Every lesson at Japanese schools starts with a simultaneous bow. "Let's try that again because your posture wasn't good," says a teacher to a room full of six and seven year-olds.
She then reminds the children to have their pencil boxes, notepads and textbooks on top of each other and placed at the left corner of their desks. The students obey without a single word of objection.
A few hours later, they queue quietly before being served their lunch.
Towards the end of their education this conformist attitude is still evident. Each year, more than half a million university students start looking for work together.
The first step is to perfect a handwritten resume, or CV, because many in Japan believe that students' characteristics and personalities can be judged by the way they write.
All dressed in a black "recruit suit", they then visit hundreds of companies. Bold hues of black, navy or dark grey are the recommended colours for their job-hunting suits.
Stripes are not encouraged. According to the teachers and career counsellors, it is considered risky to be fashionable.
'Withdrawn' generation
The job-hunting season is a huge part of Japanese life and has even influenced the nicknames given to different generations.
Jobseeker Yoko Sato says she has no desire to work abroad |
Image source: BBC
In Japan, there is no Generation X, Y or Z.
Born in 1981, I belong to the "employment ice age" generation when university graduates struggled to find work because of the state of the economy. It is believed to have resulted in the highest number of "withdrawn" or "hikikomori" who refuse to leave their rooms after feeling rejected by the society.
The generation before us was much luckier and is known as the "bubble" generation, because the Japanese economy was at its peak as they entered workforce.
There are stark differences between those who witnessed Japan's booming economy and today's youth.
There are a number of nicknames for them: the "relaxed" generation is most commonly used because they were educated under a revised system aimed at freeing children from cramming, or intensive learning.
The "enlightened" generation is another, and it implies that they had only known Japan in its economic decline and had learned not to expect anything, including wealth or even sex.
Government adviser William Saito says parents want their children to get good jobs in stable Japanese companies | Image source: BBC
Their low self-esteem and unhappiness are obvious in the government's annual survey of the country's youth, aged between 13 and 29. Less than half of those surveyed (45.8%) said they were happy with themselves, compared to 86% in the US, 83.1% in the UK, or 71.5% in South Korea.
Depressed youths
Nearly 80% of Japanese youth felt depressed in the week of the survey, which is more than double compared to Germany. One third of them don't think they'll be happy when they are 40.
It is also a generation that is known not to take a risk.
For example, the number of youths studying overseas has fallen by nearly 30% between 2004 and 2012 (from 82,945 to 60,138). That's according to data collected by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
While traditional Japanese nail salons are expanding successfully abroad, many workers are happy at home | Image source: BBC
"I studied English at school but I have no desire to study it further to be able to work abroad," says Yoko Sato, whom I met at a recruitment forum in Tokyo. "If I get a job with a Japanese company, that'll be much more stable."
It is an attitude that comes from the parents, says William Saito, who advises the government.
"Parents are mortally afraid of their children falling off what's known in Japan as the escalator, because of what they have gone through.
"So if you don't go lock-step with your peers in finding a job and getting a promotion, they feel that they'll be left behind and that the disparity will increase," he adds.
Even after they get a job, more than half of new recruits at Japanese companies say they don't want to be deployed abroad, according to the Japan Management Association.
St. Bruno Catholic School provides after-school programs that teach students about becoming a well-rounded individual. Visit its official website for the list of curricula it offers.
