No Sex Please We're Japanese

I was thumbing through a Maclean's magazine from a couple of weeks ago last week, catching up on my periodical reading (isn't that why they call them periodicals, 'cause you read them periodically?) and I came across an article that made me burst out loud laughing. In Japan apparently 60% of guys in their 20s are known as soushoki dansi or, in everyday English herbivores or literally translated grass eating boys.

Are these guys:
a) dope-fiends,
b) only date goats, or
c) have two stomachs.

None of the above. Nope. A herbivore is a celibate Japanese slacker. Konnichiwa? To be precise, according to Maclean's a herbivore is a young Japanese man "who saves money, shuns sex, has a penchant for nice clothing and prefers a quieter, less competitive lifestyle". In Japanese "sex" is translated as "relationship in flesh". So pop culturist Maki Fukasawato coined the term herbivore boys because they aren't interested in flesh.

The article goes on to say that grass eating boys are close to their mothers, are attentive to their appearance and have few career ambitions.

Who do these guys worship as a role model, Richard Simmons?

And what the hell is happening to the long held ideal of the place of masculinity in society? It's being flushed right down the toilet. Literally. Japanese toilet-maker Matsushita Electric Works (good name for a closet crapper: Mats-u-shita) reports over 40% of men in Japan sit on the toilet to pee. Horror of horrors men, urine a heap of trouble!

And get this, right out of a Seinfeld episode, Tokyo company WishRoom is selling men's bras. If Kramer had only gotten the patent he'd be rich.

Man, Japanese men are really blurring the lines when it comes to defining the "fairer sex"as they bid sayounara to their masculinity.

The Polka Dot Door

A long time ago, when I was 22, my first child was born. That kid grew up on a little Canadian kid's show called Polka Dot Door, produced by the TV Ontario network. And Dad, more often than not, sat through those shows with his little one. Nine or so years later when a brother, and a year after that when a sister came along number one son was moving on to Knight Rider and The Dukes of Hazzard. But there was a nice overlap where his siblings picked up where he had left off with Polka Dot Door. And Dad was right there to welcome them. So you're looking at a Polka Dot Door veteran. The show began in 1971 and ran to 1993. I didn't watch the full run but I did get in my fair share. The formula was pretty simple. A young male and female host, which seemed to change every week, sang songs, told stories, made crafts and generally did their best stimulate little brains. The show opened as follows... Imagination Day! Oh boy! You know what happens on Imagination D

My Back Pages - November

I know, I know, I know I should have reported in before now. But sometimes real life just gets in the way. I attempted 5 books in November. I say attempted because I slapped a big DNF (did not finish) on Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon. I just can't seem to get into this guy. It's the second or third of his I've given up on, Not so the other four, starting with a biography of Stephen Stills called Change Partners. This followed by a hilarious biography of the guy responsible for National Lampoon called A Stupid and Futile Gesture - How Doug Kenney and National Lampoon Changed Comedy Forever. I ended the month reading yet another biography, this one of the man behind Rolling Stone magazine,. It was called Sticky Fingers: The Life and Times of Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone Magazine. A fascinating read. So last month I hit the magic number 50 I'd imagined for myself back in January. If I roll this month into my yearly total I'm at 54 books. And I still hav

30 Days of Photos III #4 Sour

Check out Ziva's Inferno for the rest of today's photos.

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