The legal age for adulthood in Japan is 20. There has been some discussion of lowering it to 18 but the idea has received a lot of opposition. One survey found that 70 percent of Japanese opposed it. One study found that if the legal age were dropped to eighteen 191 other laws would be affected, including betting, drinking and signing credit card and loan contract without parental consent.

Twenty is the legal age for drinking, smoking, betting at horse tracks, voting, signing contracts and getting married without parental consent. In terms of criminal justice, juveniles are regarded as people 20 and under. The driving age in Japan is 18.

When teenagers are scolded for something by elderly people such as talking on a cell phone on a subway, the young people often obey immediately and stop the offending behavior with a polite bow.

A survey by the Nikkei Marketing Journal in 2007 found that 34 percent of people in their 20s never or rarely drank alcohol and the number saving money “to prepare for the future” doubled between 2000 and 2007. Another survey found that half of the Japanese people in their 20s are worried about their future.

A survey carried out by the Japan Youth Research Institute involving 7,200 high school students from Japan, China, the United States and South Korea found that Japanese students lack self confidence and express high levels of dissatisfaction with themselves. According to the survey only 36 percent of Japanese students said they were valuable people compared to 89.1 percent among the Americans, 87.7 percent among Chinese and 75.1 percent among South Koreans. Asked if they are satisfied with themselves 78.2 percent of the Americans, 68.5 percent of the Chinese and 63.3 percent of the South Koreans said yes but only 24.7 percent of the Japanese said yes.