The Variant Actuality of Young People in Precarious Transitions in Late Modern Japan―Based on the Interviews with 51 Young People

In recent Japan, young people have experienced prolonged and complex transitions from school to work, have been forced to work in precarious jobs, or faced the risk of unemployment, poverty, and social exclusion. The Youth Cohort Study Japan (YCSJ) conducted by The Japanese Educational Research Association is a five-year panel survey that contains 1687 samples aged 20 (first wave in 2007) and 891 aged 24 (fifth wave in 2011). Our analyses of YCSJ data have indicated the characteristics of the transition from school to work in recent years, especially its precarious processes and the factors (familial and educational background, social capitals, gender bias, etc.) which have influence on the differentiation of transitional trajectories. Then we have tried to describe the actuality of youth in precarity based on qualitative analyses of interviews with those young people who have participated in our five all waves and assent to be our interviewees (we interviewed with fifty one cases). Through these analyses, we aim to show some variant types of precarious transitions. And we also suggest how young people overcome or negotiate their difficulties.