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What are Japanese Youth interested in?

hts

後輩
1 Jun 2004
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I was just wondering what are some hot topics/issues that young Japanese people (college students and young professionals) are interested in? Especially international issues and social issues? The environment for example? What else?
Thanks!
 
Iraq - enough to send my wife, and she will be proud to be called a young adult, into fits of rage. She is not alone.

Every school kid is fed a steady diet of environmentalism from day one at school, so all will profess a great interest in those subjects, even if they throw cans and cigs from car windows by the bucket-load

To some extent the pension system issue, since they might have to foot the bill

Those nasty North Koreans and what they are doing to their abducted countrymen.

The latest brand fashions

Sex/J-pop/movies/tv

Not getting fired, or finding a job
 
Mandylion said:
Not getting fired, or finding a job

I think THIS is the nツー1 issue in Japan...it seems that in Japan they do everything to have a good job/degree ☝
 
Isnt that changing?

Seems to me like they are more interested in fashion and video games and bucking the system- or is that all for show?
 
youth interests

The war in Iraq serves as a platform for some of the more 'peace-minded' individuals to raise a stink. Ironic that thye often are unaware of or imly aware of Japanese war time atrocities.

As to jobs, it depends on the person, as some of the young people are into being parasite kids, freeters in training, or hikikomori (literally, withdrawn adults who only come down at night to eat and spend the rest of their time in their bedroom, sometimes up to 6-8 years).

Fashion seems to a much bigger issue, with young people sometimes spending more on clothes in a month than I would in a year! Of course, with no rent and food provided for with a monthly allowance to boot, I suppose I could treat myself pretty good too!
 
superherox said:
Seems to me like they are more interested in fashion and video games and bucking the system- or is that all for show?
Wow, this is an old thread, but I feel I have something to add here. Welcome to the forums superherox and gaijinalways.

Yes, they are more interested in fashion and video games and "bucking the system"-to an extent. They may pretend to be bucking the system and some actually try, but in actuality, when it really comes down to it, the majority end up giving in if they want to advance within the company.

Case in point: When I worked at a Japanese company here in the states some years back there were a couple of young Japanese engineers in their early 20's that were transferred here. They were wild and swore they would never give in to the Japanese system of overtime and working long hours. When 4:30 would roll around they would be out the door in a flash and head for the gym, the tennis courts or the bowling alley. They were all about having a good time and enjoying their time off. No golf on the weekends with their bosses either. I thought I had finally met some rebels and that the youth of Japan were really changing.

The older Japanese would not say a word and would say, "They're young. They'll come around." I was not so sure of this as I had become good aquaintances with them (I knew a few like them in Japan) and they were dead set against it.

Needless to say, after about three years they were staying longer and longer at the office and eventually they ended up becoming like their bosses. They stayed late, worked long hours, played golf on the weekend and advanced through the ranks to become good little soldiers in the Japanese business world. Today they have management positions and they are NOT the same people I knew 13 years ago. I guess they learned to "play the game" in order to be accepted within the "company family" and advance. I was disappointed, but not surprised.

I'm sure there are many, but I only know four people who bucked the system. One is my closest and best friend to this day. He worked as a Chef's Assistant for a major Japanese hotel and left the security, seniority, and regular pay of this company 25 years ago to go to France, become a certified French chef, and start his own small French restaurant in Yokohama.

Unfortunately, with the economy in the dumps, he was forced to close it 2 years ago. But he survived by being a chef at a restaurant in Tokyo owned by a famous singer, but that failed 3 months ago. However, he is still upbeat, and at 51 years old he is confident that he will succeed again. I wish him the best of luck as he was one of the few to "give it all up" so to speak to be his own person in a country and culture where that is rare and most usually take the security blanket of working for a major company if possible or inherit the family business.

The other three were rock or folk guitarists who had their own bands and supplimented their musician income by owning bars and music houses. They never really made it as musicians and were mildly successful so to speak, but they still own their establishments today and I visit them whenever I go back to Japan.

I've found in my experience that those that do buck the system are rebels from the start and do not give in to the salaryman life. Nor do they desire it. They usually only have high school educations and know early in life where, and what, they want to be. And they follow it through. If they fail, they continue on, but do not become a slave to the system. I respect them for that.

gaijinalways said:
Fashion seems to a much bigger issue, with young people sometimes spending more on clothes in a month than I would in a year! Of course, with no rent and food provided for with a monthly allowance to boot, I suppose I could treat myself pretty good too!
It was back in my day and still is today. I would've thought that it would have changed by now, but in Japan things are slow to change even though it has been almost a generation since I first started living there regularly. I wonder if it ever will change?
 
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