Capturing Contemporary Japan: Differentiation and Uncertainty

Glossary

339 gloSSary Japanese entries akasen 赤線 official red-light districts in postwar Japan; the 1958 anti-Prostitution Law abolished them aoru あおる to follow another vehicle at an unsafe distance; tailgate arubaito アルバイト part-time work performed by young people who are either still in school or who have not yet secured a regular job atariya あたりや accident faker baburu sedai バブル世代 cohort of Japanese who came of age during the economic “bubble” in the late 1980s and early 1990s Baishun Bōshi Hō 売春防止法 anti-Prostitution Law of 1958 (baishun refers to prostitution; it literally means “the selling of spring”) bakkuyādo バックヤード backyard, or the backroom of a convenience store that serves as an office, rest space, and storage area bentō; obentō 弁当 often works of art, these Japanese-style boxed lunches are available at convenience stores, train stations, or food stalls; also prepared at home to be taken to work or school bōsōzoku 暴走族 “tribes” or gangs of youth who drive around in ostentatiously modified cars, including those with removed or modified mufflers; they make loud and highpitched sounds with the goal of harassing other drivers and entire neighborhoods bukatsudō 部活動 extracurricular school club activities burakumin 部落民 caste-like minority of ethnic Japanese that has suffered long-standing discrimination in Japan -chan ちゃん affectionate but polite suffix commonly attached to a child’s first name chiiki katei 地域家庭 families in the local area chiiki kosodate shien kyoten, hirobagata 地域子育て支援拠点広場型 drop-incenter -style base for community-level child-rearing support chikara o awaseru 力を合わせる to combine powers chōkōrei 超高齢 the old old; usually referring to those over seventy-five or eighty chōnan 長男 eldest son; in the Meiji legal code, the son who would most likely inherit and carry on the family line 340 GLOSSaRY danchi 団地 community consisting of low-rise or high-rise condo buildings dankai no sedai 団塊の世代 cohort of Japanese who were born within ten years after the end of world war ii (roughly between 1946 and 1954) Dōbutsu Uranai 動物占い animal Divination, a system created by manga artist Kubo Kiriko eitai kuyōbo 永代供養墓 grave for an individual or unrelated individuals that requires no maintenance by successors; commonly used by people without descendants enryo suru 遠慮する to maintain a social distance by not depending on others erai hito えらいひと important person or people furītā フリーター part-timer; a young worker not currently engaged in education who works part-time jobs as opposed to having full-time, salaried employment furoku 付録 free insert giveaways found in magazines and manga fūzoku 風俗 public morals, often specifically sexual morals; often used as a euphemism for the sex trades fūzokujō 風俗嬢 woman who works in the sex trade industry gachi gachi de ガチガチで frozen with fear gakudō hoiku 学童保育 after-school day-care program gakureki shakai 学歴社会 education-credentialist society ganko oyaji 頑固親父 stubborn old man gatsu gatsu unten がつがつ運転 aggressive driving genki 元気 energetic gētobōru ゲートボール gateball; team-based ball game popular among the elderly in Japan gimu 義務 duty haken 派遣 shorthand for haken shain; temporary staff haken shain 派遣社員 worker who is employed by a dispatch company to do specific tasks at another firm for a fixed period, usually with fewer benefits than those given to regular employees or with no benefits hashiriya 走りや street racers who achieve an emotional high through speed hidari uchiwa 左団扇 to be wealthy (that is, so wealthy as to have a servant fanning you at your left hand) hikikomori ひきこもり the socially withdrawn; the term refers to young people who are not attending school or are unemployed and lead socially isolated lives Himeyuri Butai ひめゆり部隊 star Lily Corps hitogara 人柄 personality hitotsu no koto ni uchikomu ひとつのことに打ち込む to devote oneself to one thing hoikuen 保育園 day-care center honne 本音 inner feelings ichiji azukari 一時預かり temporary drop-off child-care services ichioku sōchūryū shakai 一億総中流社会 all-middle-class society; a society where just about everyone is middle class; commonly used by Japanese to refer to their society during and after the high-growth economy of the 1960s until the recession of the 1990s GLOSSaRY 341 ie 家 the multigenerational stem family model that was the legal basis for families and households in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Japan; a stem family household was a social unit of production and consumption that continued through time through the succession of one heir (often the eldest son) and his/her spouse, who would take over the responsibilities for the genderappropriate roles in each generation; changes to family law after world war ii eliminated the legal status of the ie, and as industrialization increasingly...