Japan′s Shinjinrui: the new breed

Abstract

Shinjinrui: who are they and why did they become who they are? Japanese in their 20s and early 20s differ so much from preceding generations that they are called -and call themselves -Shinjinrui, or "the new race". The term characterizes the children who have grown up in the Japan of the 1970s and 1980s, in an affluent, wealthy, powerful, influential, arrogant Japan. This new generation wishes to enjoy the fruits of affluence, having grown up after the era of post-war reconstruction and sacrifice. The term was coined during 1985 when the Asahi Journal ran a series of interviews with young Japanese. "Shinjinrui no Kishutachi -standard bearers of the new breed" was the title of the series by Tetsuya. It was a double pun on shinjin-rui (new faces) and shin-jinrui (new human race) -hence the term "new breed".Members of the new breed are actually different from their predecessors. Between 1965 and 1985, the average height for Japanese men increased over 7 centimetres (almost 3 inches) and the average weight increased by 5 kilograms (11 pounds), while the average height for Japanese women increased almost 6 centimetres (2 1 ⁄ 2 inches) but the average weight by only 1.4 kilograms (3 pounds). They spent their infancy during Japan's high growth era with good nutritious food, better than the previous generation, but fast food products during that same time frame gained popularity and impacted on their health. Instead of exercising during the day, they usually spent their time studying and, as a result, most have lost the muscle tone that previous generations had.Roughly 30 per cent of Japan's 120 million people qualify for Shinjinrui status, trained for and expecting high level jobs. Japan ranks second only to the USA among the leading industrial powers in its percentage of adults with college degrees (Kotkin and Kishimoto, 1988). Politically in present day Japan, not only do most younger Japanese show no leftist leanings, they also show absolutely no interest in politics at all. They are called Shirake Sedai, the "reactionless" generation (Woronoff, 1981).Many of the reasons that created the Shinjinrui were formed from the social distortions that the frenetic post-war economic boom imposed on the Japanese family, particularly the single-minded work orientation among Japanese men. For all practical purposes deserted by their husbands, Japanese mothers, who

Japanese Tourism Values

“…There has been a stream of literature in Japan on shinjinruithe "new human beings" or "new breed," who demonstrate a new attitude toward leisure activities and travel. Herbig and Borstorff's (1995) study of shinjinrui found that they focus on having fun and enjoying life. Leisure time is highly important for this group; they make a clear distinction between leisure and work time and are willing to spend a relatively large proportion of their income on leisure activities.…”

“…The values and travel characteristics of many of the backpackers can best be understood and interpreted with reference to the literature on shinjinrui. According to Herbig and Borstorff (1995), a key aspect defining shinjinrui is a desire to be different. "The definition of a shinjinrui is to be different from everyone else, to do what you want" (Herbig and Borstorff 1995, p. 53) and this value was strongly evident in the interviews.…”

“…(The word shakaijin translates as social being or public person.) However, it is becoming apparent that a critical mass of the shinjinrui are resisting becoming shakaijin and remaining shijinrui (Herbig and Borstorff 1995). It is predicted that as this group grows and takes more responsibility, the entire society will change the way it thinks of leisure, and this will be important in understanding changes in the Japanese market over the next few decades.…”

New Organizational Forms, Human Resource Management and Structural Convergence? A Study of Japanese Organizations

“…This is representative of wider attempts to stave off compulsory redundancies by such means as compulsory transfers to suppliers, forced early retirement and little, or no, recruitment (Schmidt 1997). While this is essentially an effort to maintain employment, it will, inevitably, have negative implications, particularly for middle-aged and older workers, including career plateaus (Suzuki 1996), and may give rise to new value systems for younger Japanese workers (Herbig and Borstorff 1995). This inevitably has a consequence for managerial motivation and more general, management development issues (Brown et al 1997;Dore 1989;Lincoln and Kalleberg 1990;Lowe et al 2000;Storey et al 1997).…”

Geração Y e educação financeira

“…Para essa geração, a busca por qualidade de vida, liberdade e flexibilidade está gradualmente substituindo os valores fundamentais do trabalho e da segurança de um emprego vitalício (SCHIFFMAN; KANUK, 2007;CENNAMO;GARDNER, 2008;FILENGA;. Motivações de consumo, percepção de risco e de valor do dinheiro estão mudando gradualmente, e, em alguns casos essa mudança traz efeitos negativos para a sociedade (TWENGE;CAMPBELL, 2008;HERBIG;BORSTORFF, 1995;HEANEY, 2007).…”