This book argues that 'the generation gap' in Japan is something more than young people resisting the adult social order before entering and conforming to that order. Rather, it signifies something more fundamental: the emergence of a new Japan, which may be quite different from the Japan of postwar decades. It argues that while young people in Japan in their teens, twenties and early thirties are not engaged in overt social or political resistance, they are turning against the existing Japanese social order, whose legitimacy has been undermined by the past decade of economic downturn. The book shows how young people in Japan are thinking about their bodies and identities, their social relationships, and their employment and parenting, in new and generationally contextual ways, that may help to create a future Japan quite different from Japan of the recent past.
Author(s): Gordon Mathews
Year: 2003
Language: English
Pages: 224
Book Cover......Page 1
Title......Page 4
Contents......Page 5
Notes on contributors......Page 8
Series editor's preface......Page 10
Acknowledgments......Page 12
Introduction: changing generations in Japan today......Page 14
The Japanese generational divide......Page 26
The generation gap in Japanese society since the 1960s......Page 28
Why are Japanese youth today so passive?......Page 44
The local roots of global citizenship: generational change in a Kyushu hamlet......Page 60
How teenagers cope with the adult world......Page 78
How Japanese teenagers cope: social pressures and personal responses......Page 80
Youth fashion and changing beautification practices......Page 96
~Guiding~ Japan's university students through the generation gap......Page 112
How young adults challenge the social order......Page 132
Seeking a career, finding a job: how young people enter and resist the Japanese world of work......Page 134
Mothers and their unmarried daughters: an intimate look at generational change......Page 150
What happens when they come back: how Japanese young people with foreign university degrees experience the Japanese workplace......Page 168
Centered selves and life choices: changing attitudes of young educated mothers......Page 184
Epilogue: are Japanese young people creating a new society?......Page 202
Index......Page 214
