> According to Fukasawa, herbivore men are "not without romantic relationships, but have a non-assertive, indifferent attitude toward desires of flesh". The philosopher Masahiro Morioka defines herbivore men as "kind and gentle men who, without being bound by manliness, do not pursue romantic relationships voraciously and have no aptitude for being hurt or hurting others."

I know I have a tendency to try and view everything through the lens of WWII, but this really sounds like after the war, the US somehow neutered the entire Japanese culture a little too thoroughly.

The Wikipedia entry goes on to say:

Masahiro Morioka argues that Japanese herbivore men are a result of Japan's post-war peace. Since the end of World War II, Japan has not directly participated in any war or conflict, either within its own borders or outside of them. Prior to this time of peace, many Japanese felt that becoming a soldier was the only approach to becoming manly. This social norm has slowly disappeared during the following period of post-war peace. Due to this, Japanese men are less aggressive and this could bleed over into their romantic lives.

I dunno—you could argue that, after WW2, most of the Japanese fighting spirit transferred over to the business culture.

Even as late as the '80s, Japanese business culture was notoriously macho and aggressive. When I first read about herbivore men, it was framed largely as a reaction against '80s Japanese business culture more than anything else. I'd be more inclined to argue that herbivore men came out of the recession of the '90s; they saw how the bubble economy collapsed and said "screw this, I don't want any part of it".

Interestingly enough, the first time I heard about herbivore men, it was in a news article (long before the Wikipedia article was written) that took the definition a little bit farther than that: according to that article, herbivore men are largely non-competitive in all aspects and have little to no interest in machismo or traditionally masculine pursuits. It specifically said that herbivore men aren't interested in chasing promotions at work or driving fast cars.

I wish I could find that article again.

Struck me that these are perhaps modern feminism's ideal men?

Asexuality isn't a core tenant of feminism. Modern or otherwise.

Haha, don't pull too hard on that thread here my friend!