Japan is freaking out over an emerging  new social class  derogatorily dubbed “grass eating boys” because they want a quiet peaceful life, like cows in a field i guess.  

According to this slate article, Japanese research shows that “60 percent of men in their early 20s and at least 42 percent of men aged 23 to 34 consider themselves grass-eating men.”

Yes, many young Japanese men are starting to see the downside of being society’s beasts of burden and have instead decided to drop out of the rat race, stop pursuing women  and stick to peaceful pursuits like gardening and playing video games. Perhaps young Japanese men have simply seen too many of their fathers and uncles dive off skyscrapers or die from ulcers and have realized what some  western males realize too late, that achievement and status are twin piles of shit used to bully men into doing exactly what society wants them to do, which is to serve others.

If Japan is so concerned about its grass eaters it should try treating its men as human beings instead of as a bunch of  coolies whose sole purpose is to work themselves to death to buy garbage they don’t need and support families they don’t want.

I see no real negatives in this new social trend. The grass eaters get to have easy non-competitive lives, and the men who still want to work like bullocks have less competition, have greater choice when it comes to women, and hopefully their society will appreciate their hard work all the more for its rarity. In brief, I applaud these cud chewing, sandal wearing goldfish tenders and urge Western men to follow in their footsteps.

The Slate article has more weirdness to say about Japanese women than men, though. Apparently there’s a whole  genre of gay male stuff for, er women! That’s right, young Japanese women are turned on by male homosexuality – no wonder their men would rather eat grass.