The phenomenon of the generation gap is not new in Japan. But never have the Japanese been so perplexed by the younger generations as they are today. The Japanese in each generation are the product of the times they were born in and their parents' upbringing.
Every generation is different, at least in part.
Each generation maintains attitudes, values and beliefs that shape its behavior and color its evaluations and judgments of the people in its own generation and of the Japanese in other generations. However, there seems a clear difference between those who were born before the 1960's and those who were born in the 1960's and 1970's. The young Japanese who are reshaping Japan today are those born in the early 1960's and in the early 1970's. They are not radicals. And yet because their values and lifestyles are so very different from those of the older generations, they are making their presence felt and slowly but surely they are making an impact.