The Japanese Girls Who Like a Bit of "Meat"

Okay, so there're these relatively new terms flying around the Japanese lexicon lately, that of "Herbivorous Guys" and "Carnivorous Girls" and it seems that the main focus is on the guys part. Just to clarify, by "Herbivorous" and "Carnivorous" I don't mean something along the lines of Lady Gaga turning up in a meat suit. It's generally to mean whether they're outgoing, with a strong sex drive or not (take a guess which one means which). Though, to be honest, I think Gaga could DEFINITELY class as "Carnivorous", talk about irony.

As you may or may not know, Japan's population has been on a continual decrease because of a lack of couples getting married and setting up families, an increase in the death rate and also the lack of immigration- which I don't get, who wouldn't wanna live here?!

But with subjects like these in the news and on the national focus, so, too have these terms. Particular focus has been paid to the guys, asking questions such as;
"Why are they so shy?", "Why have they seemingly lost their sex drive?", "Is it their fault that Japan's birth rate is going down?", etc. etc.

If you want to read a brief overview on the guys, I refer you to this page here.

But this post isn't about them, it's about the girls!

I first heard about the so-called "Carnivorous Girls" (or 肉食女 - にくしょくおんな - Nikushoku Onna) after reading an issue of Asahi Shimbun, one of the major newspapers here in Japan and it piqued my interest, because I'd never heard of them before. And if there's one thing I hate, it's not knowing something.

I asked around if anyone else knew about it and sure enough almost everyone I asked knew what those terms meant. The only ones who didn't know were some of the really older generations who tried to show me examples by munching on either a piece of beef or a leaf of lettuce. Ahh, old people, they're like children sometimes, eh?

I tried finding more information on the internet about this new phenomena and there surprisingly isn't much. Almost all of it is dedicated to the Herbivores (damn veggies!)

However, I did come across a survery held in Japan that asked 1,156 people "What is your image of Carnivore Girls" and the answers were quite interesting.
The full survey is here, if you'd like to see (Japanese).

Now from the top 30 results, these were the physical indicators of a Carnivore Girl;

1. Loves wearing gold accessories (35.7%)
2. Wears skirts, not trousers (38.2%)
3. Wears Fur/Animal print (39.3%)
4. Wears High Heels (53.6%)
5. "Loud" Nails (55.4%)
6. Perfectly set hair (56%)
7. Wears Tight-Fitting Clothes (56.7%)
8. Always on their Cellphones (60.3%)
9. Brand name clothes and accessories (65.5%)
10. and finally, Strong Eye Makeup (68.5%)

So, after inputting all this data into my "Girl-o-matic" Generator it comes up with this result;

3

・

2

・

1

・

Holy fuck, that's scary!

So, really- that's a picture of a Ganguro girl. Definitely not my style, at all. But from the description, she's the stereotypical physical appearance of a "Nikushoku Onna", which, to be honest, I think couldn't be further from the truth.


The truth about Nikushoku Onna is that they're the result of women who generally don't feel, or don't allow themselves to be or feel oppressed. They're more extroverted in front of guys, instead of only being extroverted with their own [female] friends.

They're more likely to be forthcoming and ambitious at the workplace in order to achieve success. Also, they're much more open about their sexuality- or at least not afraid of the fact that they have it, which is something I think many girls in Japan are ashamed of. And when it comes to dating, they aren't afraid to make the first move. Score.

My wife could be classed as a Nikushoku Onna because when we first met, she was the one who asked me if I'd like to go out "for a meal or something"- now look where we are; married, a place of our own and our lives ahead of us.

Unfortunately, these girls have been getting a negative image in the Japanese press. 

Japan is very much still quite the socially conservative country. Not in how it treats it's homosexuals or anything like that (though, really, I wouldn't know.) But in the fact that Japanese society still holds to the "Women should be dependent on the Man" mindset.

For example, when I was working at the home for the mentally disabled there were several girls there who, upon getting engaged, quit their job in order to become housewives, even though they could just as easily carry on working, no problem. They didn't have children, nor were they pregnant either, so it struck me as rather odd.

Why should the girls feel the need to quit her job, just because she's getting married? The only real reason I could think of was a societal expectation.

For that, I'm actually glad my wife is "Nikushoku" and kept working after we got married. No sense in denying more money, now- is there?

The fact of the matter is though, that these particular women aren't a new phenomena- nowhere near, in fact. Honestly, it was only just a matter of time that it would become much more widespread.

Back in the late 80's there was a wave of publications in the news about "Yellow Cab" women which focused on the sexually aggressive, usually successful women looking for foreign husbands, or just generally going out looking for husbands in general. Way back then, too, they were getting a negative stigma because of the expected societal structure.
The term itself "Yellow Cab" is meant to refer to them being Asian (Yellow) and ridden at any time (Cab).  However, some self-proclaimed "Yellow Cabs" turned it to mean that women were in the driver's seat. You go girls!
Oh no, Japanese society didn't like that at all;
Women < Man, Man > Woman, no if's, or but's.That's the rule.

However, after that tended to fizzle out of the media, it was replaced by "Enjo kōsai" in the papers, where girls as young as 13 would prostitute themselves out for a little extra spending money.
Here's a link to a great blog post on that subject by a friend of mine, Andrew at "It's a Wonderful Rife".

But back to the main issue- just think about it.

Was it not really just a matter of time that girls would be more independent and unashamed of their sexuality?

We had the aggressive, proffessional women of the late 1980's, then the sexually liberal young girls of the 90's (and to this day), why is it that the Japanese media is surprised by the culmination of both these groups?

All it is, is girls and women in Japan feeling a little more empowered and not afraid to use that power. No harm, no foul right?

Well, of course I'd be saying good things about these girls- it just makes them "easier" for guys like me. DAMNIT NO, I'M MARRIED! Oh well, c'est la vie...I'm heading back to the shower.

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