Japan's Changing Generations argues that "the generation gap" in Japan is something more than young people resisting the adult social order before entering and conforming to that order. Rather, it signifies something more fundamental: the emergence of a new Japan, which may be quite different from the Japan of postwar decades.

It argues that while young people in Japan in their teens, twenties and early thirties are not engaged in overt social or political resistance, they are turning against the existing Japanese social order, whose legitimacy has been undermined by the past decade of economic downturn. The book shows how young people in Japan are thinking about their bodies and identities, their social relationships, and their employment and parenting, in new and generationally contextual ways, that may help to create a future Japan quite different from Japan of the recent past.

Gordon Mathews is professor in anthropology at Chinese university of Hong Kong. He holds a PhD from Cornell University, publishes three books and edited three books. His research interests include Culture and identity, global culture, anthropological theory, meanings of life; geographic areas: Japan, the United States, Hong Kong, Chungking Mansions.