It's hard to tell if this is an interesting correlation of several different sociological trends, or just sloppy journalism. This whole thing reminds me of the "metrosexual" thing in the US, but it's interesting that they also tied in vegetarianism and living at home with their parents.
Reading the American media, I haven't seen any connection between this trend and vegetarianism except the name, similar stereotypes of "herbivores" and vegetarians (that they're weak, effete, and unmasculine,) and a comment on that page that says there's currently a fad for vegetarianism in Japan. I read a different and more likely-sounding explanation for the name, which is that in Japanese a sexual relationship can be called a "friendship of the flesh."
