Between 1985-1991 the Japanese economy was booming. Everyone in Japan thought they were going to be number one.

In that job market, if you went to university, you don’t need to bother applying to jobs at all. Before you graduate, companies would headhunt you, they’ll pay for your trip to HQ for interview, which are often just a formality. They offer you perks like company trips and lifetime employment, and all you need to do is to have a pulse. Even then, they’re the ones competing with other employers for your attention, not the other way round.

In 1991, the bubble pops, and the job market became sterile. The economy became about managing the huge depts taken on during the bubble. What followed was a generation of graduates who failed to get their careers started, they moved back to their parents home and applied to anything they could find on advertisements, and slowly, they gave up. They retreated into the world of the indignity of being a burden on their parents, and anime. Many remain in that state for decades. Today they are known as “Hikikomori”.

The Japanese economy only recently started to bounce back, because the 35 year term of the loans people took on back in the late 80s finally expired and people finally had some spare cash to spend. On top of that, the post 90s generation was a relatively small cohort because few people wanted to have children in such a bad economy, resulting in what is today a low candidate to job ratio - an employees market.

So I guess we’re screwed for another 35 years folks :)