[lit-ideas] Re: Anger, Misery, Anxiety: Life in Lotus Land
- From: Andy Amago <aamago@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 20 Aug 2004 09:10:33 -0400 (GMT-04:00)
-----Original Message-----
From: John McCreery <mccreery@xxxxxxx>
Sent: Aug 20, 2004 2:32 AM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] Anger, Misery, Anxiety: Life in Lotus Land
"Anger Times Three, Misery Times Four: The Unsettled Japanese Consumer"
"22 Years of Living with Anger, Misery, Anxiety"
"Surrounded by Growing Anger and Anxiety"
These are the front and inside cover headlines on the latest edition of=20=
the Seikatsu Shimbun, the newsletter in which the Hakuhodo Institute of=20=
Life and Living (HILL) reports its latest findings. This issue, August=20=
18, 2004, No. 401, is a first look at the changing emotional state of=20
Japanese consumers, based on longitudinal analysis of data collected=20
between 1981 and 2004. The summary reads as follows:
"The Survey of Lifestyles and Feelings, the predecessor to HILL's=20
biennial Lifestyle Annual surveys, was first conducted in 1981. In the=20=
two decades during which we have looked into the emotional currents=20
affecting the lives of Japanese consumers, we find a strong and=20
continuing trend toward their feeling increasingly unsettled. Using=20
top-line data from our Lifestyle Annual 2004 survey, we examine how=20
Japanese consumers feel about the world in which they live and today's=20=
emotional atmosphere.
"If we construct an index for our most recent 2004 data about feelings=20=
toward the world with 1982 scores set at 1.0, we find that the score=20
for happiness is 0.9. The score for anger is 2.8, for misery 3.9,=20
enjoyment 1.7, and anxiety 2.2. Since the collapse of the economic=20
bubble, the Heisei recession has continued. No one knows if signs of=20
political or economic reform are real. Plus, terror and war seem=20
unending. During these 20 years of radical change, Japanese consumers=20
have found themselves living in a world colored by anger, anxiety, and=20=
misery.
"We already noted these trends in Lifestyle Annual 2000 and Lifestyle=20
Annual 2002, but even with recent improvements in economic indicators,=20=
consumers still feel that their lives are affected by anger, misery,=20
and anxiety.
"As the graph to the right [not shown here] shows, scores for anger,=20
anxiety and misery have declined slightly since their peak in the year=20=
2000. Still, however, as of May 2004 (when the Lifestyle Annual 2004=20
survey was conducted), 70% of subjects between the ages of 20 and 69=20
reported feeling anxious. Over half reported feeling miserable. These=20
scores remain very high.
"How can we brighten up the lives of these grieving consumers? This is=20=
the critical question for marketing, creative and media people who are=20=
asked what they can contribute to reviving Japan's economy.
"When we turn from questions about how consumers themselves feel to how=20=
they perceive the emotional atmosphere in which they live and do the=20
same comparisons between 1982 and 2004 data, we find that happiness=20
scores are up 1.3 times (22%=8729%), anger is up 3 times (14%=8742%),=20
misery is up 1.8 times (8%=87 15%), enjoyment up 1.8 times (21%=8738%), =
and=20
anxiety up 2 times (25%=8749%).=A0So here, too, in the way individuals =
feel=20
about the daily life of their families, friends, and society at large,=20=
we see major increases in anger and anxiety. Bankruptcies,=20
restructurings, salary adjustments in the workplace, chaos in the=20
classroom and bullying in schools, the growing incidence of violent=20
crime society at large-all are perceived as radical changes in=20
consumers' everyday environments. We live in an era when issues that we=20=
thought were other countries' problems now directly affect other=20
Japanese, people we know, even ourselves."
=46rom an analytic perspective, I wonder how much the rising scores for=20=
anger and other negative emotions reported in this issue of the=20
Seikatsu Shimbun reflect the growing strength of the underlying=20
emotions themselves, as opposed to a greater willingness to express=20
emotional concerns. Has Japan become an angrier and more anxious=20
society? Or have new generations weaned on increasingly "edgy" pop=20
culture become more open in expressing their anger, anxiety and misery?
A.A. Japan's extreme aggressiveness in the 20th century bespeaks an angry
country, unless aggressiveness correlates with happiness and wellbeing. I
always thought their system of geisha girls (essentially prostitutes) and
salarymen (essentially johns) fills the misery vacuum that it creates. Few in
this country would think that someone who can relate only to prostitutes is a
happy person, and Japan is a country full of such people. The Japanese seem to
be good at keeping a lid on things until the lid inevitably blows off.
Andy Amago
John L. McCreery
The Word Works, Ltd.
55-13-202 Miyagaya, Nishi-ku
Yokohama, Japan 220-0006
Tel 81-45-314-9324
Email mccreery@xxxxxxx
"Making Symbols is Our Business"
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