Author Description

Over the past thirty years, at the same time as Japan has produced a diverse set of youth cultures - such as anime and manga - which have had a major impact on popular culture across the globe, it has also developed a succession of youth problems which have led to major concerns within the country itself. Drawing on detailed empirical fieldwork, the authors set these issues in a clearly articulated 'social constructionist' framework, and put forth a sociology of Japanese youth problems which argues that the Japanese media draw on an equally, if not more, perplexing gallery of social categories when it discusses youth than affluent Western societies such as the US or UK. Moreover, the book contends that Japan is no less replete with social problems involving young people and no less capable of generating hysteria over the fate of its youth. The chapters include case studies covering issues such as: Returnee children, Compensated dating, Corporeal punishment, Child abuse, The withdrawn youth, NEET (not in education, employment or training). By examining these various social problems collectively, A sociology of Japanese youth shows how seemingly disparate events follow a similar pattern and how clusters of concepts are historically linked.