In the last 25 years a large focus on youth culture phenomena that are viewed as undesirable or detrimental to Japanese culture and society has begun to surface in Japan. News media and entertainment media alike have contributed to the recent moral panic over NEETs, freeters, and hikikomori in Japan, despite the fact that none of these phenomena were previously unknown or are unique only to Japan. Today these phenomena are commonly associated with Japan and its culture, an unfortunate side effect of the media influenced panic.
NEETs
Unemployment rose and many long time employees lost their job security and benefits as Japan entered its post-bubble years, and the youth began to find that many doors of opportunity had become permanently closed to them. In a society primarily consisting of older adults, many youth found that it became increasingly difficult to find long-term employment, and as a result many young Japanese became disenfranchised with the Japanese school-to-work system. They began to question the value of working through in such strict, high stress, upper level educational environments if there were no employment opportunities waiting for them at the end.
This resulted in a “new” social phenomenon: a large and growing number of NEETS. The official Japanese definition of NEETs is unmarried 15 to 34 year olds who are not in education, employment, or training [2]. While such individuals have always existed, this new NEET craze has whipped up a media frenzy. NEETs were already considered undesirable, however this sudden focus on the phenomenon inspired a moral panic and outrage against them.
Genda Yūji, a professor of labor economics at the University of Tokyo Institute of Social Science, stated, “Niito are youth who do want to work but are simply unable to do so, they typically lack confidence and communication skills; many have low educational qualifications and/or are drop outs” [2]. Yet despite similar opinions and findings from other prominent social scholars, the largely negative view on NEETs has remained prominent, due in large part to the media. One Sankei Shinbun headline from 2004 stated, “Non-working youth called ‘niito’ increase 1.6-fold over ten years, have no will to work, sponge off parents” [2]. Another from the Asahi Shinbun reads, “Non-studying, non-working youth, ‘nitto’, will reach one million in six years says a Dai-Ichi Seimei study” [2] These headlines provide a good example of the how the media view NEETs. It served to ostracize and punish those who fit the NEET definition, without paying appropriate attention to the social and cultural circumstances that created them.
Freeters
A Japanese convenience store, or ‘konbini’, is a common place of employment for freeters.
The postbubble economy has created another rather large worker subculture that has inspired a similar, if less severe moral panic: freeters. Freeters are workers whose sole means of employment are a string of part time and seasonal jobs. The freeter lifestyle allows for more flexibility and increased mobility in youth, so it is typically seen to be made up of those individuals who have rejected their expected social role as full time salary workers in favor of the freedom to pursue other personal interests [1].
However, this view tends to judge present day freeters on the norms of the pre-bubble economic culture. Rather than making a conscious choice to take on the lifestyle of a freeter, following the economic crash many individuals who lost their lifetime employment and assets were forced to become freeters. Businesses prioritized their older employees, and as a result many young workers who were just starting out or were attempting to find employment were shut out. In the years since the crash, many of these workers have continued to find themselves trapped and unable to break out in such a small job market [1].
Hikikomori
Hikikomori, which literally translated means “withdrawal”, are those individuals who spend extended portions of their lives in seclusion. Hikikomori typically do not leave their rooms, not even for jobs, school, or to spend time with friends. They instead spend all their time working on hobbies, listening to music, watching television and movies, and surfing the internet.
This form of social isolation can be brought about by a variety of factors, ranging from mental illness, extreme apathy, self-loathing brought on by a history of bullying, to their failure or inability to conform to the accepted social norms [3]. While shut ins are known throughout the world, hikikomori have become a particularly Japanese occur problem due to prominent social factors that might influence the choice to become one.
In many societies, the youth who feel isolated or rejected tend to form subgroups, to emphasize and idolize the qualities that allow them to be unique individuals [3]. However, the Japanese society places an enormous value on conformity and all individuals living and working in unity. Therefore, to those Japanese youth who find themselves unable to conform may find themselves turning to isolation [4]. Rather than work to change themselves, they may find it easier to instead isolate themselves in their rooms, disconnected from society.
Discussion:
Although none of these three phenomena are unique to Japan, why do you think that they seem to only be so prominent in the Japanese public conscious?
Could Azuma’s claim that the loss of desire for a grand narrative in fiction serve as a parallel to Japanese youth disenchantment with expected social norms?
Related Links:
One organization that works with NEETS in the UK http://reallyneet.co.uk/about/
Japan Labor and Employment Statistics http://www.stat.go.jp/english/data/roudou/qa-1.htm
More information on hikikomori http://postbubbleculture.blogs.wm.edu/2011/03/27/a-lonely-lockdown-the-hikikomori-phenomenon/
Sources:
[1] Allison, Anne. Precarious Japan. Durham: Duke University Press, 2013. Print
[2] Goodman, Roger, Yuki Imoto, and Tuukka Toivonen. A Sociology of Japanese Youth: From returnees to NEETs. New York: Routledge, 2012. Print.
[3] Jones, Maggie. “Shutting Themselves In.” The New York Times. 15 Jan 2006. Web. 5 April 2015. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/15/magazine/15japanese.html?_r=3&pagewanted=all
[4] Wang, Shirley. “The Fight to Save Japan’s Young Shut-Ins.” The Wall Street Journal. 26 Jan 2015. Web 22 April 2015. http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-fight-to-save-japans-young-shut-ins-1422292138
Very interesting article!
I was aware of some of the issues that were in Japan such as the hikikomori and the freeters but it was interesting to learn about this group called the NEETs. It is interesting to think that there are versions of these people in almost every country but why is it so popularized in Japan? Is it because of the culture of Japan and its homogeneous nature? Also, are there are laws or measures put into place to start the education of young Japanese people to transition into the workplace? Do you think that the rigorous high school education with its late night classes and prep schools are factors in the high dropout rate? If you could implement measures in order to better incorporate the younger Japanese generation into the working world, what would you do? Just some curious thoughts that I came across when reading your article!
I feel you did a tremendous job introducing different concepts of worker/class statuses in Japan.
I recently heard from an exchange student from Japan that, the Japanese college students undergo extreme levels of stress and pressure during their junior year to find a job. It is widely expected for the companies to hire the students in their junior year, and the students who was unable to sign contracts typically remain unemployed until they graduate from college, and oftentimes much later as well. It is a very sad practice indeed, as they is a growing number of NEETs but the economy cannot accommodate them. On the other hand, it was my previous understanding that the Freeters in Japan are happy, self-sufficient workers. Costs of living in Japan is substantially high, but I thought the Freeters were paid decent amount of money that some people choose to live off of part-time no-skills-needed jobs for their entire lives. It was interesting to see that it became excessively difficult to even get a part-time or seasonal job these days. I guess my question would be — is the government doing anything to provide more jobs or share some burdens? And I can only imagine how hopeless/helpless Japanese young adults must have been feeling, but how do other generations think about this important social issue? Do children dream of becoming a good Freeter? Are middle-aged salarymen too busy to care and preoccupied to barely hold onto their jobs? Do middle-aged housewives who are also interested in part-time jobs to contribute to the family income find the Freeters in their 20’s to be threatening? I think this topic really brings a lot of interesting questions.
Thank you for sharing your insight on this topic and Japan’s current economic status.
We’ve discussed previously in class how various social or cultural movements have received vastly different receptions from right and left wing sides of the Japanese political spectrum. Does the same hold true for NEETs, Freeters, and Hikikomori? Hikikomori and NEETs have obvious negative connotations, but I could also see Freeters receiving praise for their individualism in pursuing freedom/creativity over the harsh and conformist nature of large corporate jobs. That seems like something Americans see as almost necessary for any creative genius: a period of rough times, or working in minimum wage jobs as he or she works furiously on some creative work.
Are their any program for helping Hikikomori? It sounds like they would need a certain level of parental help to function, so I would imagine that there would be some program to help parents whose kid may be Hikikomori. I’m also curious if this is more prevalent among children without any siblings. Does family size or where the family lives affect the rate of Hikikomori? I mentioned this on another post, but I’m curious to see if the rates vary between urban and rural areas.
Nice article, it’s cool that you’re focusing on all three of these subgroups together. What specifically links them together, their tendency to break away from societal expectations for adults, or something else? It’s clear that there’s potentially a lot of overlap between hikikomori and NEETs due to the fact that they don’t have jobs, but what links these two groups to Freeters? And are these three groups connected to Otaku, as well?
Also, it might be interesting to investigate how these three groups are portrayed in the media and in fiction, and in what ways their portrayal is similar or different. A manga/anime that you might look into for portrayal in fiction is “Princess Jellyfish”, where the main character and most of the supporting cast are NEETs.