Age Conscious Society

I believe that Japanese are very conscious of other's age.

Age would determine many things, including relationship with others.

Even just one year of difference in age from the other usually results in seniority with that person.

Here the age is measured by a Japanese fiscal year which starts on April 1 and ends on March 31, because it is more important for us to see if the other is in the same grade under the current school system, which follows the Japanese fiscal year, I believe.

Accordingly, you and I should be equal (at least age-wise!) if we were both born in the same fiscal year, even though there is one year old difference between us.

Younger person would use respect language called "keigo" to the older counterpart.  The older person would have an option of whether or not to use the keigo to the younger, under a pure private situation, although many older would also use the keigo to the younger, particularly in the adult relationship, at least in the beginning of the relationship.

Not only language.  People's mindset would also be influenced by the other's age.

I know some people, particularly younger generation, "try" not to follow the age rule.  Note here, however, that these people are already following the age rule, otherwise, they should not be conscious not to follow...

The above is a general (unspoken) rule under a private situation, which would possibly change in the other situation, such as a business situation.

Also, most Japanese would not try to use the above rule in a relationship with non-Japanese people.

The age rule seems to me applying in the Japanese public.  For example, when people come to known to the public for any reasons, media report what those people did, with the age of the persons.

My thought is that Japanese are trying to measure where they are, by knowing the age of the known people and what they are doing.  If we see, for example, younger actor becomes famous and wealthy, we might become jealous, or even disappointed in some cases.  The opposite situation (yes, we are younger than others and become successful!) would also be true.

I guess the Japanese media know such needs of their viewers or readers and thus report the age.  In contrast, media in most of other countries, particularly Western countries, do not report the age as much as the Japanese media do as far as I know.

I think our age consciousness is influenced by Confucianism, which teaches to respect older people.

Reviewing the fact that we, consciously or unconsciously, follow the age rule, it seems interesting and somehow unreasonable to me to determine the relationship with others mostly by ages without much focusing on other factors of the others, such as personality.

On the other hand, the age rule might be a convenient means to make a relationship with others, although such relationships would possibly become surface and shallow.

In any cases, the Japanese society looks to keep certain harmony this way...
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