TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- They are young, earn little and spend little, and take a keen interest in fashion and personal appearance -- meet the "herbivore men" of Japan. Former CNN intern Junichiro Hori is a self-described 'herbivore.' Author and pop culture columnist Maki Fukasawa coined the term in 2006 in a series of articles on marketing to a younger generation of Japanese men. She used it to describe some men who she said were changing the country's ideas about just what is -- and isn't -- masculine. "In Japan, sex is translated as 'relationship in flesh,'" she said, "so I named those boys 'herbivorous boys' since they are not interested in flesh."
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Author and pop culture columnist Maki Fukasawa coins the term 'herbivore men'
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She says these men are changing the country's ideas about what is masculine
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These men are less interested in making money, sex
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Fukasawa says the trend may indeed be a return to the norm for Japanese men
Some of them may, but @placeholder's image of masculinity is nonetheless changing.