Men of 'bubble generation' -- a burden on Japanese society?

By Tomoko Arima

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womanforwomen at 04:20 PM JST - 11th August

tkoind- well said.

In Japan that was the bubble period. Those "confident" women were happy that Taro Salaryman could treat them, drive them around and eventually marry and support them. Their resulting children became the spoiled and clueless generations we see wandering aimlessly around in Tokyo with too many gadgets and no clue about how to even interact with other human beings.

I have a few friends both male and female who fit your description. The men shut themselves in their habitat glued to their laptops. Lazy to find jobs to keep themselves busy. Pride does not let them do meanial jobs. As for the ladies, they are like lost children. They cannot find those men who were pampering them and they do not know how to accept the other type of men.
dishdash at 08:16 PM JST - 11th August

All of the writers here should spare a thought for these salary men...sure they made the choice to do a white collar job but a lot of them were doing what most of us do in the West which is graduate and work for a company or partnership. In fact I would say they are a lot mentally tougher than a lot of the equivalent salary men in the West for the crap they have to put up with (and please dont anyone say spineless). If you have ever seen the insides of a Japanese company and seen the whole work eitquette involved you will know what I mean.

Like one of the posts here I actually feel sorry for them having to support some of their useless clueless kids.
bamboohat at 09:37 PM JST - 11th August

Well, I for one am a hundred times more enlightened by the comments here than this article that left me thinking "huh?"

Thanks.
Kauai at 09:52 PM JST - 11th August

Thank you for sharing your views. They are strangely corroborating and reassuringly similar to what I think myself.
kyoken at 11:02 PM JST - 11th August

those in the second half of the 30s and in the first half of their 40s do not feel they have grown up in their jobs

That supports my observation. Japanese grow-up very late if ever; maybe one reason why they life so long.
as_the_crow_flies at 08:26 AM JST - 12th August

Well, I for one am a hundred times more enlightened by the comments here than this article that left me thinking "huh?"

Yes, it's so bad I wonder how this stuff gets past an editor. Ah! Perhaps there is no editor. The translator just fires off their handiwork and it's published as is.
GW at 10:59 AM JST - 12th August

dishdash,

Ok I will agree salarymen are GREAT FANTASTIC, perhaps the BEST in the world for putting up with utter crap!

But that is NOTHING to be admired for, you only have one life & a great many of these salarymen are now finding out they have wasted theirs!! Can only hope that many younger J-men/women now have learned & can avoid that total waste of ones life!
SebastianFlyte at 01:26 PM JST - 12th August

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Don't waste your life working like a salaryman and ending up like the walking dead - life is too short!
KingSaint at 02:03 PM JST - 12th August

reminds me of the students at my commercial high school, the students in the book keeping club and electronic data processing club sit in a room all day during summer vacation and process fake accounts, and these are high schoolers, they have the rest of their lives to do this, go out and have some fun while you still can
neganip at 02:45 PM JST - 12th August

So what does a 55 year old guy who was born in 1954 get classified as ?
usaexpat at 11:19 PM JST - 12th August

This story has a really sensational title without much meat in the article to support the hypothesis. This generation is a drain on companies because there are no manegerial posts to move into? Sounds like the companies are a drag on these guys life. What's the choice for a salaryman, they have to put up with the long hours otherwise they could join the temp workers who came after them and truly have no opportunities.
Klein2 at 02:52 PM JST - 13th August

My pet peeve is the housewives receiving equal social security benefits without having worked a day in their lives. Talk about a drag on society. A meaningless existence, a lot of whining, coffee klatches, and they linger forever while their men die in the trenches or days after retirement.

Then they sponge off of their kids and their kids' spouses.

Burden on society? The men bake the pie, and the women eat it in this society.
Klein2 at 06:31 PM JST - 13th August

I think that the article is trying to express what I have heard from other countries, Australia in particular: "move over baby boomers, and let the gen x and y and z kids have a chance." Well, it does not make too much sense in Japan.. well.. I guess I know of a few cases where a doddering old tyrant rides herd over 10 younger people who could do a better job than he could... but in general, the younger people have little perspective, knowledge, or experience.

Attrition is not working as it usually does, so the grumbling young Turks are hinting at kicking the old guys out the door. The burden they impose is not falling on their sword one last time for the good of the company.
Farmboy at 08:31 AM JST - 17th August

These folks also have the largest savings accounts, since they've been making more money for a longer time. Wouldn't their spending help the economy?
therealmusashi at 05:51 AM JST - 18th August

It is interesting that some (at least one) Japanese women believe the way to confidence (and self-realization?) is "being pampered by men."

Maybe that's why I still love Japan.