Modern Japan has rapidly urbanized. The once solid kinship-based communities are breaking down, and large extended families have been replaced by nuclear ones. In Iwate prefecture, where my father is from, I recall how the entire township would get excited about a summer festival. Everybody dressed in cotton yukatas, a kind of kimono, and went to see the fireworks and dancing. Summer festivals are still held in Tokyo's Setagaya ward where I live, but I don't go. The local young men's group, which plays a key role at festivals by carrying the mikoshi (portable Shinto deity's house), has all but disappeared.
It is not that young people are becoming individualistic. Rather, they have attached themselves to ever-smaller groups. At each level of education, from kindergarten to university, classes are now divided into tinier segments, generally composed of two to four students each. These small groups hardly interact with one another. The small-group mentality allows Japanese, like the men traveling from home, to be free from the rules of the local community and behave as if nobody is around. Young people tend to act quietly near their homes and act up in the entertainment districts. Grown-ups may deplore that youngsters don't even say hello properly, but we do so among members of our own group. We pay every respect to the norms of the group, even the colors of rubber bands for our hair, and try not to deviate. To us young people, the strangers we see on the commuter trains and stations are like a part of the scenery.
Perceptions of Japan's young are distorted by the media's favorite youth topic: enjo-kosai, teenage prostitution for older men. One girl told me that the first time she "dated," the man gave her 40,000 yen ($333) just to go to a restaurant with him. I asked what she did with the money. "I spent it all before the end of the day," she said. "I bought the first things that came in sight--I don't even remember what." But she worried about getting pregnant and stopped the practice. She now lives a quiet life and obeys her parents. The enjo-kosai girls I've met are totally different from what the media, including foreign news organizations, portray. I think adults should help these girls return to a normal life, instead of judging them. Besides, these girls reflect the kind of morality adults share. According to a recent survey conducted by a women's group, the majority of Japanese men age 25 years and older have paid for a prostitute; among men in their late 30s, the percentage is 64%. They apparently think it's O.K. to have sex in exchange for money.
I hope grown-ups look at themselves when they criticize young people. We may seem as if we've lost the sense of public morality. But in reality, the Japanese haven't had such a thing to begin with. Our sense of ethics is decaying? What about yours?
Kenji Oikawa, 19, began his freshman year at Tokyo's Waseda University in April. He has written about youth and sex culture for Japanese magazines
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THIS WEEK'S TABLE OF CONTENTS
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Kenji Oikawa. Tom Wagner--Saba for TIME
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Young Japan Home
The Me Generation:
The country's privileged youth are struggling to define what they want. Their efforts--both frivolous and fundamental--are already beginning to transform the culture
Day in the Life:
What a 17-year-old girl does--and buys
Culture Club:
Tokyo has taken over as the source of what's hip and happening for the rest of East Asia
Sound Factory:
An Okinawa school turns out stars
Talk Talk:
What teens are chatting about online
Not Playing Ball:
A fresh generation is starting to shake up the hidebound world of Japanese baseball
Outside the Box:
Breaking the education straitjacket
Viewpoint:
Actress Youki Kudoh says respect the old ways
Viewpoint:
Parents should examine their own ethics
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