The New Generation in Japan

日本的新一代

IN THIS ARTICLE: Japanese students seem to be losing patience with work (and) prefer easy jobs without heavy responsibility.

本文簡介：日本學生似乎正對工作失去耐心…(而且)更喜歡無需負重大責任的輕松工作。

Japan’s post-World War II value system of diligence, cooperation, and hard work is changing. Recent surveys show that Japanese youth have become a "Me Generation" that rejects traditional values.

"Around 1980 many Japanese, especially young people, abandoned the values of economic success and began searching for new sets of values to bring them happiness," writes sociologist Yasuhiro Yoshizaki in Comparative Civilizations Review. Japanese youth are placing more importance on the individual’s pursuit of happiness and less on the values of work, family, and society.

Japanese students seem to be losing patience with work, unlike their counterparts in the United States and Korea. In a 1993 survey of college students in the three countries, only 10% of the Japanese regarded work as a primary value, compared with 47% of their Korean counterparts and 27% of American students. A greater proportion of Japanese aged 18 to 24 also preferred easy jobs without heavy responsibility.

日本二戰以后形成的勤奮、合作和努力工作的價值體系正在發生變化。最近的調查顯示，日本青年已變成了拒絕傳統價值觀的“自我一代”。

“1980年前后，許多日本人，特別是年輕人，摒棄了經濟上成功的價值基準，開始尋找能給他們帶來幸?？鞓返男碌膬r值準則，”社會學家吉崎康宏在《文明比較評論》一書中這樣寫道。日本青年人現在越來越重視追求個人幸福而越來越少關注工作、家庭和社會的價值基準。

日本學生似乎正對工作失去耐心，而美國和韓國學生卻不是這樣。在一項1993年的對這三個國家的高校學生進行的調查中，只有10%的日本人認為工作是一個主要的價值體現物，而韓國人和美國人分別是47%和27%。年齡在18到24歲的大多數日本人還更喜歡無需負重大責任的輕松工作。

Concern for family values is waning among younger Japanese as they pursue an inner world of private satisfaction. Data collected by the Japanese government in 1993 shows that only 2304 of Japanese youth are thinking about supporting their aged parents, in contrast to 63% of young Americans. It appears that many younger-generation Japanese are losing both respect for their parents and a sense of responsibility to the family. Author Yoshizaki attributes the change to Japanese parents’ over-indulgence of their children, material affluence, and growing concern for private matters.

The shift toward individualism among Japanese is most pronounced among the very young. According to 1991 data from the Seimei Hoken Bunka Center of Japan, 50% of Japanese youth aged 16 to 19 can be labeled "self-centered", compared with 33% among those aged 25 to 29 To earn the self-centered label, the young people responded positively to such ideas as "I would like to make decisions without considering traditional values" and "I don’t want to do anything I can’t enjoy doing".

Diminishing social responsibility, according to Yoshizaki, is tied to the growing interest in pleasure and personal satisfaction. A study comparing society-conscious youth from 1977 to 1990 found that the Japanese had slipped far behind American and Australian students. Only 11 % of Japanese aged 18 to 24 said they get personal satisfaction in doing something on behalf of society, according to 1993 data from the Japanese government, while four limes as many Americans said 50.

Yoshizaki concludes that the entire value system of Japanese youth is undergoing major transformation, but the younger generation has not yet found a new organized value system to replace the old.

日本小青年中對家庭價值基準的關心在逐漸衰退，取而代之的是追求個人內心世界的滿足。日本政府于1993年搜集的數據表明，只有23%的日本青年想著要供養年邁的父母，與美國青年的63%形成鮮明對比。這顯示出很多年輕一代的日本人正喪失對父母的重視和對家庭的負任感。作者吉崎康宏將這種變化歸咎于父母對對孩子的縱容溺愛、物質的富有和對個人事物關注程度的增強。

日本人向個人主義的轉變在青少年中最為顯著。根據日本生命保險文化中心1991年的數據，50%的16到19歲的日本青年可被列為“以自我為中心”，則比之下在25到29歲的青年中這一數字僅為33%。對諸如“我作決定時無意考慮傳統價值觀”和“我不想做我無法喜歡做的任何事情”這樣的想法持肯定態度為青年人贏得了以自我為中心的標簽。

吉崎康宏認為，社會責任感的削弱與個人滿足和享樂的興趣增長密切相關。一項從1977年到1990年對有社會意識的青年進行對比的研究發現，日本人遠遠落后于美國和澳大利亞學生。18到24歲的日本人中，只有11%說他們從為社會做事中得到個人滿足，根據1993年日本政府的數據，這么說的美國人是日本人的四倍之多。

吉崎康宏得出結論：日本青年整個價值體系正在發生重大變化，但年輕的一代尚未找到一個新的有組織的價值體系來取代舊的。