Sophia Magazine vol.2 / WINTER 2015

11/32

around that time that the word “freeter” was becoming popu-lar in Japan to describe a permanent part-time worker, one who chooses to take a succession of part-time jobs rather than a steady full-time job. As an anthropologist, Professor Slater was fascinated by the development, which led him to gather the real voices of freeters over the years. Their stories at first conveyed an image of “liberation from the oppressive lifetime employment system of Japan Inc.” But this image hid another reality, one that has become more obvious over time. Being a freeter was actually rarely a real choice for many young people but instead was an unavoidable outcome—even for those who had attended highly respected schools—as Japan struggled through an economic downturn. As Professor Slater’s investigations over the decades reveal, the concept of lifetime employment or even just a full-time steady job has become eroded. The precariousness of the freeter lifestyle is now being taken for granted as an unavoid-able fact of life by a whole generation of young people, and Professor Slater thinks that Japan is sacrificing its future by failing to invest in its youth. As he continues his research, he Professor Slater has been observing young Japanese people for almost 30 years, and is amazed by the recent transforma-tion among students. “After the Great Earthquake of March 11 2011, I began encouraging students to pursue ‘service learn-ing,’ which in my case is a combination of volunteer work and ethnographic fieldwork. I felt it was my responsibility, as a professor, to make students think about how they are con-tributing to society. In recent years, students have taken the next step and have started to become politically active, and I believe they have the power to transform the future.” Professor Slater came to Japan after graduating from col-lege in 1983. At that time, Japan was economically booming and was a model of modern success for the world. But while teaching high school students at night school, Professor Slater discovered that not everyone in Japan shared equally in this national wealth; many were struggling even then and did not have such an idealistic image of Japan. Interestingly, it was Learning Means Taking ActionAbove: Student interviewing in OtsuchiBelow: Voices from Tohoku http://tohokukaranokoe.org./11Research