Life Course, Happiness and Well-being in Japan

Barbara Holthus is Assistant Professor at the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Vienna, Austria. Her most recent publications include Parental Well-Being in Japan (2015) and a co-edited volume on Happiness and the Good Life in Japan (Routledge 2017).Wolfram Manzenreiter is Professor of Japanese Studies at the University of Vienna, Austria. His most recent publications include Sport and Body Politics in Japan (Routledge 2014) and the co-edited volume on Happiness and the Good Life in Japan (Routledge 2017).

• Introduction: Making sense of happiness in "unhappy Japan"Barbara Holthus and Wolfram ManzenreiterPart I: Childhood and Youth1. Tanoshikatta ne? Learning to be happy in Japanese preschools Eyal Ben-Ari2. "Because I feel happy": Japanese first graders’ views about schooling and well-being Yoko Yamamoto 3. "Unhappy" and isolated youth in the midst of social change: Representations and subjective experiences of hikikomori in contemporary Japan Sachiko Horiguchi4. Anxious, stress, and yet satisfied? The puzzle of subjective well-being among young adults in Japan Carola HommerichPart II: Adulthood5. Being happy as a woman: The promise of happiness for middle class housewives in Japan Ofra Goldstein-Gidoni6. The well-being of single mothers in Japan James M. Raymo7. Happiness at work? Marital happiness among Japanese housewives and employed wives Mary C. Brinton8. The happiness of Japanese academics: Findings from job satisfaction surveys in 1992 and 2007 Theresa Aichinger, Peter Fankhauser, and Roger Goodman9. Dilemma of fatherhood: The meaning of work, family, and happiness for salaried male Japanese workers Futoshi TagaPart III: Old age10. Happiness pursued, abandoned, dreamed of, and stumbled upon: An analysis of twenty Japanese lives over 20 years Gordon Mathews11. Senior volunteers and post-retirement well-being in Japan Satsuki Kawano12. Well-being and decision-making towards the end of life: Living wills in Japan Celia Spoden13. Fear of solitary death in Japan’s aging society Tim Tiefenbach and Florian Kohlbacher14. Reconsidering the four dimensions of happiness across the life course in Japan Wolfram Manzenreiter and Barbara Holthus