Mass despair permeates working class

“I work on an auto parts assembly line. I attach one part to another—day after day, over and over. I learn no skill; I perform the same operation thousands, tens of thousands of times, until I begin to think of myself as a machine.”

The speaker is a 33-year-old temporary worker whose only consolation is that he is not—for now—unemployed. What he symbolizes, Spa! (Oct 14) seems to be saying, is no longer the plight of an oppressed but numerically small underclass, but a “citizens’ disease” that can be summed up in two words: mass misery.

Its symptoms have spread beyond the workplace. Whatever aspect of life you consider—friendship, love, family—despair, if Spa! is to be believed, is rampant. Here, for example, is a would-be lover’s voice: “It’s infuriating to think of all those ‘Arasa’ girls out there.” Arasa is a popular women’s magazine whose readers’ boyfriends are said to earn on average 10 million yen a year. How can that not rub salt in the wounds of a freeter—one of a rapidly growing number of short-term part-time workers—condemned to scrape by on 2 million yen?

To return to the workplace. “I do temp work at factories, usually for six months at a time,” says a 31-year-old man. “Often enough, I don’t get my six-month contract renewed, or else the factory suddenly shuts down. Never mind the long-term future; I can’t even plan six months ahead! It’s terrifying.”

It’s not just blue-collar workers who are in that situation. “I do the same work as a full-time employee, and yet I’m liable to be laid off any time,” complains a part-timer in the financial sector. “I’m 31 years old; I want a regular job, but employers don’t consider the part-time work you’ve done as real work. It’s as if the work I’ve done up to now has no value at all.”

In difficult times we seek the consoling warmth of friendship. It must exist, somewhere—perhaps on another planet; certainly not the one Spa!’s interlocutors live on.
“Ever since the expression ‘KY’ started going around,” says a 27-year-old receptionist (she means “kuki yomenai,” which describes a person unable to “read the air;” in short, someone tactless and out of touch), “I’m afraid to open my mouth, for fear that what I say will be considered KY.”
“People beat up on me because I’m a public servant,” grumbles a 27-year-old municipal employee. “They say, ‘You’re living high on my tax money.’ It’s ridiculous.”

Friendship on a freeter’s pay is not easy. “When I go to a class reunion or a wedding,” says a 30-year-old, “I feel terribly inferior among all those people I used to know who got somewhere in life.” The joy of joining an old friend’s wedding celebration is dashed by thoughts of how big a chunk of his weekly wages the wedding gift consumed. “I go around with a forced smile, wondering, ‘What on earth am I doing here?’”

A cheerful neighborhood bar, surely, takes the sting out of life? Not always. Sometimes it sharpens it. “There’s this bar I go to regularly,” Spa! hears from a 31-year-old freeter. “Lately, though, everybody there seems to form couples. It’s just me and this one other loser who end up alone. The last time I went there, I opened the door and saw everyone together in couples—I just turned on my heels and walked away.”

Yes, the nameless, faceless city is a harsh backdrop for those lacking in easy charm. Fortunately that same city is awash in commercial sex establishments and “adult videos.” But even they are a double-edged sword, Spa! finds. They soothe some people’s loneliness while amplifying others.’

“There are so many adult video actresses out there, so many sex club girls,” sighs a 24-year-old juku (cram school) teacher. “Maybe the woman I happen to meet on a given night has been one or the other, doing it with actors, or with who knows how many customers? Just the thought is enough to make me impotent. Honestly.”

› Login to comment

Latest 15 of 32 Total Comments Show All

usaexpat at 11:47 PM JST - 10th October

The Freeters and contract workers are miserable, so are the middle manager, traders, and everyone else. Not just Japan but eveywhere the global economy is a sh*%tty place and time to live. I'd share a beer with these guys and agree life is being a trained monkey to earn your crumbs even if mine happen to be a lot more than 2 million yen.
usaexpat at 11:52 PM JST - 10th October

tkoind2 I agree with your post except for the part comparing drinking here to the US. It's bad here but it was in the US too. I have dried out in Japan. Drinking till you can't walk with superiors abd peers was an everynight occurence when I was in a high level sales position in the States. It is a sad life everywhere, if you want the buck, everything else comes second.
medievaltimes at 11:36 AM JST - 11th October

A land of robots incapable of independent thought. Sad.
mtt at 01:21 PM JST - 11th October

This is exactly the same in the US along the Rust Belt. Only difference is that in US, they rather blame others for their misery. It used to be against Japanese, but now more towards Chinese or anyone who work harder and complain less.

Unless you find a work you are compelled to do and can grow on for your whole life, anyone's life can be a misery. Too bad, even these people are too smart to totally accept the meaningless existence.
Bento at 05:45 PM JST - 11th October

all humans are masters of their own destiny..however for some reason many people fail to grasp this fact.
TokyoVP at 07:19 PM JST - 11th October

And Japanese banks are sitting on a "mountain of cash" from household savings. So says CNN and the New York Times...but they only report what "Japanese in the know" tell them. There seems to be a huge disconnect from this story and what you read about Japan's banks.
rurika at 01:33 AM JST - 12th October

Wage slavery isn't just a Japanese problem. This is not so different from workers on low wages in other industrialised countries. How many people come home exhausted every night for a salary that barely covers their basic expenditure? They don't have enough money or spare time for a social life and no hopes for the future.

At least in the EU we have the European Working Time Directive. Japan desperately needs to enforce a similar legislation. I can't see it happening in my lifetime though.
LIBERTAS at 05:59 AM JST - 12th October

Sad pathetic Japan.
shuuu at 07:47 AM JST - 12th October

Wage slavery? Pfft.

Try: "If you sleep through school and don't bother to acquire any useful skills, it shouldn't come as a big surprise when your only job options involve something repetative and boring."
GW at 08:38 PM JST - 12th October

interesting comment. If I hear you right, you say being a freeter is a dead-end, and being a salaryman is a dead-end. I hear you complaining, but I hear no solutions from you, which means you have nothing to offer but whining. You tell me the right path to take, then

zzonkerr,

ok you asked here it is, find some way to be self employed. I landed on these rocks in 1991 by 1996 i was self employed, I live out Narita way in what Japanese call a beso, I drive leasurely less than 30min to my office, I also work from home, I work year round, any time any place, no set hours I do all the admin work & my job is physically demanding as it involves logistics so my hands also get dirty, I dont wear suits so can work in shorts & T-shirts in summer.

Bottom line is I work hard & SMART & make decent money have a nice home large garden, enjoy a few hobbies, grow lots of my own veggies. Had friends over today & we BBQed, enjoyed good food & company.

My life is good but I damn well planned & work for it EVERY DAY, but I wud never go back to being a salaryman because its more deadend now than ever, same for freeters(but at least they have some more freedom).

ok there is yr solution, what ya gonna do.

BTW I know nothing is forever but again I WUD NOT ever be a salaryman, I wud rather try to become a rice farmer than put the suit on. OK thats harsh & a little over the top, but my point is valid for the vast majority crusing the yamanote line!
rjd_jr at 10:12 AM JST - 13th October

Auto assembly line, there you go, maybe your job period is causing despair, not other issues.
moonbeams at 10:30 AM JST - 14th October

The root of the problem is that "shikata ga nai" attitude drilled into people from birth.

So now we have a nation of people who don't stand up to these companies who force illegal labor.

I am a foreign worker in Japan disgusted at how my rights are abused by the system.

For example, all people in Japan including foreign workers have to enter shakai hoken, which is really expensive, about 2,3 man en a month.

To offset this expense, companies are required to pay shakai hoken for their full time workers. However all temp workers in Japan are excempt from coverage. This includes 95% of foreign workers because our visas are short term, despite renewing it year after year.
GG2141 at 11:09 PM JST - 15th October

Mass despair permeates working class.

Hah! Love it. Best headline this year.
Sariri at 11:28 PM JST - 16th October

moonbeams, foreigners like you and all the Japanese temp workers can enter Kokumin Hoken (National Health Insurance) regardless your employment status.
moonbeams at 01:21 PM JST - 23rd October

yes, and I have entered. The problem is that I pay 100% on my own. Companies should be paying for it.