The age of listless, wary, anxiety-ridden and insecure young men

Pity the young Japanese male. For him, it’s shock piled upon shock. No wonder he’s reeling.

The monthly magazine Nikkei Woman (November) lists what career-oriented men have had to contend with over the past 20 years. 1990 brought the bursting of the so-called bubble economy, the beginning of the end of opportunity as we knew it. 1993 saw in the “hiring ice age”—firms hit by the recession froze hiring, condemning all too many college grads to drudgery as part-time “freeters.” One glimmer of light over the next few years was the venture firm Livedoor, fronted by flamboyant celeb-entrepreneur Takafumi Horie, aka Horiemon, symbol of commercial imagination and path-breaking derring-do. His arrest on fraud charges in 2006 doused the flicker of hope he represented. Then in 2008 came the Lehman shock. Japan’s economy didn’t quite die, but doesn’t quite live either.

In this climate, is it surprising that today’s young men tend to be listless, wary, anxiety-ridden and insecure? That’s how Nikkei Woman characterizes them, based on a survey of 300 concerning their attitudes and expectations toward work and love—twin spokes, it seems, of the same wheel.

An instant portrait emerges from the survey responses. “Q: What does your job mean to you?” A livelihood pure and simple, shrug no fewer than 67%. Only 8.3% see their work as a means of achieving dreams and personal goals; a mere 5.7% say it’s a reason for living.

“Q: Do you have confidence in your work?” Yes, say 34%, versus 32% who say flatly “No” and an additional 34% who reply they can’t say one way or the other.

Work confidence, at least, is higher than love confidence, which only 13.3% claim to have, as against 57% who say they don’t have it.

“Men now in their 20s and early 30s are of the generation that grew up under the banner of respect for individuality,” explains marketing writer Megumi Ushikubo. “They have little experience of the triumph of outright victory in all-out competition. Consequently, they don’t know their own potential, which is why they have no confidence.”

The term “soshoku danshi” (herbivorous male, as distinct from the carnivores of earlier generations) has grown widely current since being coined in 2006 to describe the timid, emotionally stunted specimens now on the threshold of the prime of life. It’s hard to blame them. As consultant Takao Maekawa points out, with salaries stagnant and jobs, if you’re lucky enough to have one, insecure, “it’s enough to dampen anyone’s enthusiasm for their work.”

Herbivorous—more or less passive, that is to say—attitudes toward courtship are a direct result. “Young men don’t have the confidence their fathers had that they will be able to support a family,” says Ushikubo. “That tends to drain a man’s romantic impulses.”

Adding insult to injury, women, with less vested interest in the way things used to be, are adapting better than men to the way things now are. “Seeing women emerge stronger than themselves,” observes Maekawa, “has further undermined many men’s confidence.”

Nikkei Woman presents all this for the benefit of women at a loss to deal with their increasingly dispirited sexual partners. The magazine’s advice smacks of child psychology; it recommends generous doses of praise, encouragement, and understanding. For most of the postwar period, men have been bred to be single-minded breadwinners in a system that worked. It no longer does. Adjustment will take time.

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dolphingirl at 11:22 AM JST - 25th October

Funny...I was just talking along similar lines with a girlfriend of mine who had gotten dating advice from her Japanese male friend. He told her not to dress up too much because the J-boy might think that she would be high maintenance and he wouldn't be able to afford to date her. My thought was that since she is a foreigner, gorgeous, independent and strong she might be indimidating to these young insecure Japanese guys.

I think young guys are in a tough spot. Perhaps they feel repressed by the typical Japanese company and a bit awkward around the stronger women they are meeting. Hopefully, this is a sign that times are changing!!
GW at 02:24 PM JST - 25th October

the article is from a gossip rag, that said it still has some points as well as many more posted. I agree with those that say the J-male hasnt really changed much if at all, the ecomomy & jobs have & thats the main difference, while dad has/had a pretty steady job thats getting rarier by the day here now & many young guys look at the old man & dont want to become like him but they have little idea of what to do, how to proceed, THERE IS NO MANUAL so a lot of them are lost at sea.

There is a lot going on in Jpn these days, lots of issues, problems. Jpn as a whole is really going to have to re-invent this country or its going to be in bad shape. I used to think Jpn cud/wud start re-nventing itself but these days I am thinking they all want to be captains & go down with the ship. Its getting so bad I find myself thinking I really need to consider that the mrs & I dogs/cats & all might have to leave at some point as it seems the only thing Jpn can do these days is make things worse.
Junnama at 04:07 PM JST - 25th October

"Funny...I was just talking along similar lines with a girlfriend of mine who had gotten dating advice from her Japanese male friend. He told her not to dress up too much because the J-boy might think that she would be high maintenance and he wouldn't be able to afford to date her. My thought was that since she is a foreigner, gorgeous, independent and strong she might be indimidating to these young insecure Japanese guys."

This difference in perception always makes me laugh. Which is she: High-Maintenance or Intimidating?

Oops, I think I'm off subject...
JmannGod at 06:28 AM JST - 26th October

these men are pathetic. They've let themselves become sucked into the limp, wet, metro-sexual rubbish of the vegan munching, PC, pro-feminist crowd.

Join a rugby team, suck it up and get on with it. There is nothing sadder than a man whining about how tough life is. They are modern-day eunuchs.
jason6 at 02:43 PM JST - 26th October

The thing is that there are Japanese guys who are perfectly fine examples of male-ness--work hard, have relationships with women, and do all the things that people profess in the comments section--but most of them will not bother to defend themselves on some English-language news site. So you run the risk of group-think, that everybody in the world (or at least this site) agrees that all Japanese males are "pathetic".

The male-centric, slightly xenophobic culture that is Japan also has a whole host of problems with foreigners, all of that coming to an akward and personal level when we talk about interracial friendships and relationships. But can you blame the individual person, or even a generation? Whatever happened to approaching people with an open mind? Seems like generalizations are the order of the day. (By the way, I think that most foreigners would probably prefer to make friends with the down-to-earth, laid-back guys doing blue-collar work, rather than the uptight momma's boys in business suits. Cool guys, once you get over the language barrier.)

Anyways, this stuff is nothing to worry about. Like all trends, things ebb and flow. I expect the next generation of Japanese males to be the complete opposite of this current generation (who will be their fathers). Just don't complain when they turn out to be what you were asking for..
pandaclair at 04:30 PM JST - 26th October

Feminine IS the new masculine in Japan, it seems to me. Make fun of all the make-up wearing, long-haired J-boys you want, they still get hot girls. The "herbivores" are the more "normal" guys. They live, or rather, want to live normal lives but have no motivation for anything (work OR girls) because they feel like they're just going to fail.
inakaRob at 02:09 PM JST - 27th October

From a western standpoint, I would Japanese men are very confused. The anthropoligst in me says that its just a differnt culture, and through out history and cultures men have changed and varied greatly. So I tell myself its normal to see men dress like the whores of new york city, or k1 boxers to have green hair and wear mini skirts, and for some of my high school male students to spend more time on their between class than the girls, and to see guys wear pink hairpins, and guys wear long pointed clown-esk boots with more accessories around their fingers, wrists, neck, and body than all the girls I have dated in my life combined. I tell my self, its just normal for Japan. So who I am to judge. I will let all the women who can't find a man and the rapidly shrinking birthrates to do all the judging. No, but honestly, the guys I described above are a pretty small majority. Smaller than the "out of the closet" homosexuals in the USA. I bet there are more homosexual men in California along than all the metro sexual j-boys in Japan.
Nessie at 03:15 PM JST - 27th October

I thought this was an article about the Japanese national soccer team.
Jbizzle at 09:01 PM JST - 27th October

^^^^ haha! That's so cold!
mnemosyne23 at 12:25 AM JST - 28th October

“Men now in their 20s and early 30s are of the generation that grew up under the banner of respect for individuality,” explains marketing writer Megumi Ushikubo. “They have little experience of the triumph of outright victory in all-out competition. Consequently, they don’t know their own potential, which is why they have no confidence.”

This whole passage confuses me. I'm an American, and a New Hampshire native taboot; you don't get much more ruggedly individualistic than that without moving to Montana. The point of this passage to me, then, seems to be contradictory to all sense. Ushikubo appears to be saying that individualism decreases competitive spirit. What? The complete OPPOSITE is true. Individualism is the pinnacle of vested self-interest; it places the individual ahead of the group. Taken to its negative extreme, it creates narcissitic, arrogant people who will undercut anyone and anything in an effort to be top dog. However, taken to its POSITIVE extreme, individualism drives innovation, advancement, and achievement.

The key to harnessing those positive qualities in the workforce is in learning how to blend diverse individuals with equally diverse talents and interests into a single, motivated unit that strives toward a shared goal. Just look at any successful sports team. You may have a roster of all the best hitters, pitchers, outfielders and infielders that money can buy, but if they're all just playing to boost their own statistics the whole team loses. It's when the players come together and effectively marshall their varied talents as a GROUP that the final goal of a championship title can be achieved.

I can't really blame these guys for being "listless, wary, anxiety-ridden and insecure." I would be, too, if I knew I was going to be judged (personally and professionally) on how I measure up to all the old fossils who went before me, and not on what I'm capable of as a person right now, right here, today. History is like an anvil: you can stand on it to help you reach high places and use it as a tool as you make beautiful things, but if you tie it around your neck and try to swim, all you're going to do is drown.
LostinNagoya at 01:28 AM JST - 28th October

My opinion is that Japanese men don´t get a life of their own. It belongs to The Company. Whose sacho and colleagues are all powerful intimidating females.
JHansen at 01:53 AM JST - 28th October

mnemosyne23,

Your quoting from the big book Americana. While the USA has benefitted from its individualism at all cost it has also hurt us very much as well. Yes some individuals are apt to do more on their own, but in my experience being a part of a team and working as a unit often lead to more overall success. Japan has a society that is both unique in culture and has produced a very robust market economy without the high level of income inequality that we see in the USA. No, I am not saying that all in Japan are equal, just that Japan has produced more equality in terms of wages than in the US. In the US getting that diverse individualism to blend is often like herding cats. I feel for all modern males. It seems to me that males in most developed societies are trying to live a duality of existence. They are biologically driven to act and think in a certain way yet society has made much of this taboo or un-PC.
BrightEyes at 07:04 PM JST - 28th October

The problem with Japan is that its people (men and women) are socialized for a society in which they no longer live. For years social contacts were determined by external factors rather than internal drive. Japanese didn't have friends so much as associates. There was a group that would be together for a long time and they would adjust to one another over time. They were never good at approaching strangers and making friends. That wasn't such a big problem when they didn't have to deal with them so much. They would be in the same little village or company or neighborhood or group of mothers for most of their lives and their relationships would develop satisfactorily if slowly.

Japanese society no longer works that way. Groups are as ephemeral as jobs and domeciles. People don't have enough time to develop relationships as they used to. Now they are constantly moving from place to place. Before they can make friends, its on to the next thing. They feel lonely and frustrated and they withdraw.
yasukuni at 08:22 PM JST - 29th October

" it recommends generous doses of praise, encouragement, and understanding."

I'm not a young dispirited Japanese guy, but I would't mind some of that either. Must get my wife to subscribe.
realist at 11:48 PM JST - 1st November

Japanese men`s lives are characterised by overbearing, dominant mothers and scary fathers, whom they rarely see and have no relationship with. They spend their lives looking over their shoulders, wondering what others, especially their senpai or bucho, are thinking about them. Salarimen live pathetic lives, commuting for hours and living in rabbit hutches, with virtually no social life. for entertainment they play video games, pachinko or read manga. Their lives are totally boring and meaningless, for the most part. I feel so sorry for them.