[DiabloD3]

Yes, and the irony is, that is what destroyed Japanese culture.

The only part they got right was getting rid of the items that don't serve you.

The part they got wrong was enforcing the behaviors that don't serve you. No true man (yes yes, no true scotsman argument, I'm aware of the fallacy, just stick with me on this) is served by being a "herbivore" or whatever term Japan uses for their men.

If you look at productivity and creativity rates among men, men that spend significant time on self improvement (eating right, including meat; exercising, including cardio and weight training; meditation and focusing on the now (instead of the irrelevant bullshit the Universe throws at us on a constant basis)) tend to perform much better at any given task.

Japanese men are typically critically devoid of ego, in the sense that they have no personal value, and often commit suicide once they realize they have no value and no one would miss them.

Too many Japanese men go to work every day, and celebrate working themselves to death, as if this is a worthy goal. If you go to work every day, you are living your life wrong. Every day, you should be focused on things that work for you, not against you.

If you have to drag yourself to work every day, you are working at the wrong job. Japan has made doing this a core principal of their culture, and its killing them, and may actually be one of the driving components behind the lost decade.

The reason fertility rates are collapsing, and lots of Japanese women aren't even having sex at all, let alone dating or marrying, is because herbivore men are not sexy. They just aren't. They want big strong men to lead in the bedroom (I'm not even being sexist, there has been studies in Japan about this), and Herbivore men are the exact opposite of that.

Genetically, women are predisposed to want to mate with what we, of the western world, have generally called "manly men": beards, muscles, a certain musky scent, a certain way of unapologetically taking what they want, all signs of health and sexual maturity in ancient man. Japanese men show none of these traits, and are androgenous as fuck.

I'm not saying half the shit the Silicon Valley culture is doing is any better, but it isn't nearly as toxic as what Japan does sometimes.

Don't want the US to turn out like Japan? Go put yourself first, take care of yourself, and enjoy every minute of your life. Do what you find important in life, don't work at a job just because bills need to be paid.

[sbardle]

As I understand it, the "herbivore" man is rejecting the "carnivore" existence of the Japanese male executive. So he is not working every hour of the day, he is just getting by. But you are right, they are not focusing on "self improvement", rather just withdrawing from society.

[DiabloD3]

Except, the irony, is Japanese men work harder than they ever have, yet most consider themselves/are considered by others herbivore.

Japan still thinks it is honorable to literally die at your desk and be discovered by your coworkers. That aspect of culture is very foreign to me, and I do not understand it.

[dcacaac]

I agree about the pitfalls of a work-obsessed culture, but your tangential speculation about meat, women, and causes of suicide in Japan seem comically simplistic and honestly prejudiced.

[DiabloD3]

Honestly, I'm largely building this off of what Japan thinks of themselves on this. They are not exactly forthcoming about their opinions of their own culture, not nearly as much as Western culture produces tongue-in-cheek parodies of itself, but some of their media produces their own form of parody that is uncomfortably true for some Japanese.

I mean, not everything they do involves ultra manly almost psychotic men piloting giant robots. That would be prejudiced, and also a bit hilarious.

[googletazer]

You're mostly point in your analysis. Just want to add that the Japanese outsmarted the west - instead of having a midlife crisis later on in life when men realize they've been had, they do what they want immediately. When men start to do what they really want (and there are very few things men like to do), it becomes a crisis - for other people.

[pikachu_is_cool]

Just curious, have you been to Japan? What is it like? I heard it's pretty awesome to visit, but not to live (presumably for same the reasons you've outlined)

[DiabloD3]

As much of a large fan of certain aspects of Japanese culture, I've never really wanted to visit; however, quite a few people I know have visited, and have all said the same thing: awesome to visit, but they wouldn't want to live there.