Japan's Paradox: Low Unemployment, High Misery

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Japan's youth unemployment sits around 4% — the envy of most of the world. But the metric conceals a structural trap: Japan's culture of "shūkatsu" (the synchronized mass job-hunting season) means young people who miss the narrow window — through illness, study gaps, or bad timing — can be locked out of stable employment for years. The lifetime employment model protects insiders while creating a precarious generation of "freeters" and contract workers.