From 2008 to 2009, “herbivore men (sôshoku danshi or sôshoku-kei danshi in Japanese)” became a trendy, widely used term in Japanese. It flourished in all sorts of media, including TV, the Internet, newspapers and (ア:m ), and could even occasionally be heard in everyday conversation. As it became more popular (イ:i ) original meaning was diversified, and people began to use it with a variety of(ウ:d ) nuances. In December of 2009 it made the top ten (エ:l ) of nominees for the “Buzzword of the Year” contest sponsored by U-CAN. By 2010 it had (オ:b ) a standard noun, and right now, in 2011, people do not seem particularly interested in it. Buzzwords have a (カ:s ) lifespan, so there is a high probability that it will soon fall out of use. The fact (キ:r ), however, that the appearance of this term has radically changed the way (ク:p ) look at young men. It can perhaps even be described as an epochal event in the history of the (ケ:m ) gender in Japan. The term “herbivore men” became popular because of the existence within Japanese society of actual “men” to (コ:w ) it applied. People had already picked up on the fact that young men who seemed to have lost their “manliness” or become “feminized” were increasing in (サ:n ). Signs of this trend had existed from around the (シ:t ) highly fashion-conscious young men who dyed their hair light brown, wore designer rings, and pierced their ears started appearing at the end of the 20th century.
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