Japan's silent youth

New York Times article: In Japan, Young Face Generational Roadblocks.

Hollywood portrayals of a high-tech Tokyo and selective press coverage of Honda's latest humanoid robot might lead us to see Japan as some futuristic wonderland of innovation, no doubt propelled by driven young engineers and imaginative entrepreneurs. In reality, however, a deep and persistent malaise infects the country's younger generation, breeding an enervating apathy that bleeds into every social sphere and prevents the youth from breathing fresh air into this rigidly traditional and aging society. Some quotes from the above article:

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"I’d rather have the freedom to try different things, but in Japan, the costs of doing something different are just too high." -Nagisa Inoue, a senior at Tokyo’s Meiji University.

"Young people here do not react with anger or protest, instead blaming themselves and dropping out [of the conformist corporate system], or with an almost cheerful resignation, trying to find contentment with horizons that are far more limited than their parents'."

"An aging population is clogging the nation’s economy with the vested interests of older generations, young people and social experts warn, making an already hierarchical society even more rigid and conservative. The result is that Japan is holding back and marginalizing its youth at a time when it actually needs them to help create the new products, companies and industries that a mature economy requires to grow."
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It isn't that the older generation doesn't want the younger to succeed, they just don't want to see them succeed in a "non-Japanese" way. The 'Japanese way' itself is an infinitely malleable concept, having been adapted to accomodate foreign pressures on the socially homogenous island nation for thousands of years- including the adoption of written Chinese characters in the 4th century and Western-style industrialization in the 19th. Forced to rewrite the rules (from the National Constitution downward) which govern their multi-millenium-old society after suffering defeat in World War II, today's older generation represents the last vestige of a proud people devoted to anachronistic ideals of national self-sufficiency and racial/cultural superiority.

In a conformist society where "the nail that sticks out gets hammered down", my hope is that Japan's younger generation is not already too jaded to seek the wealth of experiences open to a rebellious and creative mind. It is ultimately only a matter of time until young and frustrated Japanese, increasingly aware of alternative opportunities abroad, throw off the yoke of dogmatic tradition and re-imagine the possibilities facing them and their children. Liberated from the firm grip of conservatism, we may see a new Japan emerge, critically engaged in the underpinnings of its own society and eager to explore a more dynamic relationship with the rest of the world.