Like all things, Japanese society is constantly moving in new directions, and it’s interesting to see the terms that are invented to describe new social groups as they’re identified. Like hotaru-zoku, the “firefly tribe” of men whose wives have forbidden them from smoking in the house, forcing them to light up on dark balconies, which looks like fireflies from far off; or host-kei, handsome males who look like they could work in an expensive “host bar” pouring drinks for well-to-do female clientele; or arafo, which describes the generation that’s currently “around forty” and at the height of their professional careers. One group being talked about a lot lately are the soshoku danshi or “herbivore men,” a term that describes the way that many men in Japan have become less ambitious and more laid back about life, happy to take it easy at home rather than pursue a woman for a night of passion, redirecting their energy into hobbies and men’s fashions. The term goes hand in hand with nikushoku joshi, the recent social trend of “carnivore women” who are more proactive in life and in their careers, happy to confess their feelings to a man rather than wait for him to make a move, and actively pursuing romantic love for themselves.
