SOCIETY-JAPAN: Slowly, Men Break Free from Workaholic Culture

By Suvendrini Kakuchi Reprint | | Print |

Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO, Aug 19 2003 (IPS) - Three years ago, Shunsuke Yoshioka, a writer of children’s books, fell into deep depression after he was laid off from a prestigious job at a large insurance company.

”While I was at the company I earned well, was sent overseas, and enjoyed an affluent life. But when I was fired I felt worthless. Everyday was a black hole,” explains the 48-year-old.

But a visit to the Men’s Centre, a support group based in southern Osaka city, helped change Yoshioka’s life forever.

”A long meeting with the director made me realise I had sacrificed too much (for work),” he says. ”For the first time in my life I savoured a remarkable release. I was able to just be myself.”

Being himself has meant spreading the word that there is more than to a Japanese male’s life than his work and lifelong links to the company he works for, often to the detriment of family life and recreation.

Yoshioka’s experience has also led him to shift careers to writing children’s books with this message in mind. His books are based on the theme ‘Tears’, where he tells his little readers that it is all right for boys to cry and not force themselves to be strong all the time. They have become immensely popular.

”My books, co-produced with my wife, breaks traditional concepts where men are supposed to restrict their emotions and only work hard,” he explains. ” Ironically, male-dominated Japanese society has resulted in male victims who are being denied their rights to lead a life as individuals.”

In fact, the Men’s Centre, which was launched in 1995, marks the first attempt by men to reform their workaholic lifestyles by seeking counseling for mental stress and raising awareness about their plight.

The movement has slowly picked up across the country. Yoshioka reports that there are now more than 10 such centres started by groups that provide support services and plan events to raise the profile of their activities, and bring a freer lifestyle for Japan’s long-suffering males.

Explains Professor Kimiyo Ito, a sociologist at Osaka University and an expert in men’s studies: ”The men’s movement stems from the dark side of Japan’s economic miracle that was based on the development of an army of salarymen who devoted their lives for the company, leaving women to care for the family. This system took a heavy toll on both sexes.”

Indeed, Yoshioka says he worked hard and did nothing else when he was a regular employee.

”I was a ‘samurai’ who displayed warrior-like unconditional loyalty to the group. I shunned activities that had no connection with the company, and all my friends were company colleagues. As a result I often had to hide my true feelings to be keep group harmony,” he recalls.

But breaking away from tradition is not easy to do in corporate Japan. For instance, Yoshioka says that even though he is ”mentally happy” now, he earns much less than he used to in his old company.

Likewise, men who do not have regular jobs or reject overtime – a common practice in the Japanese work culture – in order to be with their families, have fewer prospects of going up the corporate ladder. Often too, they have to be resigned to the social sidelines.

”It’s hard to turn your back on the material benefits of a stable job despite the large sacrifice,” says Hiroshi Miyamoto, 59, who says he cannot wait until he resigns from a large automaker next year.

Still, there is no doubt that more men have begun to take revolutionary steps to make their lives more interesting, to say the least.

Shinichi Kato, director of the Women’s Centre that organises lectures and seminars on gender issues, says new workshops geared toward older men, offering activities such as cooking, are in fact becoming popular.

”It is hard to get older men to participate in more serious subjects such as domestic violence or reproductive health. Our aim is to lure them with a soft approach, such as cooking which we hope is the first step to encourage gender equality,” says Kato.

Ito contends that another reason for the recent changes is the growing independence of women who have even begun to initiate divorces, citing lack of communication with their husbands. This is a trend unthinkable a few decades ago.

Recorded divorce rates in marriages of more than 20 years post the highest increases – 45,436 in 2001, up from 39,614 the year before, when compared to much smaller variations in divorce rates between those married for less than three years.

Ito says middle-aged men are fast realising they must meet the aspirations of their partners, not an easy feat for a generation of men raised to believe that they should prove themselves by being breadwinners and nothing else.

”It is hard on them,” says Ito. ”For many, the adjustment means changing a pattern of thinking they never questioned for years and that’s no ordinary feat.”

Observers point out it is no wonder the younger generation has begun to delay starting a family – Japan’s record is an all-time low of 1.3 births per woman – to pursue individualised lifestyles.

”I don’t want to be like my father,” says office worker Tadayoshi Sasaki, 26, who says he plans to get married at 40. ”My dad came home exhausted from work and hardly spoke to my mother. That life is not attractive any more,” he points out.