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"DAWN" Newsletter of The DAWN CENTER

Work and Live as Social Entrepreneur

How Young People in Japan Think about Work and How They Commit Themselves to Work

Hironori Yamaguchi
The Consortium of the Universities in Kyoto

The Japanese ancient capital of Kyoto is famous as "the city of universities."

In fact, students make up one-tenth of its population, and there are about 40 universities and colleges in the city. In 1994, the first credit transfer system in Japan was introduced by 25 universities. In 1998, its office developed into the Consortium of the Universities in Kyoto, a federation of universities, municipal offices and the industrial world. It aims at revitalizing Kyoto through cooperation among universities and promotion of higher education. One of its services is the making and providing of internship programs to enlighten students' awareness toward work and enable them to choose jobs more suitable to them.

I interviewed two students who took part in the NPO course (which is popular with female students, who make up more than 60% of the total participants), and investigated their outlook toward work.

Interviewee A: A female university student. She is now a senior and majors in philosophy. She took part in the internship program two years ago.

"To me, work means 'earning my own living.' I would like to get settled in a stable workplace approved of by people. Maybe any job can be worth doing so long as you try to find meaning in it. I may be a little passive about work, but I would like to cultivate myself in stable environments, while putting the content of the job first. But I don't want to keep on working in the same place.

For example, if there is a job of equal quality with higher wages, I would choose to move there.

I would be in a hired position for at most five years or so. After that, I would like to work in an NPO organization and engage myself in the work to help promote stable employment and create environments for secure jobs. I will try to acquire enough confidence, experiences, and achievement to create such an enterprise and come back to the NPO area that offers social-oriented services, not profit-oriented business. The reason that makes me think this way is that the people in the NPO area were attractive and comfortable to be with. I thought I was doing my best as an intern or a part-timer, but looking back and taking work seriously, I was conceited. So, setting a five - year goal for myself, I would like to become a person I can be convinced of."

Interviewee B: A staff member of an organization that aims at making use of old Kyoto houses, in which he worked as intern two years ago. He was a senior and specialized in sociology.

"To me, work means fulfilling my material and spiritual needs. I make much of the latter. My experience as an instructor at a tennis school in my school days influenced this belief. I worked during the daytime and went to a night school, and making someone feel good or improve their skill was my source of delight. So if I can get such kind of job, I would keep on trying. But I would not content myself when I failed to do my best. I was able to exert my ability as a tennis instructor. Now working in the organization where I served as an intern before, I feel the greatness of the people around me again. I sometimes feel uneasy that I may not be able to go on unless I work in a workplace with strict timetables. But then, I feel I can manage if I develop my originality. I would like to cherish the needs I had when I started working."

How do you find these opinions? They seem to regard work as something connecting individuals and society, because of their experiences as NPO interns. They caused me to think that in the future there will be no such question asked in TV dramas by wives or girlfriends, "Which is more important, work or me?"

Of course this question will not be replaced by the similar one asked by husbands or boyfriends. In Japan, men, who have been referred to as company-first persons, have been spending their days separating "life" and "work" both in a socioeconomic structure and in family life. However, to say nothing of women who try to combine childcare with careers, there has begun to take root in young people today an alternative way of thinking about work: What can I do? What do I want to do and what do I not want to do? What should I do? Then they make their next move. Of course, it is a little too hasty to come to a conclusion about young people's perspectives about work, but the number of young people who do not identify work with working as employees is surely increasing.

I hope these interviewees will, in the future, develop their abilities as social entrepreneurs, who will, regardless of their careers or titles, work not only for the world and for people, but for themselves. These interviews enticed me into thinking that I, too, have to grope for my own "life and workstyle."

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