Shutting out the sun
Subtitle: how Japan created its own lost generation
By: Michael Zielenziger
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: Nan A. Talese
Published: 2006
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 340
ISBN-13: 9780385513036
Subjects: Ethnopsychology; Politics and government; Ethnology; Economic conditions; Japanese National characteristics; Social life and customs; Social values
Description: The world's second wealthiest country, Japan once seemed poised to overtake America. But its failure to recover from the economic collapse of the early 1990s was unprecedented, and today it confronts an array of disturbing social trends. Japan has the highest suicide rate and lowest birthrate of all industrialized countries and a rising incidence of untreated cases of depression. Even more troubling are the more than one million young men who shut themselves in their rooms, withdrawing from society, and the growing numbers of "parasite singles," the name given to single women who refuse to leave home, marry, or bear children. In SHUTTING OUT THE SUN, Michael Zielenziger argues that Japan's rigid, tradition-steeped society, its aversion to change, and its distrust of individuality and the expression of self are stifling economic revival, political reform, and social evolution. Giving a human face to the country's malaise, Zielenziger explains how these constraints have driven intelligent, creative young men to become modern-day hermits. At the same time, young women, better educated than their mothers and earning high salaries, are rejecting the traditional path to marriage and motherhood, preferring to spend their money on luxury goods and travel. Smart, unconventional, and politically controversial, SHUTTING OUT THE SUN is a bold explanation of Japan's stagnation and its implications for the rest of the world.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [323]-329) and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: An adjustment disorder.; title: "An arrow pointed deep inside me"; title: Broken apart from others.; title: A long tunnel.; title: Personalities "front" and "back"; title: Three Japanese "lunatics"; title: Careening off course.; title: The iron triangle of the psyche.; title: The cult of the brand.; title: Womb strike.; title: Marriage in a homosexual society.; title: Falling off the tightrope.; title: Rising sun and hermit kingdom.; title: A completely new value system.; title: Hikikomori nation and sheltering uncle.; title: "A single ray of light".; title: Dictionary of Japanese terms.