- Kato Hidetoshi's Data Base -

Changing Images among Youth in Modern Japan

Publication Date:199203
Book title: MEDIA, CULTURE, AND EDUCATION IN JAPAN [A COLLECTION OF PAPERS]
Publisher : National Institute of Multimedia Education


The Meiji Period: Ambition

Starting in the autumn of 1902, a novel by Kenjiro Tokutomi, Roka or Notes of Reminiscence, appeared serially in a daily paper, Kokumin Shimbun. Soon it became popular among the youth of Japan and among a wide range of readers. There was an even greater response when the novel was published in book form in 1903. Readers felt an empathy with the sentiments of the book, sensing that, with fortitude and resolution, one could overcome hardships and discouragement. The novel gave expression to a certain vitalizing spirit that appealed to the youth of the Meiji Period (1868-1912).

Notes of Reminiscence portrays an idealized image of youth that was prevalent in the latter half of the Meiji Period. Shintaro Kikuchi, the hero of the novel, was born in Kumamoto in northern Kyushu on the eve of the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He comes from a family of wealthy winemakers that enjoys high prestige in the village. However, Shintaro's father goes bankrupt during a period of serious inflation and then has bad luck in his new business enterprise. His house and all his belongings are taken away, and he dies from the great shock of his misfortune. Shintaro and his mother then move into an uncle's house not too far away. Notes of Reminiscence describes how a youth with no property and no rights grew up in late nineteenth-century Japan. How is he to live, and what goals should he choose?

As Shintaro is leaving his village after his father's death to move to his uncle's house, Shingo, a former servant and now a charcoal-maker, says farewell and urges him, "Please come back as a person of great renown. It is not worthwhile to stay in a village like this." On several later occasions, Shingo again says, "Strive for renown." In another scene, Shintaro's mother admonishes him to be ambitious and successful.

Some years later Shintaro goes to Tokyo, and the first letter he receives from his mother contains the following passage:

You have the great task of rebuilding the house of Kikuchi. Please think well upon it and be careful not to disgrace the name of Kikuchi. It is my hope that you will always strive for renown.

Her phrase, "strive for renown," echoes in his mind, but how can Shintaro be successful? He decides that there is one sure way-by studying hard and diligently. First of all, he enters Nishiyama Private School near his uncle's house and learns classical Chinese. But when he is fifteen the school closes because classical Chinese is no longer in demand for the future of Japan. Teachers at the school now encourage all the students to study other foreign languages instead.
Meanwhile, a school called Ikuei Gakusha has just been established. To it comes a teacher of foreign studies named Tetsujiro Komai. He provides Shintaro's first contact with foreign studies. Komai leaves the school after a short while, but Shintaro now hopes fervently to study foreign ways in Tokyo. He decides to go there and, after some difficulty, studies first at Kwansei Gakuin University and then at Tokyo Imperial University.

In this period away from home, Shintaro confronts many hardships and troubles. On one occasion, he has to surrender his coat because he does not have the money for a bowl of noodles at a restaurant. He works delivering newspapers, but he never gave up his ambition.

Studies form a significant part of Shintaro's life. At night he quietly lights a small lamp in a closet and studies mathematics. He never misses his English classes, which meet twice a week. He often finds a quiet refuge in a corner of a library when the dormitory is too noisy. Once in a while, Shintaro sits under a tree by a pond and indulges in meditation. At Tokyo University, he tries his best to economize on school supplies. This is Shintaro's college life, and he graduates with the highest grades from Kwansei Gakuin University and is then second in his class at Tokyo University.

Shintaro's prime purpose in studying is to attain fame and success. Yet he tries not to be dependent on anyone. He makes his decisions without regard to what other people think, basing them solely on his own judgement of what is just and right. When he becomes discouraged, he recalls his determination to succeed on his own.

At Tokyo University, the other students are superficial in their commitment. All are interested in renown and success after graduation, but many hope to find a short cut to social success by seeking favors from men with prestige and influence. Shintaro objects to this, and he expresses himself as follows just before his graduation:

When the time comes and there is a chance, I will sit on a golden chair. But for unexpected success, I cannot beg and make silly faces at the door of somebody influential.... Thus, my principle is that if I become successful through my own efforts, I shall gratefully give thanks to heaven. Success and social fame attained justly I shall gladly accept. However, if I have to give up my own integrity as the price of success, I shall maintain my principles and carry my head high until it is cut off.

For Shintaro, life is a battlefield. The entrance examinations for the university are his first battle. As he says, "This battle must be fought with all my might, so that my disgrace can be washed away, my hardships rewarded, my honor maintained, and my mother comforted."

For Shintaro, friends are rivals. Matsumura, his grade school friend, is the son of the president of a large company. He goes to Tokyo before Shintaro does. Most of his friends at Kwansei Gakuin University come from wealthy families, but Shintaro must first earn his tuition and his living, and then excel his friends in studies.

In the end, Shintaro wins his battle and attains fame and success. Among his friends, Matsumura has also had a successful career, and friendship is reaffirmed among those who have succeeded. For those who have failed there is sympathy, but not much attention is paid to them.


The Taisho Period: Human Feelings

The young people of the Taisho Period (1912-25) found it difficult to project and plan their future clearly on a straight, single track as Shintaro had done. No clear pattern of means and ends existed in the process of attaining goals. Perhaps for this reason, the relationships that young people established in the course of attaining their goals became more important than the goals themselves.

The novel Friendship (Yujo) by Saneatsu Mushakoji gives the flavor of youthful attitudes in the Taisho Period. Nojima, the protagonist, falls in love with Sugiko, the sister of a friend. Omiya, another friend of Nojima's, tries his best to help the couple, but, ironically, Sugiko falls in love with Omiya. The novel is largely an exploration of the feelings existing between Nojima and Omiya.

For Shintaro Kikuchi in Notes of Reminiscence, there are almost infinite possibilities to choose from in planning his future. Nojima, on the other hand, is shy and takes fewer chances. He often spends time reflecting on people whom he admires. At twenty-three, Nojima is not at all self-confident; he thinks he has little ability and regards himself as worthless. His perceptions are directed inward. He often thinks about how other people think of him. As a result of this extreme introversion, he becomes bored with life and then desperate. He analyzes his longing for Sugiko:

Some think marriage provides a good chance for promotion in one's job or brings primarily a dowry. Some look on marriage as a trifling thing, or something sweet, but I cannot stand such ideas. Sugiko looks as if she does not know about such things, but I should feel kind of lost if, after all, she really did have such hopes.

Nojima is wrapped up in contemplation about himself, the delicate feelings of other people, and his changing relationships with them. Then, in reaction, he sinks into despair and tries to forget it all. For example, when Nojima, who is not a very good table tennis player, plays the game at a friend's house, he tries to think that being a poor player is nothing to be ashamed of.

That is a good excuse, but if I were good, I wouldn't feel such inferiority. Oh, I would feel great if I were really good. Since I am so poor a player, I think there is no need to show off, but if I were skillful, I would never have to bother with such petty thoughts; I would feel much better.

Note that the word "feel" is used several times. It expresses the various thoughts about certain incidents that appear and disappear in Nojima's mind. He is upset when he sees Sugiko with her friend at the beach, but he thinks that it is stupid to be jealous, feels a little ashamed, and then tries not to think about it. He is not certain of his identity and worries about it. Always uppermost in his mind is a concern about a small social circle consisting of a few friends and their families.

Youth of the Meiji Period found the world to be a place of vast, almost infinite opportunities for the future. In contrast, Nojima's world is merely the small society in which he lived. He is happy in this well-protected and comfortable world. In one of his frequent chats with Omiya, there is this exchange.

Nojima: I've started to write a novel.
Omiya: Yes, I feel like doing something. I should study, too.
Nojima: Let's help each other to do well.

In Shintaro's case, success is a matter of personal effort, but for Nojima it is a joint effort. Nojima's ideal is to maintain a good relationship with his friends; his friends provide the context within which security and peace can be found.

When Nojima falls in love with Sugiko, Omiya acts as a sincere adviser. Because Nojima is too bashful and modest, Omiya counsels him to meet more often with Sugiko so that she will have a chance to get to know him better. He tells Nojima not to be shy and pretends to act coldly toward Sugiko himself. Unfortunately, Sugiko is drawn to Omiya, who decides to go to Europe so as to be away from Sugiko and to encourage Nojima and Sugiko to get together after all. Omiya writes to Sugiko from Europe:

I am not trying to praise Nojima simply because he is my friend, but because he is actually one of the few persons I admire. It is a great delight that he likes you. I hope you will spend time with him.

Nevertheless, Sugiko feels drawn more to Omiya, but Omiya is puzzled and does not know what to do. After a long period of uneasiness, Omiya finally accepts Sugiko's love. He tries his best to reassure his friend, but in the end he marries Sugiko. At this point, the friendship between Nojima and Omiya ends. It is a great blow to Nojima. The secure and well-protected microcosm that had been his life has finally crumbled, and he envisions the future as dark and desperate. The novel ends with Nojima facing constant loneliness. He writes his last letter to Omiya and then scribbles in his diary: "I have withstood my loneliness up to now. Do I have to endure it any further by myself? God, help me!"


The Showa Period: Action

The generation born in the early years of the Showa Period (1925- ) differs somewhat from that of Shintaro or Nojima. An example of Showa youth may be found in Season of Violence (Taiyo no Kisetsu) by Shintaro Ishihara, a well-known contemporary writer.

If Shintaro Kikuchi devoted most of his time to his studies and to competition and if Nojima anxiously contemplated his and others' feelings, youths in Season of Violence find excitement in action. They try to pick up the first girl who comes along; they go out to dance and enjoy themselves-plunging ahead from one act to the next. It is in action that they find their identity.

Tatsuya, the central character in Season of Violence, is fascinated with boxing. Boxing is a direct method of reassuring oneself of one's physical existence. Beaten down in the ring, with blood streaming from cuts, Tatsuya revels in physical sensation and enjoys the fact that he is really alive.

For youths in Season of Violence, sex is linked with action. Youth of the Taisho Period had a somewhat restrained idea of love; their attitudes were more or less platonic. For Tatsuya's generation, love is a temporal satisfaction and not at all grand or holy. The characters in Season of Violence almost regard the word love as something laughable; for them, it has a mawkish and silly connotation. Indecent remarks are made to those who have not yet had sexual relations with girls.

One day, Tatsuya becomes acquainted with a girl named Eiko in the downtown area of Tokyo. For Eiko, sex is its own purpose. Tatsuya thinks of boxing and action as being their own purpose and as providing a means of finding himself. Thus, Tatsuya's attitude toward boxing and Eiko's toward sex are parallel. After a sexual encounter on a yacht on a quiet evening, they fall in love. As Tatsuya says, "For human beings, love and affection are emotions that cannot be kept burning forever. Does love not seem to burn most brightly when flesh and flesh are one? Men and women only find themselves physically one at this moment." The incident on the yacht deepened Eiko's feelings for Tatsuya, but it makes him feel shy and anxious. Her love frightens him, and he begins to be cruel to her. Tatsuya is frightened because his generation regards human relations as something dry. They scorn friendships like Nojima's and Omiya's and those of their fathers' generation and consider them soft and uncalculating. Although the Showa generation acts courteously in a group, there is no touch of that good-natured friendship that had been the norm for high school students in earlier decades. Friendship for the Showa generation has little of the element of personal sacrifice. A careful debit and credit balance sheet is recorded, and those who cannot repay debts are automatically erased from the list.

Nojima experiences loneliness for the first time as a result of the terrible breakup in his friendship with Omiya, but for Tatsuya man is a lonely creature from the beginning. One lonely creature becomes friends with another merely by chance, and it is by chance that one finds a girl to play with. In this sense, there is no place for love in Tatsuya's world, but once a feeling of love does appear, it is likely to threaten the concept of a relationship as a balance of debits and credits. Although Tatsuya is afraid of Eiko, he helplessly feels a growing attraction to her.

For Meiji and Taisho youth, love as an end in itself had been hidden behind a romantic veil. In contrast, Tatsuya's generation thinks of sex as a purpose and method by which to find oneself. But once love has slipped in, the concept of sex as an end in itself starts to crumble.

Eiko becomes pregnant, but peritonitis sets in after a Caesarean operation and she dies. As the author comments: "Her death was her supreme challenge. Tatsuya has lost his favorite toy, the toy he could never break no matter how much he battered it."

After Eiko's funeral, Tatsuya goes straight to a college gymnasium to hit punching bags. Eiko's words come back to him: "Why can't you love me in a more straightforward manner?" For a moment, he sees Eiko's smiling face in the punching bag, and he strikes at it madly. Tatsuya's world rejects love as if it were water that must be kept away from a dry object. Each individual lives with a fence around him, and it is through these fences that each must find ways to socialize. If the fences are cleared away, it is unbearable, because "good fences make good neighbors."


The Trend Toward "Micronization" in the Images of Youth

Although it is doubtful that these three characters represent the only characteristic images of the youth of their respective periods, each novel was widely read and accepted in its own period. Each belonged to its time and might not have appeared or been accepted in other periods. By comparing the values expressed in the three novels, it is possible to draw several conclusions about changing attitudes of youth in the three periods of Japan's modern experience.

First, it becomes clear that the frame of reference for individual lives has tended to become smaller over the years. Shintaro Kikuchi's frame of reference is Japan as a nation. He is like a rocket shooting out from a small Kyushu village. His concern is nationalistic, and he always refers to and relates his interests to national concerns.

The youths of Taisho, Nojima's generation, find their frame of reference in a small social circle composed of friends and their families. Nojima and his friends have created a world with a salon-like atmosphere; the image of an entire society or a nation lies somewhere in the hazy background. What, then, is the frame of reference for Tatsuya? Actually he does not have any group to relate to, but perhaps he may be said to be his own frame of reference. As the frame of reference has shifted from the nation to a group of friends and finally to the individual, its scope has become incredibly small.

Second, within society the role of the individual has changed. For Shintaro, the independent individual is the ultimate principle. Life is a course set on a straight track, and he dashes toward a fixed goal without worrying about what other people think. He is stern and single-minded. But the Meiji Period was a time when single-minded persons could get ahead. Nojima's life is not characterized by individualism but is tinged with isolation and loneliness. When he loses his friends, he is alone and helpless. Tatsuya has a sense of loneliness, but he places positive value on solitude. He regards aloneness as something good and enjoyable and feels threatened when "love" becomes a part of this world.

The youth of Meiji was single-minded, the young man of Taisho wore himself out nervously worrying about his relationships with the people around him, and the youth born during the early Showa Period was neither simply single-minded nor much concerned about his neighbors. He just did not care too much about conforming to his surroundings. In general, the youth of Showa has been filled with a sense of anomie.

These different concepts of life naturally led to changes in ideals and goals. Shintaro's goal is to go to Tokyo and be successful. The members of Nojima's generation encourage each other to succeed, but success as a goal does not have real significance. Tatsuya's generation judges the word "success" to be outdated jargon. Had there been youths like Shintaro and Nojima in Tatsuya's group, they would have been laughed at and perhaps beaten up. An individual's goal is something distant; "success" sounds too optimistic; the Showa youth wants to experience immediate satisfaction. The future is not important to him; rather, the present is his ultimate concern.

We may call these changing characteristics of youth "micronization", for we can see that the frame of reference narrows from nation to a group of friends and finally to an individual.

There was a time many decades ago when the phrase "Boys, be ambitious" thrilled the youth of Japan. However, the presumed infinite possibilities in Japanese society have now been filled by such people as Shintaro. In the crowded society of today's Japan, there are fewer possibilities. The stories of Shintaro, Nojima, and Tatsuya, therefore, can be seen as the history of shrinking physical space, declining opportunity, and narrowing concepts of the individual and his life.


Kato Hidetoshi's Data Base
Document ID Number: