Urbanization has brought a new set of environmental
problems in Japan. With most youths living in cities, it would be interesting
to understand their consumer culture. In Japan, the people under 30 years old
are known as Shinjinrui, ‘new breed’
when translated, has been of growing concern lately. Scholars have documented a
shift in culture and consumption pattern in Japan’s society as influenced by
capitalist development. This post will dissect the changing consumer patterns
in Japan and discuss how such deviation would breed a host of environmental
problems. In essence, I argue that the fabricated cultural backdrop of Japan
and the superficial traits of non-conformist Shinjinrui have developed their
excessive consumption practices today.
Background
Shinjinrui are Japanese in their twenties whom have
grown up in a wealthy Japan of the 1970s and 1980s, missing the era of post-war
sacrifice and reconstruction (Herbig, 1995).
The word ShinjinruiI is a double pun;
Shinjin-rui (new faces) and Shin-jinrui (new human race). Youths
from this generation are also known as the ‘goldfish generation’ as they are
sheltered and pampered by their parents (ibid.).
Thus, most yearn to indulge in an affluent lifestyle without the need for hard
work. A prominent characteristic of the Shinjinrui is the need for
self-actualization and instant gratification, with an absorption in fashion and
leisure-time pursuits (Hayashi, 1988 and Iwata, 1985).
Socializing for self-identity
Shinjinrui are in a flux of searching their identity
before entering the next social phase as a Shakaijin. A Shakaijin is when one assumes one’s social responsibilities. It is translated as “social being” or “public person”, and happens when a girl gets married while a guy gets a job (Herbig, 1995). During this pre-Shakaijin period, the youths create a sub-culture where friends
are seen as the priority of their life. Socializing with various non-overlapping
group of friends allow them to bring out different facets of their personality,
aiding in the establishment of their own unique identity (Herbig, 1995).
Since most young Japanese have one or no sibling, having a supportive network
can supplement the loss sense of security and companionship (ibid.). Thus, socializing with friends is imperative and it is where most consumption
of services occurs (ibid.). The need to portray a certain degree of rebelliousness is reflected in their
excessive consumption pattern. Having this freedom to consume means that
Shinjinrui are no longer confined to past rules where distribution of goods and
services was dependent on an individual’s social rank during the Tsunayoshi’s
rule (Totman, 1989).
Such ‘samuraization of the commoners’ phenomena started after the Meji
Restoration whereby the hierarchical social class order was lifted and
commoners has access to elite samurai products (Schnell, 2007).
Placing this in today’s context, the Shinjinrui are branding themselves as exclusive
entities with access to global products that represent individuality and which celebrate
their social freedom. Young unmarried woman does most travelling at this
pre-Shakaijin period (Herbig, 1995)
and since travelling is carbon-intensive, youths can expect to have a high
aggregate carbon footprint.
Instant Gratification violates Inter-generational
Principle
The Shinjinrui are impatient, as they want their needs
and desires to be satisfied fast, and are not dithered to purchase on credit
(Herbig, 1995).
When this psychological void is fulfilled through the purchase of commodities,
exploitation of resources occurs rampantly. Such therapeutic shopping is
unsustainable and is fuelling the aggregate demand for a continuum of
unnecessary products. Looking at this from a macroeconomic scale, multiplier
effect kicks in and aggregate supply increases exponentially. Considering the
basis that all goods comes from the environmental capital, current rate of
consumption is utilizing future resources and the endowed inter-generational
equity is compromised significantly.
This wasteful spending and lack of appreciation for
value could never be truly understood by the Shinjinrui. It is challenging for them
to objectify what is necessary for living as they grew in an affluent family
that has cultivated their selfish and egocentric self (ibid.).
The younger generations lack the material hardship that their forefathers
experienced due to inexperience in warfare. The Shinjinrui has thus never
tasted real hunger and deprivation and does not worship the idea of mottai-nai, which the older generations
do. Mottai-nai is a concept that
whining over material hardship when conditions are improving is shameful (ibid.).
It is only Japanese over 50 years old whom understand this notion practices
frugality. Comparatively, the Shinjinrui are then practicing an imprudent
lifestyle that is highly unsustainable.
Individualism and the Disposable Home Culture
Another trait of the Shinjinrui is their high level
of individualism. This is influenced by the increased level of exposure to
other cultures, in particular West ideas and practices. As evident in the
changing social structure within households, the traditional 3 generations per
household has conceded to the nuclear family unit, typical of the West (Iwao,
1988).
Affluence has also made it possible for youths to challenge traditional
behavior by moving out of their family and staying alone as aristocratic
singles, known as Dokushin Kizoku (Herbig,
1995). According to the Statistics Bureau of
Japan, 56.3% of the population is nuclear-family households, with a steady
increase in proportion of one-person household over the years (refer to Figure
1). As of 2010, there are 2.42 members per household.
Figuratively, this transcends into a problem in relation to the disposal home
culture in the country. Since a detached house in Japan has an average lifespan
of 30 years, people view house as a perishable item.
In addition, land tenure is never certain as the Japanese Ministry of Construction
adopts hard social tool, by expropriating landowners, in attaining land for dam
sites (Aldrich, 2008).
Such cycle of demolishing and rebuilding houses results in heaps of
construction wastes that are impractical to recycle.
Considering the rise of smaller families, demand for houses will increase and
with the disposable home trend, more wastes will be generated and illegal
disposal of waste results. Extrapolating this to the future, stress would be
placed on construction material, primarily imported woods, and deprives pollution
sinks from restoring its function, as land would be freed for residential
estates and dumping ground.
Figure 1: Statistics on average family
member per household (Source: Statistics Bureau)
Misappropriate Cultural Upbringing about ‘Nature’
Since the past, there was a misaligned view about
‘nature’ and this legacy was passed down to the Shinjinrui. Japanese tried to
control and even dominate nature in various ways, causing over-exploitation of
resources since medieval times (Totman, 1989).
They have a predisposition of assessing nature based on its aesthetic value and
the religious engagement it has. The connection between man, nature and Shinto
stems from Buddhist preaching where kami
(divinity) takes the form of natural landscape and features and provides human
with a feeling of awe and spirituality (Kalland and Asquith, 1997). Natural phenomena are thus an offspring of
deities. However, such perception has constructed a view that nature can be
healed if the people worship deities in shrines and temples. The adoration for
harmonious co-existence with nature is manifested in the idea of furusato (rural hometown) lifestyle
(Moon, 1997). Due to urbanization, villagers has lost their distinctiveness and thus evoked a
nostalgic sense of homelessness, a postmodern condition (Robertson, 1988).
In a bid to revive furusato, the process of furusato-zukuri
(native-making) has taken on a new form of village revitalization where ecotourism
aims to satisfy the new furusato. However, the Shinjinru will never be able to
achieve furusato again as it is no longer possible to return to a native place,
resulting in homelessness from within (ibid.). This is because the approach of using ecotourism to recreate furusato only
further exploits nature through its commoditization. As objects are redefined
in the process, there is distortion to the original meaning of ‘nature’ because
human domination is labeled as the right appropriation (Moon, 1997). This is exemplified by numerous projects that select charismatic species for
conservation, instead of promoting the delicate ecological web of nature as a
whole. Such wrong perception about ‘nature’ when passed down to the Shinjinrui,
will only justify the continued commodification of natural resources.
With the commercialization of nature, there is an
emphasis of form over content (Kirby, 2011)
that has promoted excessive consumption among the Shinjinrui. ‘Form over content’ is the emphasis of the product rather than the process. As illustrated by recyclable collection process, “more emphasis was placed on having the bags out in time for collection, on positioning the bags correctly at the appointed waste station, and on making sure that the waste station was swept and tidy after collection took place” (Kirby, 2011) rather than inspecting what was inside the bags to ensure proper categorization of waste was made. Such practices were promulgated by the synthetic
idea and “sacred nothing principle”. According to the synthetic idea, an ideal
abstraction is created artificially, with the faux being favored over the
organic.
This is represented in bonsai cultivation, which seeks to create a miniaturized
version of nature.
For the “sacred nothing” principle, it is linked to the concept of Shinto again.
In this moral system devoid of absolutes, the image of an Emperor is ambiguous
and hence is self-seeking. The process of seeking one’s identity through
superficial aspects of the self is the bedrock for excessive consumption. This
preoccupation with fantasy and the desire to recreate it in reality has been
discussed above and. Constructing self-identity through purchase of commodities
presents an implicit representation of an individual’s social status through
their consumption pattern. Such constant pursuit for materialism then propels
unnecessary consumption that is damaging to the environment.
Education System
Besides the
cultural influence, the Shinjinrui are brought up in an educational system with
a hidden political agenda that justifies certain kinds of environmental
pollution. Educational site visits are used as propaganda to gain public
acceptance on dam construction and has proven effective. The Japanese has used
computer games, comics and other resource toolkits to highlight the dependence
of dams. The Ministry of Education has even approved a manga titled Mizu no boken, to educate kids about the
Ryumon Dam (Aldrich, 2008). Despite knowing that dams are damaging to the marine ecosystem of the area, the
project still got the backing of the government. This trivializes the
environmental damage of dams and creates a veneer for the Shinjinru that the
Japanese government is doing the right thing for the people.
In an attempt
to knock some consciousness in the minds of the young, filmmakers such as
Miyazaki Hayo has created a series of animes such as Spirited Away. In this box
movie hit, a connection between shojo
(young girl) and the excessive consumption pattern of current day was
illustrated to the audience. However, the messages have liminal impact as
Shinjinrui are constantly detached from nature since young. This variance in
life between Shinjinrui and the traditional kids can be displayed by Totman’s
depiction of what an 8-year-old boy should be; gathering grass for animals and
collecting horse dung along the road (Totman, 1989). The ease of withdrawing oneself from nature is further promoted in the
education syllabus of the young. Since post war period, Japan’s education
curriculum has been focused on individualism and internationality, in a bid by
Former Prime Minister Nakasone, to redefine the postwar culture (Robertson,
1988).
These hidden political agenda can then negate the entropic decay of the
environment and depreciates the environmental stock endowed by previous
generations.
Job
Preference encourage Industry Relocation Overseas
The Shinjinrui are not interested in agricultural nor
industrial menial work, forcing the trans-migration of energy intensive
industries. A large shrinkage of full time farmers has been observed since the
Meiji period due to absence of furusato-zukuri,
which taps on the affective emotions of people to entice them back to rural
villages (ibid.).
In the industry pipeline, young applicants generally are not receptive to
factory work. To counter such anti-industrial attitudes, companies are looking
to robotize manufacturing procedures or relocate factories overseas, in
particular Southeast Asian countries (Herbig, 1995).
As the youths push forth for this trend, Japan is seen as a country that
exports their wastes, displaying an environmentally irresponsible attitude to
other nations.
Foreseeing the future of Japan is nothing more than
worrisome as the Shinjinrui are in inept in addressing potential environmental
problems. Most young Japanese are only concerned with short-term problems that
only affect themselves. They lack the initiative to take up challenges and thus
might be consistently reliant on the government for solutions. To quote, the
Shinjinrui “have a passing awareness of, but not undue concern over, mankind
facing a global crisis. Involvement in environmental issues, popular with youth
and young adults in other countries, has not become an issue for the youth”
(Herbig, 1995).
Ignorance on environmental issues is breeding amongst the Shinjinru till today
and it does not seem to be improving.
Conclusion
The Shinjinrui are placing Japan on a trajectory of
environmental decline. Drawing parallels to the West, the Shinjinrui is akin to the West X Generation. Studies
have reported a transient shift towards Western ideals in Japan, and a
burgeoning concern is the replication of such practices. Their domination over
nature has been culturally constructed since the past and the affluent family
background has exacerbated excessive consumption. As we extrapolate the
Shinjinrui attitudes into the future, a bigger environmental burden is expected
with a larger spectrum of environmental problems emerging. Since the youths
lack initiative in tacking these issues, the government is given this task of
seeking solutions for the population. Judging by the various hidden political
agendas, it seems like Japan will only con
dorn more environmentally abusive practices legalized
by laws. It is thus imperative to treat the root cause, by re-adjusting
Shinjinrui consumption pattern and if
we succeed, an antidote for the future would have been found. Mankind need not
worry over mistreatment of our inherited environment but instead focus on
restoration of nature in present day.
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