Japan: What are “casual friends,” “loose friends,” and “lower-tier friends”? The digital natives' sense of “us vs. them”
Misconceptions and Reality of Gen Z: “Be Real: An Intimate Ethnographic Record”
Misconceptions about Gen Z revealed through immersive ethnographic research. The gap between general assumptions and reality about Gen Z. This serial project emerged as student researchers at the Youth Research Institute analyzed their own generation through dialogue with adults.―― ―The decline of workplace marriages, the reality of beer's decline, alternatives to tobacco, and the front lines of the “treating/being treated” debate―――“Huh? Really?” We delve into the “Be Real” understanding of Generation Z that adults don't know.
For this commemorative first installment, we observed a female university student's campus life to examine digital natives' use of SNS and their friendships.
This time's subject
Ms. W (22), University Senior
Born in 2002. A female university student attending a private university in Tokyo. Belongs to a band circle, serving as guitar vocalist. Also loves karaoke. Currently juggling job hunting while interning at a venture company, a vibrant fourth-year student. Aspires to work in advertising or planning roles in the future.
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