A Rose by Any other Name is Still a Rose…or Is It? On Gender Roles in Contemporary Japan
A Rose by Any other Name is Still a Rose…or Is It? On Gender Roles in Contemporary Japan

Summary/Abstract: Although it is a rather recent research area, the study of gender as a social and cultural construct has enjoyed wide popularity, but it has been generally understood as the study of the condition of women and the changes that it has been subjected to throughout the time. However, in recent years we have witnessed a change in the way in which men’s roles are constructed, shifting from the masculine image of a powerful man to that of a rather feminine male. Starting from the Japanese journalist Maki Fukasawa’s terms of “herbivorous men” and “carnivorous women”, the present paper analyses the way in which this gender shift is illustrated by the top buzzwords that are selected each year by the Jiyuu Kokuminsha Publishing House and presents a number of theories that might explain the reasons behind this process. Furthermore, we find evidence to support the adoption by Japanese men of a new image, distinct from that of their fathers and grandfathers, and we identified certain commercial items that have been traditionally addressed to women but which are now increasingly used by men.

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