ABSTRACT
Today, Igarashi has a new identity (and plenty of company among young Japanese men) as one of the soushoku[kei] danshi—literally translated, “grass-eating boys.” Named for their lack of interest in sex and their preference for quieter, less competitive lives, Japan’s “herbivores” are provoking a national debate about how the country’s economic stagnation since the early 1990s has altered men’s behavior. (Harney, 2009)
