Things in which young Japanese people are less interested

Today, a TV program introduced some social trends. According to it, young Japanese people tend to have no interest in some things that older generations have been eager to get. Although I've written about similar things before, I'll introduce some of their tendencies.

Compared with older generations, young Japanese people are not or less interested in the following things.

1.Cars
As I often wrote about it in my previous posts, many young men aren't interested in buying a own car. They prefer to rent cars when they really want to enjoy driving or need them. The number of new car sales in 2009 in Japan fell below 5 million for the first time in 31 years. It was caused by not only the current economic crisis but also this tendency. Surprisingly, about a quarter of young people have never been interested in cars.

2. Alcohol
Older generations sometime need liquid encouragement. They like talking with their friends while drinking to release their stress. In contrast, many young people basically don't like alcohol. Even young men prefer to talk with their friends at cafes instead of bars.

3.Going out for meal

4.Going on trips

5.Watching TV

6.Going to department stores.
When I was a little girl many years ago, department stores were sort of symbol of affluence. Many people were looking forward to buying something there. Today, shopping malls are everywhere. Some of them are original and have been fascinating younger generations. So, some major department stores were already forced to close. Also, It was announced that a few long-running department stores in Tokyo and Kyoto would close this year.

7.Expensive big-name brand goods.

I think these are enough, so I'll stop listing.
As I wrote in my previous post (please click here), since young Japanese people were born and raised in the affluent Japan, they basically have no desire for purchase.

Japanese young people having no desire for purchase

In Japan, people in their 40s and 50s tend to work hard in order to fulfill their extravagant desires. Since they were raised in the times when Japan wasn't affluent enough for them to easily buy ordinary things they wanted, it's been said that they have a relatively strong desire to lead a better life along with their favourite good-quality products. High on their list of desirables is trips abroad. Especially when they were young, these desires inspired them to work hard and helped them endure long working hours. High-end, quality cars always attracted them. Many of them preferred to wear brand-named outfits. Until recently, it was apparent that young people had been driving domestic consumption.

Today, young people no longer fulfil this role, which has resulted in the Japanese market being deprived of the driving forces of the domestic economy. They basically aren't interested in making new purchases. They consider it foolish that people spend a lot of money on extravagant things that some middle-aged people are still willing to buy. They don't want to have unnecessary things and prefer to lead a simple life. Overseas trips don't provoke their interest, either.

Many of them were born in houses that were full of material products acquired in Japan's affluent times. Also, I think that they haven't developed a strong desire to purchase material items since they have been able to acquire the things that they want with family assistance, such as from their grandparents. Due to fewer children being born into families, they have more opportunities to be given things. In addition, the prolonged economic stagnation has been discouraging them to spend money on things that they consider extra and has contributed towards their prudent attitude to product consumption.

Under these circumstances, companies here have been struggling not only with the current economic crisis but also to establish their new business models. Also, the critical challenge of environmental conservation has affected young people's buying habits.

Recently, companies that have accurately fulfilled young people's needs and adjusted itself to the times have been enjoying its rapid growth and receiving a lot of attention.