Expectations of Failure: Maturity and Masculinity for Freeters in Contemporary Japan

Abstract

Work and masculinity are inextricably linked in postwar Japan. Although the employment system has changed in the last 20 years it appears that social attitudes of what men should do and be are changing at a slower pace. Men and women of varied ages continue to stress that men should be responsible breadwinners, husbands and fathers. Male freeters, many of whom are attempting to pursue and create alternative lifestyles, are often unable and unwilling to fill this normative role. This paper explores how male freeters negotiate dominant discourses of work, masculinity and maturity in their attempts to create alternative lifestyles whilst simultaneously expecting to fail. Furthermore, it argues for a deeper analysis of women's effects on the construction of masculinities in Japan. I've been a freeter for seven years now, since I was seventeen. When I started this job I was nineteen years old and I thought that working here would be really good, but these days I don't feel that. The pay is really low and the job is not so secure. A couple of months ago I had an accident and had to take some time off and of course I couldn't get paid for the time I wasn't here, so I had a hard time paying my rent and bills. It was really stressful. This month I took the exam to become a full-time employee but I failed it again. They have a set number they can accept and I'm the youngest to take it so far so each time they pass me over. Anyway, I had to take time to study for the exam so this month I only earned 76,000 yen so it's really tight again. I'm starting to think I should try something else instead. I want to get married and have a family in the future but working like this it'll never be possible… Interview with K-san, July 2007 Emma E. COOK is an Adjunct lecturer, Hosei University, Meiji Gakuin University and can be reached by e-mail at emecook@ yahoo.com. *With sincere thanks to Mr. Yutaka Sakai whose help was vital in organising a place of employment for my fieldwork, and to the three anonymous peer reviewers and Editors of SSJJ whose comments were of great benefit during the revision process. 1. In 2009 the percentage of irregular workers rose to 37.8% in Japan (Weathers 2009). Since 2011 the figure purportedly hovers at around 35% (Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications 2012).

Gender Role Attitudes: An Examination of Cohort Effects in Japan

“…Because Japanese corporations prefer to hire new graduates (Sugimoto, ), most underemployed individuals from the 1990s and 2000s were unable to position themselves for better jobs even after economic recovery (Takeyama, ; Yu, ). The male‐as‐sole‐breadwinner marriage ideal became out of reach for many (Cook, ). During this time, the unmarried population further increased, and so did the number of divorces and single‐mother households (Alexy, ; Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, ).…”

“…First, despite the Japanese government's efforts to promote gender equality and nontraditional gender roles, the gendered division of labor persists in most marriages, and traditional views toward gender roles have prevailed (Raymo, Park, Xie, & Yeung, ; Tsuya et al, ). At the same time, the percentage of young men and women in nonregular or nonstandard employment has surged (Piotrowski, Kalleberg, & Rindfuss, ; Raymo & Shibata, ; Yu, ), and this has made the male‐breadwinner/female‐homemaker model increasingly unattainable for many of the younger cohorts (Cook, ; Yu, ). Thus, understanding the circumstances behind persistent traditionalism has policy implications for Japan.…”

The state of anthropology in and of Japan: a review essay

“…Other anthropological scholars have recently focused on very specific groups of Japanese individuals who have rejected or adapted in one way or another to the rather fixed ways of family life that had come to be expected by senior generations, such as the variety of people described as 'freeters' (Cook 2013(Cook , 2014; feminists (Dales 2009); women who have babies out of wedlock (Hertog 2009); men who have gradually become more involved in childcare (Nakatani 2006); and young people who reject marriage and child-bearing altogether (Jolivet 1997, Lunsing 2001. Much of Tom Gill's (2001Gill's ( , 2015 work brings a reader deeply into the lives of younger generations who find themselves without permanent homes in Japan, and Nakamura (2013) and Ozawa da Silva (2006) present careful and meticulous work on mental illness À or what Nakamura describes as 'disability of the soul' À and forms of psychotherapy in Japan.…”

Intimate expectations and practices: freeter relationships and marriage in contemporary Japan

“…For example, it has been argued that women (especially those who are highly educated) are increasingly doubtful that they will be able to find someone who will share the burden of raising a family (Ehara 2005;Nagase 2006;Tsuya and Bumpass 2004); that continued gender inequalities force women to choose either families or careers due to persistent ideas that stipulate that women (and men) take on specific roles at marriage (Nemoto 2008;Ono 2003;Tokuhiro 2010); that the "opportunity cost" of marriage for women who earn well in good jobs has increased, thereby leading to more women delaying marriage; and that women (of varied educational backgrounds) are not interested in low income men but strive to marry those with high incomes, who are becoming scarcer (Honda 2002;Raymo and Iwasawa 2005). For men in low-income positions, such as freeters and other irregular workers, it is argued that they are unable or find it difficult to marry because of their low incomes (Bumpass et al 2009;Cook 2013;Yamada 2006). Furthermore, they argue that these men continue to consider marriage in terms of traditional gender-segregated roles: men as the breadwinner, women as the housewife and carer.…”

“…As I have discussed elsewhere (Cook 2013), men's irregular employment status often became a source of conflict for men in serious relationships, with girlfriends making it clear that marriage would be an impossibility without a change in employment status. However, the majority of freeters I met were yet to marry and thus could only speak of intimacy within their romantic (non-marital) relationships and what they imagined desiring in a marital partner, as discussed earlier in the article.…”