Before the 1990s, Japanese routes to adulthood appeared to be well structured and strongly linked to the school-to-work transition and other status transitions, such as marriage, parenthood and home ownership. However, with significant changes in employment practices, a weakening of school-to-work transitions, and the rapid increase of the irregular labour market to 38.2 % in 2012, there exists a greater acknowledgement of a diversity of routes into the world of employment and adulthood. Freeters, part-time workers aged between 15–34 who are neither students, nor housewives, have been at the epicentre of these discussions. By drawing on participant observation and interviews conducted since 2007, this paper explores male freeters’ understandings of adulthood through their views on employment, responsibility, meaning and action. It argues that male freeters’ focus on adulthood as constituted through action rather than as the successful result of status transitions is reconfiguring ideas of adulthood in contemporary Japan.

中文翻译：

---

作为行动的成年

在 1990 年代之前，日本的成年之路似乎结构合理，并且与从学校到工作的过渡和其他身份过渡（如婚姻、父母身份和房屋所有权）密切相关。然而，随着就业实践的显着变化、从学校到工作的过渡减弱以及非正规劳动力市场迅速增加到 2012 年的 38.2%，人们越来越认识到进入就业和就业世界的途径的多样性。成年。弗里特 (Freeters) 是这些讨论的中心，年龄在 15-34 岁之间的兼职工人既不是学生也不是家庭主妇。本文通过自 2007 年以来进行的参与者观察和访谈，通过男性飞特族对就业、责任、意义和行动的看法，探讨他们对成年的理解。