I don't know about Japan, but even in sunbaked places like LA, I can tell there's a ton of nihilism going on and spreading. Most of the money people make goes to rent, most jobs are BS and people know this deep down, the only way to "move up" these days is to move around frequently, and authority throws up a lot of roadblocks to discourage taking initiative. People act "content", but the majority don't feel particularly good about their situation. Our parents owned homes by my generation's age; very few of us own homes, and while we also don't have the same drive to keep up with the Joneses, there's still an undercurrent of resentment to the previous generation that tells us to "pound the pavement" without a clue as to how the new economy treats young people.

Ask people in their 20s and 30s what they think about the world, and over half of them will say the world's going to shit in one way or another. I know people on both sides of the political spectrum that will say that. This isn't a good sign for society.

Granted, I am not divorced from this phenomenon. There is a lot of things that my parents' generation did that I don't do because they seem pointless. I'm not in a relationship, hence not married, no kids, I don't intend on owning a house with a white picket fence(or any house), I don't have two cars, I don't go on vacation after vacation, I don't "pound the pavement", etc. All because I find these things to be "meh", having a low ROI in general.