Stuck for 30 Years. We’re Moving
- Takaaki Yutani
- Jul 16
- 4 min read
Updated: Jul 19
The future ignored Japanese youth. Now they're taking it back.
On July 4, 2025, I voted for the first time. I stood in a polling station in Tokyo, cast my ballot, and returned to everyday life knowing I’d done something so simple, yet so powerful. For the first time, I felt that I was part of society and that the future of my country was my own hands.
But what does “the future” even mean in a country that’s stuck in the past?
If you grew up in Japan you’ve probably heard of unishawareta 20-nen: the “Lost 30 Years.”
My name is Takaaki Yutani, I’m 18, and I was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan.
Since the early 1990s, Japan's economy has barely moved. It’s been over 30 years. Since 1995, the average GDP growth rate has been less than 1% per year. While other countries grew their economies and built startups, Japan got stuck. Real wages (the money you earn) haven’t gone up in decades. They actually dropped 2.5% from 2023 to 2024.
Prices, though? They only seem to rise. In fact, between 2023 and 2024, the prices of food, utilities, and daily necessities rose from 10-20%. With inflation (when the prices of most goods and services go up), even if people work hard, they will face the harsh reality of a tough life.
The problem sounds simple right? Raise the people’s wages. But it’s not easy. Raising wages is a heavy weight on companies, and this is particularly true for small and medium-sized companies. In Japan, the common phrase that “hard work pays off” has become an unachievable myth.
This didn’t happen by accident though. It is the result of a series of choices: political ones.
Leaders raised consumption taxes in recessions. They held off investment in education and childcare support, even if birthrates were going down. They focused on short-term stability rather than what was best for the future, spoiling the seeds of growth.
Most of these choices come from one place: a ruling party that’s been in power almost nonstop since 1955. Seventy Years. One Party.
Some may call this “stability”. But behind the scenes it’s created a political culture where transparency fails, and the same ideas keep getting recycled, even when they've failed. Just last year, a secret secret fund scandal at the end of 2023 shook the ruling party, but no important reform plan was proposed from the administration to address the issue.
There’s a myth that young people don’t care about politics. But that’s not what’s really happening in Japan.
We care. We just feel powerless. So many are giving up, simply because they’re tired of a government that doesn’t make them feel seen. Many have stopped heading to the ballots, and when youth voting rates go down, the cycle gets worse. Policies are becoming more and more biased towards older voters. For example, pensions, medical care, and nursing summed up for about a third of the government’s expenses. It’s important to take care of the elderly, but support for students, young workers, and families is being left behind.
We’re being told to fix the future with tolls that haven’t been updated since we were born.
That’s why this year’s House of Councillors election matters. You might not know about Japan’s upper house, but it’s extremely important. Laws around taxes, the national budget, and social programs can’t be passed without it.
Specifically though, the composition of the House of Councillors has a direct impact on economic policy, an area where we desperately need real change. Each political party is campaigning on specific economic policies, such as raising the minimum wage, reforming the scholarship system, and changing the consumption tax rate.
This election has also marked a change in young people's interest in politics. There has been an increase in content on the internet that explains political parties' policies in an easy-to understand way, and there is an active movement on social media encouraging people to vote. This way, young people's opportunities to get engaged with politics are definitely increasing.
The House of Councillors Election on July 20, 2025, could be a real turning point in Japan's lost 30 years of economic slump. For many, it’s not just another vote, but a chance to speak up against a system that’s failed to deliver. Young people are feeling the pressure, and this election is a moment to turn their frustration into real change.
I know the vote I made is not a magic change that will transform society overnight. But it’s a start.
It’s a choice to have hope in a better Japan, and to demand it.
For too long our generation has been told that the future is already written. But the truth is: we are the future, and nothing will change unless we raise our voices. In a democracy, silence is a choice. And writing a better future starts with one vote at a time.
Bibliography:
Cabinet Office, Government of Japan. (n.d.). National accounts (GDP statistics). Economic and Social Research Institute. https://www.esri.cao.go.jp/jp/sna/menu.html
International Monetary Fund. (2025, April). Japan - World Economic Outlook (April 2025) - GDP, current prices. https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/NGDPD@WEO/JPN
Statistics Bureau of Japan. (n.d.). Consumer price index (CPI). https://www.stat.go.jp/data/cpi/index.html
Ministry of Finance. (n.d.). History list of the consumption tax revision. Japan Forming Machinery
Association. https://j-fma.or.jp/newsletter_information/history-list-of-the-consumption-tax-revision
Investopedia. (2024, May 22). Lost decade in Japan: History and causes. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/lost-decade.asp
Yoshino, N., & Taghizadeh-Hesary, F. (n.d.). Causes and remedies for Japan's long-lasting recession (ADBI Working Paper No. 554). Asian Development Bank
