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.

本文简介：日本学生似乎正对工作失去耐心…(而且)更喜欢无需负重大责任的轻松工作。

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.

日本二战以后形成的勤奋、合作和努力工作的价值体系正在发生变化。最近的调查显示，日本青年已变成了拒绝传统价值观的“自我一代”。

“1980年前后，许多日本人，特别是年轻人，摒弃了经济上成功的价值基准，开始寻找能给他们带来幸福快乐的新的价值准则，”社会学家吉崎康宏在《文明比较评论》一书中这样写道。日本青年人现在越来越重视追求个人幸福而越来越少关注工作、家庭和社会的价值基准。

日本学生似乎正对工作失去耐心，而美国和韩国学生却不是这样。在一项1993年的对这三个国家的高校学生进行的调查中，只有10%的日本人认为工作是一个主要的价值体现物，而韩国人和美国人分别是47%和27%。年龄在18到24岁的大多数日本人还更喜欢无需负重大责任的轻松工作。

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.

日本小青年中对家庭价值基准的关心在逐渐衰退，取而代之的是追求个人内心世界的满足。日本政府于1993年搜集的数据表明，只有23%的日本青年想着要供养年迈的父母，与美国青年的63%形成鲜明对比。这显示出很多年轻一代的日本人正丧失对父母的重视和对家庭的负任感。作者吉崎康宏将这种变化归咎于父母对对孩子的纵容溺爱、物质的富有和对个人事物关注程度的增强。

日本人向个人主义的转变在青少年中最为显著。根据日本生命保险文化中心1991年的数据，50%的16到19岁的日本青年可被列为“以自我为中心”，则比之下在25到29岁的青年中这一数字仅为33%。对诸如“我作决定时无意考虑传统价值观”和“我不想做我无法喜欢做的任何事情”这样的想法持肯定态度为青年人赢得了以自我为中心的标签。

吉崎康宏认为，社会责任感的削弱与个人满足和享乐的兴趣增长密切相关。一项从1977年到1990年对有社会意识的青年进行对比的研究发现，日本人远远落后于美国和澳大利亚学生。18到24岁的日本人中，只有11%说他们从为社会做事中得到个人满足，根据1993年日本政府的数据，这么说的美国人是日本人的四倍之多。

吉崎康宏得出结论：日本青年整个价值体系正在发生重大变化，但年轻的一代尚未找到一个新的有组织的价值体系来取代旧的。