GAP-JOURNAL 2012/13 - AFA

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new definition ofmasculinity, the ideal position insociety. Due to the obedience and
absolute loyalty shown bythose salarymen, they were also called “corporate warriors”
which makes thelink toJapan’s samurai past even moreexplicit (Dasgupta, 2000: 192).
New Values
The basics of samurai ethics are still part of Japanese culture and can be found in many
examples of daily life. However, since the 1980’s, things have begun to change
(Trommsdorff, 1986: 178). Young Japanese have not experienced the hardships of the
war and the reconstruction period as their parents have. They donot see the point in
devoting their lives to work and are much more interested intheir personal enjoyment.
Furthermore, the prolonged recession and struggling economyhas led tothe questioning
of the praised “Japanese model” as companies have lost their unconditional security of
life time employment and not all graduates are able to find jobs (Herbig, Borstorff,
1995: 65). Young Japanese (herereferred to peopleaged below 30) are also increasingly
aware ofalternative ways oflife, and “un-Japanese behaviour” promoted byWestern
mediaisonthe rise –tothe contempt of Japans older generation (Wulf, 1987: 174).
New Economyand Employment Culture
The drop of the average Nikkei index of63% between December1989 and August 1992
marked the burst of the Japanese economic bubble and Japan saw adrastic end ofits
“miracle economy” (Freedman, 2006: 49). Average GDP growth rate dropped to 0.76%
in the period between 1992 and 2011 as compared to 6.1% between 1961 and 1991
(World Bank, 2013). The prolonged slow economic growth has had multiple impacts on
the Japanese society and ithas also forced companies torethink their hiring strategies.
Economic giants like Panasonic orSony have had to lay-off staff, acomplete novelty in
post-war Japan (Kawamoto, 2012), (Bishop, 2012). However, as many companies are
reluctant to fire employees, due to cultural and contractual reasons, they are finding
other creative ways toreduce personnel costs. In order todeal with increasing economical
fluctuations, new employment models, like work-sharing or the hiring oftemporary
workers via agencies, are onthe rise (Kageyama, 2009). Those developments have
made it increasingly difficult for Japanese graduates tofind their way into full time
employment as hiring freeze policies are one of the common measures to reduce
employee numbers (Donkin, 1999: 2).
Education ishighly valued inJapan, asithas long been aguarantee for anemployment
and asafe place in society and lifelong learning isone of the basic values of Confu-