Youth in the Flow of Culture Change in Japan

Some time ago I was watching NHK and they had a special about a guy who sits on a stool in Shibuya and listens to people. He has a crate in front of him, on it's side, with a sign on the side that says, "I will listen to your story." He had orange hair. His name was Kazuhiro. And he was good at listening. One time he waited an hour in silence for a twenty year old girl to speak. Finally, she opened up and said, "It feels like I'm losing perspective and getting lost in the flow." I thought she must speak for many people here then.

Young people in Japan face all kinds of pressures. Some enter college, but most (I think) enter the working world straight out of high school. Then the pressures increase. But where do they learn who they are and how to make their way in life? From their parents?

For most, I think, life is an extended effort to learn these lessons, fit in and do well (full of contradictions). On top of this, I learned somewhere that the current young generation in Japan (in their 30's now) was the first to experience a generation gap with their parents. Some see this as an opportunity for the culture to change, while others see further breakdown in the rules and standards that hold Japanese culture together. Will Japan become a country of individuals finding themselves and then learning to move out in life on their own? Is that what needs to happen?

In one picture above, you see a mom and daughter out for the day together in Tokyo, walking side by side but worlds apart. In the other, a focused young woman pushes toward some point in the future. I'll let the pictures finish speaking for themselves.

As for me, I'm leaving for Singapore TODAY for the next 10 days. All five of us are going (myself, my wife and three kids). I'll still manage to post a couple of times (some nice pictures, too). I'll have to create a Singapore gallery when I get back, because I'm going to have a lot of fun with my camera over there.

Posted by jw at March 17, 2004 07:58 AM