This is the follow-up to the herbivore men in Japan post I made the other day.
In “New wave of ‘history girls’ wooed by warlords’ masculinity” (written by staff at the Mainichi Daily News), it seems that young women known as “reki-jo” or “history girls” are busy buying up samurai-themed products and related historical books featuring warlords and similar figures.
They’re different from regular history fans (typically middle-aged men) as follows:
“In general, men relate battles and the management styles of warlords back to their own corporate environments, and try to use whatever they lessons they can to improve their own work lives,” says Tetsuo Owada, a professor emeritus at Shizuoka University who has written over 100 books on the Warring States period. “But for women, it’s more about the admiration they feel towards the warlords’ approach to their lives.”
This isn’t so strange when
you think about it
The manly-yet-refined knight in shining armor is a long-established romantic fantasy for Western women; this is just the Japanese equivalent. Considering how ‘metrosexuality’ is huge in Japan (even if it’s not actually known by that name there), a group of females going and wanting ‘manly’ men is a natural thing.
In fact, researcher Tetsuaki Higashida at the Dentsu Communication Institute suggests:
“…women are attracted to the masculinity of these warlords, compared to the more passive modern men that they know.” Gender role reversals have been taking place, with men cooking and women playing golf,” he says.
Considering that herbivore men are at least 20% of the male population in Japan, and most of the rest are probably workaholics, it’s no surprise that a growing number of romantically-inclined women are hungering for what they can’t find in real life.
It doesn’t help that Japan tends to be a more conformist culture than America (there’s a saying there that “the nail that sticks up will be the one that gets hammered down”).
So although girls and young women get cut a lot more slack there (as in most cultures), young men are given a lot less leeway: their role is to get a job, earn a paycheck, bring it home and turn it over to the wife (if he has one) who will then dole out a very small allowance to him.
And that’s boring for the women involved (to have “your man” be the same as almost every other guy … a “salary-man”, the Japanese version of being just another brick in the wall).
No wonder they want samurai heroes!
Western ‘samurai’ stories for women
In the West, romance novels (a.k.a. porn for women) feature a lot of lovable rogues who typify masculinity, risk-taking, confidence and so forth. Between that and Japan’s “reki-jo”, this should give you a pretty good idea of what women are really looking for in a man — as opposed to what they say they want.
It’s pretty clear that being metrosexual isn’t really much of a turn-on for them (unless of course you have the looks, fame and wealth of someone like soccer star David Beckham).
However, being a real-life knight in shining armor (or a samurai, for that matter) tends to incur a few unpleasant risks. Taking the whole thing too literally will probably result in you getting arrested as a weirdo waving a sword around the city, or else getting shot at after enrolling in the military as a modern day knight/samurai.
So where’s the middle ground?
Becoming that loveable rogue featured in romance novels is in fact a viable option. It might not be quite your normal role in life, but with practise you should be able to adopt that persona with ease. The benefits are well worth it, and you’ll have a much better time than you’re having now.
Women want masculine men, not metrosexuals or herbivores
Also refer to my blog post What Men and Women Want - A Male Take (Part 2) for more on this phenomenon.
“…
the bottom line is that women prefer masculine men (just as men prefer feminine women)
…”
Don’t be misled by the popular media trying to trick you into surrendering your testicles to become “a sensitive guy” or a “metrosexual” for the sake of impressing women. It’s pretty obvious by their choices that women do not get excited by such men, so feel perfectly entitled to be a red-blooded, masculine guy — don’t apologize for being male, after all.
The bottom line is that women prefer masculine men (just as men prefer feminine women). And that’s true whether you’re in Japan, America or Timbuktu … it’s Darwinian.
So if you’ve been lured down the false path of “getting in touch with your feminine side” then this is hopefully a wake-up call that you’re doing it wrong.
Until next time,
-Nick Thomas
