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Japanese Youth Culture Today: “Play” as a Way of Life

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2024

Syun Inoue
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In recent years many essays have been made public and various opinions have been advanced on youth. I would like to conceive one of the salient characteristics in the consciousness and the behavior pattern of today's youth as “play-orientedness” and center my discussion on that particular inclination. “Play-orientedness” here is not intended to mean merely “activeness in sports and hobbies,” nor is it synonymous with “pleasure-orientedness.” It is a broader term and is rather close in meaning to what is commonly called “the spirit of play.” We might perhaps define it as “play as a way of life,” or an inclination to introduce elements of “play” into one's daily life and make his actual life “play-like.”

Type
Notes and Discussion
Information
Diogenes , Volume 21 , Issue 84 , December 1973 , pp. 84 - 100
Copyright
Copyright © 1973 Fédération Internationale des Sociétés de Philosophie / International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP)

Footnotes

The chief books I used as material in preparing this paper are as follows: Kōhei Oku, Seishun no Bohyō (The Grave-Stone of Youth), Tokyo, Bungeishunjūsha, 1965; Noboru Ishihara, ed., Naze Watashi wa Gureta ka (Why I went Astray), Tokyo, Meijitosho, 1965; Ichiyō Mutō, ed., Gakusei Undō (The Student Movement), Tokyo, Chikuma Shobō, 1969; Nippon Daigaku Bunri Gakubu Tōsō Iinkai, ed., Hangyaku no Barikèdo (The Barricade of Revolt), Tokyo, Sanichi Shobō, 1969; TBS Radio Co., ed., Mo Hitotsu no Betsu no Hiroba (One More Plaza), Tokyo, Bronzusha, 1969; Mitsuko Tokoro, Waga Ai to Hangyaku (My Love and Rebellion), Tokyo, Zeneisha, 1969; Masami Okamoto and Kōichi Murao, Daigaku Gerira no Uta (The Ballad of College Guerrilla), Tokyo, Sanseidō, 1969; Ryōsuke Hanabusa, Rakugaki Tōsō (Grafitti Warfare), Tokyo, Seishun Shuppansha, 1970; Kazumi Takahashi, ed., Asu eno Sōretsu (The Funeral Procession Marching towards Tomorrow), Tokyo, Gōdōshuppan, 1970; Isami Yoshihara et al., Joshi Zengakuren Gonin no Shuki (Notes of Five Women Members of the National Federation of Student Self-Government Association), Tokyo, Jiyū Kokuminsha, 1970; Yomiuri Shinbun Shakaibu, ed., Wakamono no Ikigai (The Life Worth Living for Young People), Tokyo, Eru Shuppansha, 1970; Osamu Kitayama, Sensō o Shiranai Kodomotachi (Children Who Do Not Know War), Tokyo, Buronzusha, 1971; Etsuko Takano, Nijussai no Genten (The Origin for a Twenty-Year-Old Youth), Tokyo, Shinchōsha, 1971.

References

1 On the Social background of "the cult of actual feeling," see Keiichi Sakuta, "'Jikkan Shinko' no Kozo" ("The Structure of ‘the cult of actual feeling"’) in Haji no Bunka Saiko (The Shame Culture Reconsidered), Tokyo, Chikuma Shobo, 1967, pp. 187-214.

2 Isami Yoshihara et al., op. cit., pp. 35-37.

3 Yomiuri Shinbun Shakaibu, ed., op. cit., p. 206.

4 See Kenneth Keniston, The Uncommitted: Alienated youth in American Society, New York, Harcourt, Brace & World, 1965, pp. 84-103.

5 See Reuel Denny, "American Youth Today: A Bigger Cast, a Wider Screen," in Erik H. Erikson, ed., Youth: Change and Challenge, New York, Basic Books, 1963, pp. 131-151.

6 See Roger Caillois, "Jeu et sacré," in L'homme et le sacré, seconde édition, Paris, Gallimard, 1950, pp. 208-224.

7 The figure is based on the often quoted data obtained from surveys on people's aims in life. Those who answered, "I want to live a pure and just life," or, "I want to devote myself to society," are classed as being "seriousness (social values)-oriented." Those who answered "I want to be wealthy," or "I want to be famous," are classed as being "utility (worldly success)-oriented." Those who answered, "I want to live an easy life taking each day as it comes," or, "I want to live a life to my taste leaving wealth or fame out of consideration," are classed as being "play (personal freedom)- oriented." Of course these items do not accurately cover all the aspects of our categories of "seriousness," "utility" and "play." The figure, therefore, should be taken only as showing rough trends.

Source: Tokei Suri Kenkyusho, Nihonjin no Kokuminsei (The National Character of the Japanese People), Tokyo, Shiseido, 1970; Sorifu Kohoshitsu, Gekkan Yoron Chosa (The Monthly Report on Public Opinion Polls), Vol. 3, No. 7, July 1971.

8 On such high school students' cases, see Makoto Toyoda, "Josho Shiko no Soshitsu" ("The Loss of an Aspiration to Climb the Ladder of Success,") Asahi Journal, Vol., 12, No. 12, Mar. 1970.

9 See T. W. Adorno et al., The Authoritarian Personality, New York, Harper & Brothers, 1950, pp. 767-771, pp. 778-781.

10 See Erik H. Erikson, " Youth: Fidelity and Diversity," in Erikson, ed., op. cit., pp. 1-23.

11 See S. N. Eisenstadt, "Archetypal Patterns of Youth," in Erikson, ed., op. cit., pp. 24-42.

12 See Burton R. Clark, Educating the Expert Society, Chandler publishing Co., 1962, cited in D. Gottlieb and C. E. Ramsey, The American Adolescent, The Dorsey Press, 1964, pp. 26-27.

13 See Talcott Parsons, The Social System, The Free Press of Glencoe, Illinois, 1951, pp. 306-307.

14 See Junzo Karaki, "Kaidai," ("Explanatory Notes on The Youth") in Ogai Mori, Seinen (The Youth), Iwanami Bunko, 1948, pp. 214-215.

15 Emperor Taisho's era extending from 1912 to 1926.

16 Isamu Togawa, Sengo Fuzoku Shi (A History of Japanese Life and Manners after World War II), Tokyo, Sekkasha, 1960, p. 181.

17 Tomitaro Karasawa, Nihonjin o Rirekisho (The Curriculum Vitae of the Japanese People), Tokyo, Yomiuri Shinbunsha, 1967, p. 300.

18 See Takuzo Isobe and Syun Inoue, "Seishinteki Shitsugyo no Jidai" ("An age of Psychological Unemployment,") Bessatsu Keizai Hyoron, No. 4, Spring 1971.

19 See T. Parsons, op. cit., pp. 304-305.