What makes a man a man?

(image from "七人の侍" 1954)

The Mainichi has an article on "reki-jo" (歴-女?), This seems to be a new boom and I've never heard the term before. The very end brings up an interesting commentary on what is going on with genders roles in Japan.

Tetsuaki Higashida from the Dentsu Communication Institute suggests that 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. "It's not unacceptable nowadays for women to take an interest in warlords, which used to be an area of interest reserved for men."

The Dentsu Communication Institute is the think tank wing of The Dentsu Group who probably provided the data for this study. Most of the research I've seen them do usually concerns studies of social networking in Japan.

This idea of "gender role reversals" reflects this article from The Slate on "Grass Eating Boys" (草食女子) Personally in my experience, Japanese men tend to be rather stuck in 1970's America's idea of masculinity. Although it doesn't surprise me that the younger generation has rejected this idea of masculinity and is starting to prefer the opposite.

How are we to understand masculinity? I don't think there is such a strict bi-polar system of Samurai vs. "grass eating boys", or even a sliding scale in between. I wonder what forces are coercing these rigid forms of identity. Before I get too deep into gender, I'll just leave it off with a video about the modern Samurai.