Young people in Japan are less interested in sex, money and material goods (iStockphoto / Getty Images)
They are young, earn little, spend little, interested in fashion and appearance and do not care about sex - are the 'herbivore men'. The writer and columnist pop in Japan, Maki Fukasawa coined the term in 2006 in a series of articles on a new generation of young people. "In Japan, sex is translated as 'one flesh relationship,'" she told CNN, "so I called these youth 'herbivore men', since they are not interested in flesh." Today, nine years later, the number of 'herbivore men' seems to be growing more and more, according to a new survey.
The Association of Japan Family Planning interviewed 3,000 Japanese men and women about their sex life, and revealed that almost 50% of respondents have not had sex in the past month. 48.3% of men had not had sex for at least a month, an increase of 5% since the last survey in 2012. However, the most shocking result was that 20% of men between 25 and 29 years - the age at which often have a more active sex life - showed very low interest in sex.
The long working hours recorded in the country - come to 80 hours a week - also seem to affect sexuality. More than 21.3% of married men interviewed by the Family Planning Association said they did not have sex with their wives because they are too tired after work. On the other hand, the increase in men identified as "grazing 'may also represent a revolution in the policy identity of the island country. Besides the peculiar lack of sexual appetite, the 'herbivores' not nourish great interest in money or material goods. In an interview with American Public Radio NPR, Maki Fukasawa said that young people "have feelings of disgust towards the older generation. They do not want to have the same lives. And the impact of herbivores in the economy is very large. They are new now because sales are falling, especially in higher-status products like cars, expensive liquor. "
Much has been discussed about the declining birth rate in Japan, which according to the Ministry of Health came to the lowest level in 2014: 1.001 million births and 1,296 million deaths. And the low sexual activity in the country is not helping to improve the numbers. However, despite the 'herbivores' represent a problem for the Japanese birth rate, help in the advancement and release of the Japanese idea of "hipermasculinização" that settled after World War II. In a country that only recently begun to discuss openly LGBT concepts, it is great progress that people can freely express their sexuality - whether heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual and even asexual.
(From the Newsroom)
