a 草食男子. Coincidentally, there is a kanji 草[kusa] in his surname. But it was until a few days ago. He got too drunk and showed his naked in public. Even when the police came to him, he didn’t stop yelling. He got arrested and won’t be able to come out for a while…Well, he was too drunk to remember, I am sure he regrets what he did. But there is a time when even 草食男子 want to be 肉食男子. だって…男だもん。I mean, the more people say he is 草食男子, the more he has to act like that. That could be stressful for him. When things get to the point, he might break down.
Are we 草食男子？
Me? I am an otomen. Otomen will never do such a thing. くっくっくっ…but I am dark-hearted. You have no idea how evil I am. 俺って結構腹黒いから気を付けた方がいいかもよ（呪笑） だって反逆を企む王子様だから^^
karesen
Wait, as I learned this word, something came to my mind. Yes, that’s カレセン[karesen]! Are those characteristics vey similar to karesen? The different point is that karesen is old, that’s it. So my assumption is,
草食男子 + old = カレセン.
Oh no, then I would definitely be カレセン too if I get older.
kesenaitsumi89 said,
April 25, 2009 at 3:39 am
Haha. Otomen+old = カレセン too ^^
Shii said,
April 25, 2009 at 6:42 am
Hahaaha, this describes me really well. It’s a constant concern on my mind.
bangin said,
April 25, 2009 at 1:18 pm
kesenaitsumi: I don’t mind if I am going to be.
Shii: Then you’re going to be karesen, too.^^
goodyfun said,
April 25, 2009 at 5:19 pm
As a vegetarian bisexual, the last line of your third paragraph made me laugh for the irony. (´∀｀)
Don’t worry… Someday your time will come!
bangin said,
April 26, 2009 at 12:27 am
I wish it could come before I become a karesen.
jaredinnakano said,
April 26, 2009 at 1:01 am
Nothing wrong with becoming a karasen. Maybe that will be your time!
bangin said,
April 26, 2009 at 1:15 am
Wahahaha…then my time goes on forever♪
goodyfun said,
April 26, 2009 at 1:19 am
Hell, it’s your time whenever you want it to be!
Marie said,
April 26, 2009 at 3:49 pm
I’ve also heard about that incident with Tsuyoshi.
It was a bit of shock when you consider his image on tv. He seems so reserve compares to his other members -___-;;
Speaking of soushoku doubutsu, it reminds me of Hiba x Tsuna’s relationship from Reborn ^^!
bangin said,
April 27, 2009 at 2:24 am
Poor Tsuyoshi, but like Goro’s case I am sure he will be back someday. Anyone makes a mistake. He is a human, too.
w said,
April 27, 2009 at 7:49 am
Why on earth would this be a bad thing?! This is pretty much as close as it gets to my ideal type of guy (and I don’t even care about ※!)
…oh, right, that’s why it’s a bad thing: and it’s no coincidence I’m not quite on the top of the Hierarchy of Awesomeness.
But really, whatever the situation, b. in your list up there is so important I’d rank it above everything else, honestly.
I feel kinda sorry for Tsuyoshi being batted around by everyone – I’m sure he was just stressed out and wanted to have a more normal life. And he’s right, 裸になって何が悪い?! There’s way bigger concerns than that out there right now. Also I think his surname is written 草彅, as opposed to being related to Motoko. What a funny kanji, no wonder most people write it as 草なぎ. It won’t show up on my IME unless I write it in.
bangin said,
April 27, 2009 at 8:46 am
OMG, I think I wrote it wrong, I was wondering why most people write it as 草なぎ. I corrected. Stupid me.
As I told, most of the items go for otomen. That means you appericiate not only soushoku danshi, but otomen and karesen. ^^
Soshokukei: Men are now “Herbivores” « Jared’s in Nakano said,
May 11, 2009 at 12:14 am
[...] does a great job contrasting the two terms in this recent post, and attributing soshokukei to the recently disgraced SMAP member Kusanagi Tsuyoshi who got drunk [...]
mariusmink said,
May 22, 2009 at 4:25 pm
This is my favorite post thus far. Great job!
bangin said,
May 24, 2009 at 3:53 am
Thank you.^^
Ben said,
September 17, 2009 at 11:49 am
Don’t you think that these people include the great mass of gay japanese who just can’t come out in such an inhibitive society?
bangin said,
September 19, 2009 at 2:48 pm
I don’t know…just because they don’t come out, it doesn’t mean they are 草食男子.
Japanese Women Have the Baby Blues: L’Express Report « Sinologistical Violoncellist said,
September 21, 2009 at 5:20 pm
[...] without libido: Journalist Maki Kukasawa invented the term three years ago. Soushoku danshi [草食男子], literally, “men who eat [...]
adamcathcart said,
September 21, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Thanks very much for this in-depth post; I found it very helpful and linked to it on a recent translation I did of a French article about how Japanese women respond to 草食男子:
http://adamcathcart.wordpress.com/2009/09/21/japanese-women-have-the-baby-blues-lexpress-report/
bangin said,
September 22, 2009 at 3:33 pm
You are welcome.^^
Grass-eaters… « Haikugirl’s Japan said,
October 18, 2009 at 4:10 pm
[...] come from? Well, apparently it comes from the Japanese “soushoku danshi”. See here for another interesting article on this subject, which explains the Japanese term. [...]