Japanese Youth
Political activist Tsunehira Furuya, 28, speaks on a podium during a rally to protest against Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan in Tokyo's Shibuya district December 18, 2010. The fracturing of the post-World War Two system that propelled Japan's economy to the No.2 global spot -- a status now lost to China -- has pushed many youths to seek security by trying to cling to what remains. But for others, the uncertainty itself is giving birth to a do-it-yourself mindset that could generate welcome dynamism. Picture taken December 18, 2010. Reuters

In 2014, more people died in Japan than were born. With 1.269 million who died and only 1.001 million who were born that year, the 268,000 net loss represents Japan’s ticking population bomb expected to further worsen in the coming years.

The reason behind such pessimism is less Japanese are having sex. The phenomenon of men lacking interest in the flesh led to the use of the term soshoku-kei danshi, or herbivore men, the describe them. However, what is quite alarming is that it is felt not only among single males, but also among married men, reports Tech Times.

These herbivores are often in skinny jeans and sport floppy hair. They are heterosexual but are not interested in reproducing or even engaging in intimate relations, notes NPR. They also prefer “a quieter, less competitive life, focusing on family and friends – and eschewing the macho ways of the traditional Japanese male.”

Citing a 2015 survey of 1,134 people aged 16 to 49, Japan Times found that almost 18 percent have little or no interest on sex, including some who even admits to extreme dislike of intimacy. When the survey focused on the age group 25 to 29, the proportion of men not interested in sex grows to 20.3 percent, up by 2.5 times compared to the same period in 2008.

The same study found that even among married men, more than 20 percent said they are not interested in sex due to tiredness from work.

However, it’s more than the population that at stake but also the Japanese economy because the herbivore men also hate things identified with the older generation. The list includes status symbol products such as vehicles and alcohol which explains why sales of cars and alcoholic beverages are also going down like the nation’s population.

But some of them are into female hobbies such as sewing, baking and crocheting. High school boys, meanwhile, indulge in facials and even eyebrow plucking.

On the opposite end of the gender alteration are the carnivore women, a reference to economically empowered working females who know what they want who also contribute to the remaking of Japan’s gender landscape.

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