Why are Japanese obsessed with childhood?

HopefulNihilist said:
Probably because being an adult in Japan sucks, as they work like 12 hours a day..

CordobezEverdeen said:

This.

And also because "dark" stories rarely go mainstream on this medium.
And if they do they werent truly dark in the first place (looking at you Madoka Magica!).

But most importanly what Nihilist said. Living in Japan its garbage so anime is full on escapism (just look at SAO-Kitsune Senko san and isekai).

Ryuk9428 said:
I've heard that a lot of the Japanese really long for their teenage years when they become adults. I'm not even Japanese but I can understand that sentiment. I find myself kind of doing the same sometimes.

Krystopher said:

what are you talking about even the light anime is dark af, its not that the animes arent dark enough, they are, its just that they’re always revolving around teenage angst rather than more adult characters unless those characters are side characters like Kakashi

starlessn1ght said:
Speaking as someone who's in their sophomore year in college, I find myself drawn to stories about childhood/adolescence like I've never been before. Once you graduate high school you're never going to get that kind of experience before. Everything matters more, everything is fresh and new, there's a whole universe of things to discover and explore and you have your entire life ahead of you. The comforting certainty that you will see your friends and teachers and your school and everything will go back to normal after summer's over will vanish as soon as you leave HS as well.

That's why I can understand the need for so many High School (or Middle/Elementary school) settings. Because it's a special time and being an adult sucks. One of the reasons I watch anime is to forget, at least for 20 minutes, that I've graduated HS and that I'm not a miserable college student with a terribly dull life. I believe many others also feel that way.

Krystopher said:
Ok so I know most anime is intended for a young male audience so it makes to have young characters a lot, but like Dragon Ball Z was shonen and had a adult main characters and is the most popular franchise around the world for decades. It gets tiring when you have this medium with probably more potential than any other too tell incredibly deep stories but youre always trapped by the same shonen tropes revolving around coming of age and teenage drama bs. Why can’t we have more stories like Berserk? I get it that there’s a lot of deepness in the freudian aspects of childhood and these make for some deep character studies like Evangelion but ITS BEEN DONE TO DEATH.

Krystopher said:
Ok so I know most anime is intended for a young male audience so it makes to have young characters a lot, but like Dragon Ball Z was shonen and had a adult main characters and is the most popular franchise around the world for decades. It gets tiring when you have this medium with probably more potential than any other too tell incredibly deep stories but youre always trapped by the same shonen tropes revolving around coming of age and teenage drama bs. Why can’t we have more stories like Berserk? I get it that there’s a lot of deepness in the freudian aspects of childhood and these make for some deep character studies like Evangelion but ITS BEEN DONE TO DEATH.

Milk_is_Special said:
Childhood/Teenage years are the most enjoyable years for most Japanese people, as the work ethic and such are way stricter and way more exhausting than the one in the west, resulting in most Japanese people hating their adult life.

Ryuk9428 said:


You know, despite all I've heard about people saying the Japanese work crazy amounts of hours and stuff like that, whenever I've actually seen research data on it, it actually indicates that Americans work more than the Japanese do? Many of these studies actually specifically point out that we work more than the Japanese do because of the perception that they work harder. Compared to Europe, yeah the Japanese work a lot, but I'm not sure if they actually work harder than Americans do or if Americans just really downplay how much we work while Japan makes a big issue of being overworked.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=93364&page=1

https://20somethingfinance.com/american-hours-worked-productivity-vacation/

https://thumbor.forbes.com/thumbor/1280x868/https%3A%2F%2Fblogs-images.forbes.com%2Fniallmccarthy%2Ffiles%2F2018%2F01%2F20180108_Hours_Worked.jpg

AngryCactus said:


I think you have a great point. Whenever work or studying is involved in in an anime, it usually goes out of its way to point out how fatigued and diligent the characters are. More so than American TV at least. At the same time, I don't think many Americans go to crams schools, or go to school nearly year round.

Ryuk9428 said:


I also looked at what school life is like in Japan.

They basically have three semesters that are 12 weeks long. In-between each semester they get a 4 week break. In the US, we instead have 1 long summer break that is 10 weeks, a two week long Christmas break, and a 1 week long spring break.

So if you measure it out by break time, its actually almost exactly the same, its just split up differently.

The hours they spend in class are actually somewhat lower too. in the US it is mandated that students spend 6 hours in class per day. In Japan, they have 6 classes that are 50 minutes long each adding up to more like 5 hours per day.

It seems to me that the US is just completely unaware of just how much we work whereas Japan might have a very strong perception that they are a hardworking country and exports that image to the rest of the world. While they definitely do work more than Europe which places a lot of emphasis on work-life balance, they don't seem to be, according to research data, quite as workaholic as Americans are. That doesn't mean that the work they do doesn't tire them out more than it tires out Americans though. A lot of Americans seem to have almost superhuman levels of energy that never runs out. They feel a need to be busy all the time and can't stand just relaxing. The Japanese might be working hard despite lower overall energy levels than Americans.

AngryCactus said:


Oh man you weren't kidding. I feel slightly less lazy now. Perhaps the over-saturation of glorifying overwork in anime was a government ploy to get Japanese people to work harder all along haha.

Ryuk9428 said:


You know, despite all I've heard about people saying the Japanese work crazy amounts of hours and stuff like that, whenever I've actually seen research data on it, it actually indicates that Americans work more than the Japanese do? Many of these studies actually specifically point out that we work more than the Japanese do because of the perception that they work harder. Compared to Europe, yeah the Japanese work a lot, but I'm not sure if they actually work harder than Americans do or if Americans just really downplay how much we work while Japan makes a big issue of being overworked.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=93364&page=1

https://20somethingfinance.com/american-hours-worked-productivity-vacation/

https://thumbor.forbes.com/thumbor/1280x868/https%3A%2F%2Fblogs-images.forbes.com%2Fniallmccarthy%2Ffiles%2F2018%2F01%2F20180108_Hours_Worked.jpg

zagzee said:


IDK about these sources and I'm going to have to largely disagree.

The inherent problem of overwork is ingrained in the Japanese culture. Most don't leave until the boss leaves. Recently a production assistant from Madhouse was hospitalized from overwork. Obviously this is an extreme example from the anime industry, but this isn't that far off from your typical office job. Japan has bad labor laws and an extreme work culture.

Ryuk9428 said:


It could be, but I actually feel that there's a bit of resentment towards the culture of overwork that is just bubbling under the surface and not getting outwardly expressed. Its generally taboo to complain a lot in Japan whereas Americans tend to complain very openly about the things they don't like. However, it seems to me that the Japanese are kind of resentful towards the pressures placed on them even if they don't want to say it. The images of all these people who are so overworked that they don't have time for friends or family could be an indirect way of expressing that "we work too hard as a society, look at how many people can't even enjoy their lives because of how much we work."

Sometimes its hard to get people to pay attention to your suffering if that person thinks you're only suffering to a moderate degree. Sometimes the best way to bring attention to an issue is to just slightly exaggerate it because extreme suffering is more demanding of attention than moderate suffering. If you were told to walk 20 minutes in the snow without a coat on for example, you might tell the person "its absolutely freezing out there, I could get hypothermia." You might then try to say that its more like a 30 minute walk and instead of saying its 29 degrees outside you might say "its in the 20s outside."

What I should also mention is that even though the research data indicates that they don't work quite as many hours as Americans do, this doesn't mean that extremely overworked individuals don't exist. Its more an indication that America has even more extremely overworked individuals than Japan does.

Ryuk9428 said:


Yeah but in the US, a lot of workers are pressured to keep working even after the boss has already left, leaving when the boss does would probably feel like a relief to them.

The US has no maximum number of working hours per week and no required vacations or holidays. Even Japan requires companies by law to give workers ten days per year of annual leave.

Like I mentioned, its not that overwork isn't a thing there, but it appears our overwork problem is even bigger than theirs is. Either that or they are having a harder time coping with it than the US is. The US has a lot of extreme personalities and one symptom of this are people who work inhuman amounts of hours and don't even seem to think its a very big deal. I knew one guy who had a job driving trucks 50 hours per week and also did delivery driver work for 35 hours per week. I asked him why the hell he was doing delivery work when he already had the truck driving job and his basic explanation was "I like having cash on hand that I can get immediately after work to buy beer and cigarettes with rather than waiting for a paycheck." That guy's working hours are actually comparable to the guy who got hospitalized.

AngryCactus said:


I like your logic. It seems like you've thought about this at some length before, was it something else or just this thread that prompted you to do some research?

zagzee said:


There might be overwork, I don't doubt it. But I don't think it really compares to the extremities of Japan's work culture. Also, IDK any relatives or friends that complain of overwork. They take & get plenty of days off. That uncapped relatively means nothing.

Plenty of companies violate the labor standards and get away with it. Besides, Japan has "paid" leave but it's more than likely unpaid. And that's even IF the employees leave. Because most don't, they would feel guilty if they did.

Overtime can often go unpaid as well.

Ryuk9428 said:


Yeah I've done a bit of research on this topic before this thread came up. Your comments are actually what made me think about the televised portrayals though which I hadn't quite thought of before.

I also just do a lot of research on the different aspects of different countries cultures. Like a lot of people wouldn't think about it, but much research indicates Mexico is one of the most overworked countries in the entire world easily surpassing both the US and Japan but you almost never hear about overwork and workaholics in relation to Mexico.

https://read.oecd-ilibrary.org/social-issues-migration-health/building-an-inclusive-mexico/mexico-is-overworked-long-commutes-long-work-weeks-and-long-annual-hours_9789264265493-graph16-en#page1

Ryuk9428 said:


Yeah, not every work culture in America is extreme because a lot of bosses recognize that a good work-life balance is good for people so they give them more time off than they are legally required to do. The same is true in Japan, not every boss is drilling his workers like a slavemaster and also recognize the need for good work-life balance. Most bosses aren't trying to force the majority of their workers to commit to more than the standard 40 hours per week and will encourage workers to take time off if they seem overworked. But in both the US and Japan, there aren't laws that actually prevent bosses from going off the rails and trying to act like a dictator over their company which is what you see happen sometimes.

I know people who've worked at US companies that without a doubt violated numerous labor laws. They probably could've been sued but people don't want to lose their job when they're young and just entered the workforce a few years ago. Imagine how difficult it would be to get a job when any employer could figure out that you sued your previous employer? That's not gonna look good on your resume at all.

AngryCactus said:


Hmm, I see.

I'd say that we don't tend to hear a lot about Mexican culture in general, but one of the stereotypes I was always exposed to from growing up in a city with a large Hispanic population was that Mexicans, or at least Mexican immigrants, worked far too hard, while simultaneously entertaining the stereotype that they were lazy and leeching off the system. I did do a quick search and from what I can tell you are right though. Mexico's definitely number one, perhaps apart from good ol North Korea who we can't get reliable data on.

Ryuk9428 said:


Yeah anything could be happening in North Korea, we wouldn't know it. China, Greece, Turkey, and South Korea work a lot too.

That's a stereotype I've heard about Mexicans too which is weird. Because I've actually seen several Republican politicians try to portray Mexicans as lazy and trying to leech off of America but at the same time it is well known that Mexicans are willing to work harder and for less money than American workers are, even to an extent which violates the labor laws, which is why so many companies want to employ them.

zagzee said:


Interesting how work culture can even come to overwork. Japan is the least productive of all G7 countries. That's probably because actually sleeping correlates with a more productive person & better work quality. Either way I wish them all the best & hope they sort it out.

zagzee said:


Most politicians just want to pander to their party. For some reason they'll always have support no matter what kind of stupid things they say or do.

Ryuk9428 said:


I've also heard that, and that one of the reasons for Japanese "working hours" being long is because they are incredibly unproductive at work. Office meetings drag on way longer than necessary and if a co-worker wants to talk to you, you can't just tell them "I have work to do, please leave me alone" or something along those lines, the "polite" thing to do is to socialize with them for as long as they want.

Germany on the other hand is very productive at work despite working much fewer hours because they try to cut out distractions and things like that out of work life as much as possible. Meetings are very short and people don't view the office as a "social environment" the way a lot of Americans do. In return though, they only typically have 6 hour work days along with a generous amount of time off. In this case, I think the US is more like Japan than Germany because US office life also has a lot of distractions.