First Generation Aging, Second Generation on the Move: the process of generation transition in two suburban neighborhoods in the Tokyo metropolitan area

Abstract

This paper examines the process of generational transition in two suburban neighborhoods in the Tokyo metropolitan area, focusing on the inter-generational reproduction of social status in their residents. One neighborhood is the Kamariya District located in the southwestern sector of the Tokyo metropolitan area. The other is the Yotsukaido District in the eastern sector. Both neighborhoods were developed in the 1970s as residential districts for commuters to the downtown, and are situated 40 kilometers away from Tokyo Station, the center of the Tokyo metropolitan area. The two neighborhoods are similar in the ages, educational attainments, and occupational class of the first generation residents: Husbands who are now in their 60s or 70s were typically white collar workers employed by major companies or the public sector and once commuted to the central business district by train and bus in relay, while wives stayed at home devoting most of their time to housekeeping and childrearing. The first generation residents of both neighborhoods think it ideal to keep independent of, but in close relationships with, their adult children.

The broad similarity between the two neighborhoods seems to verify a prevailing recognition that the suburbs are a homogeneous space not only physically but also socially; however, comparison of the social status of the second generation demands re-investigation. The male second generation of the Kamariya District have well succeeded to the high social status of the first generation. On the contrary, the process of inter-generational reproduction of social status does not seem to function well in the case of the Yotsukaido District. More of the Yotsukaido second generation are in non-permanent positions or unemployed in the labor market and live with their parents than the Kamariya second generation.

It is also interesting that the two groups of the second generation who are already married are distributed differently within the Tokyo metropolitan area. The residences of the Kamariya second generation are concentrated around the Kamariya District. The married second generation of the Yotsukaido District live also mainly within the eastern sector where the Yotsukaido District is located, however, the pattern of the distribution shows more expansion to the opposite side of the metropolitan area than that of the Kamariya second generation. Both Kamariya and Yotsukaido districts were once thought of as appropriate residential neighborhoods for downtown white collar workers. The difference in the distribution of the married second generation implies that the Kamariya District is still recognized as a commuter’s neighborhood by the second generation, but Yotsukaido no longer is.

Along with the generational transition, some suburban neighborhoods will remain residential areas of commuters to the downtown who have high social status, whereas some neighborhoods are changing into self-contained territories which include both home and workplace, experiencing fluctuations in the attributes of residents.