Regarding Mark Schreiber’s Big in Japan column in the March 22 edition — “Why are Japan’s millennials shunning alcohol?” — in the good old days, when the Japanese economy was humming, the longer people worked the more compensation they might get.
We rarely saw any irregular workers in a company back then, and people took it for granted that a company where they had gotten a job became a quasi-family. It was the norm that when a boss went to an izakaya pub, subordinates knew they should follow. The boss often taught them how to get on in the world, and sometimes even set up arranged-marriage meetings.
Nowadays, when lifetime employment and the seniority system are no more than an illusion, it is natural that after-work traditions should vanish. The decrease in drinking alcohol by young people today represents how Japanese society has changed dramatically during the recent decades.
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