NEET

August 7, 2006 on 9:48 am | In Society | | Email This Post

NEET: Not in Education Employment or Training…

That’s ME this August.

In Japan there are a few terms that describe status in adult society.

One is the typical 社員 (syain) or SALARYMAN which is someone who works for a company. Another is フリータ (freeter), someone who jumps around between part-time low-wage jobs. Finally, we have the daddy classification. The NEET. Which I am now proudly taking a part of this month. There is also a term 社会人 (syakaijin) for someone who is working. This encompasses freeters as well.

Some would say I am technically not actually a NEET because I am not a teenager, and I also have some education lined up to start in September… I like to think that I’m a NEET though… It’s more fun that way.

Another term to describe someone who doesn’t work, is 不労者 (furousya). Apparently this term has a (?even more?) negative connotation.

The BBC article on NEET which I have linked to below mentions…

“I have never met a Neet who doesn’t want to work. My impression is that they want to work too much. They think about what is the goal or concept of work too much. They are very serious.” - Yuji Genda author of a book on NEET.

I don’t think that Genda is saying that thinking about the goal or concept of work too much is necessarily a bad thing, but he is contributing it to the creation of NEETS. I can see how this could be true. It is a managers responsibility to ensure that their employees know why they are doing what they are doing from 9-5 (or, 9-10pm in some cases in Japan…) every day. Without that sense of purpose it’s understandable that it could be difficult to find the motivation to come into work everyday. And if the manager himself doesn’t know… Well…

Here is a Wikipedia entry on NEET. It includes a section covering specifically NEET in Japan. Here is Wiki on Freeter.
Here is a BBC article covering freeter and NEET in Japan.

Also here is a YouTube video of a Japanese TV talk show featuring a bunch of people who admit they are NEETs, versus a bunch of politicians. Even if you can’t understand Japanese, check out the beginning to see the two NEETs with the giant hair.

- Harvey

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8 Comments »

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  1. Gravatar

    Hey Harvey!
    NEET stuff!
    Congratz on the NEET and all the best !!
    Cheers
    karthik

    Comment by karth! — August 7, 2006 #

  2. Gravatar

    NEET? :D Let’s call it freedom :P

    Comment by Craig — August 7, 2006 #

  3. Gravatar

    Hahaha! You guys are the best!

    Comment by Harvey — August 7, 2006 #

  4. Gravatar

    I watched the TV program about NEET. Thanks for the link. Many programs on Japanese telly is so educational, in such a fun way too. GREAT LIFE HARVEY!

    Comment by ayumi — August 9, 2006 #

  5. Gravatar

    I never heard that term before. Any word is that you can’t be a NEET if you’re living off your own resources even if you’re unemployed and not going to school.

    Comment by mdchachi — August 18, 2006 #

  6. Gravatar

    Good post. You make some great points that most people do not fully understand.

    “I don’t think that Genda is saying that thinking about the goal or concept of work too much is necessarily a bad thing, but he is contributing it to the creation of NEETS. I can see how this could be true. It is a managers responsibility to ensure that their employees know why they are doing what they are doing from 9-5 (or, 9-10pm in some cases in Japan…) every day. Without that sense of purpose it’s understandable that it could be difficult to find the motivation to come into work everyday. And if the manager himself doesn’t know… Well…”

    I like how you explained that. Very helpful. Thanks.

    Comment by chiz — March 31, 2008 #

  7. Gravatar

    Hi,
    I’ve happened to find this site. I’m a Japanese NEET living in Singapore. I got out of Japan about 6 years ago cos I didn’t like the their exploiting working conditions.

    A lot of Japanese workers are simply slaves, being forced to work more than 100 hours of unpaid overtime per month and not allowed to take any paid holiday…

    This sort of exploiting situation has created many NEETs and also Hikikomoris who are not able to cope with highly stressful working conditions.

    Japanese society blames NEETs for being failure, lazy or whatever, but I believe the insanely stressful society has played a huge role to generate NEETs. Now it’s said to have 800,000 NEETs in Japan.

    I run a NEET blog, but unfortunately this is written in Japanese…

    Cheers. :)

    Comment by neet@overseas — April 19, 2008 #

  8. Gravatar

    http://kusoshigoto.blog121.fc2.com/

    Nice site, for those who can read Japanese check it out!

    Comment by harvey — April 19, 2008 #

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