When I was a university senior, Japan was experiencing
an economic bubble, and employment was plentiful. Companies called me every day
inviting me to join their ranks, to the point where it became tiresome.
Then, when I was a graduate student, the bubble burst.
It became increasingly difficult for senior students to find jobs, with many of
them telling me terrible stories about their job searches. The media
misunderstood conditions, with some blaming young people, calling them lazy and
saying that they are parasites feeding on their parents. However, most people
in mass media jobs were elites who found their jobs under better economic
conditions, and they had no understanding of the challenges faced by new
entrants to the job market. Lately, a common description in the media of this
period has been “an ice age for job seekers.”
I made a similar mistake. A few years ago, I read an
article that stated that some delivery service staff would simply place
notifications in clients’ mailboxes instead of ringing their doorbells because
they didn’t want to deliver heavy packages during their shifts. I was shocked
and angry, and I called these delivery people lazy because I lacked
understanding of the conditions they faced. Because of the rapid spread of
Internet shopping, delivery companies were understaffed. Most delivery service
staff worked very hard under terrible conditions, which was revealed by the
media a few years later.
When social problems occur, we cannot immediately
fully understand them. Problems tend to be disguised as rumors and gossip about
specific people. Therefore, if we hear these types of rumors and gossip, we
should calmly assess the information, as it could be hiding the real problem.
Picture by Jimsy
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