Hostesses And Herbivores

Japan's economic recession - the worst since WWII - is shifting social norms among women:

The women who pour drinks in Japan’s sleek gentlemen’s clubs were once shunned because their duties were considered immodest: lavishing adoring (albeit nonsexual) attention on men for a hefty fee. But with that line of work, called hostessing, among the most lucrative jobs available to women and with the country neck-deep in a recession, hostess positions are increasingly coveted, and hostesses themselves are gaining respectability and even acclaim.

And men:

"Herbivorous boys" [...] are rejecting traditional masculinity when it comes to romance, jobs and consumption in an apparent reaction to the tougher economy. Forget being a workaholic, corporate salary-man. [They are] defined literally as grass-eating but in this context as not being interested in flesh or passive about pursuing women.