【Manga】Episode 0: "One Day, Suddenly, Youth!?" ~Understanding the Youth Mindset~

(Manga: Yosuke Kojima)

Suddenly! I woke up one morning and had become a young person...

While I doubt something like what happened to Manager Hirai in the manga would happen to the average person, situations like "suddenly having to communicate with young people one day" could happen to anyone. Whether it's a client representative, a user of your company's product, or even a new hire at your own company... there are countless everyday scenarios where understanding young people is necessary.

As part of its ongoing research and activity reports, Dentsu Inc. Youth Research Department runs three serialized features in Dentsu News: Wakamon Session (interviews with top young leaders), Wakamon Data (introducing original survey data and analysis), and Wakamon Real (columns based on interviews with current students). This time, as Wakamon Real [Manga Edition], we'll explore the differences in behavior and values between "youth of the past," represented by characters like Manager Hirai in the manga, and today's actual young people. We'll do this in an entertaining and easy-to-understand four-panel manga format.

Of course, young people and older folks are both human beings and Japanese citizens, and there may not be such a huge difference in universal values. However, precisely because "everyone was once young," we might unknowingly assume we understand each other, leading to insufficient mutual comprehension.

During fieldwork with young people, one person I met answered the question "How many best friends do you have?" with, "I have super few, only eight." Huh, eight close friends is few? Isn't that actually too many? Such thoughts flashed through my mind, but they were completely irrelevant. This is just one anecdote, but even with a single word like "close friend," there lies a difference in the meaning and the yardstick used to measure it. Similarly, common conversational terms like "normal," "feeling good," or "do your best" often harbor elements that hinder mutual understanding. How do these value scales differ, and what causes those differences? At Wakamon, we constantly research what young people truly think and the future of consumption, and we hope to share some of that insight in Wakamon Real [Manga Edition].

Now then, with the support of Wakamon-kun—a mysterious monster who knows today's youth inside out—will Manager Hirai be able to communicate with actual young people on their level? Starting next time, we begin our series, incorporating results from interviews with real young people.
(Column: Masahide Yoshida)

[Wakamon Profile]
Dentsu Inc. Youth Research Department (nicknamed Wakamon) is a planning team that engages with the real lives and minds of young people, primarily high school and college students. By understanding their "now," we seek hints to brighten and invigorate the near future. We foresee the future based on their insights and realize new businesses that foster better relationships between young people and society. Currently, 14 project members are based across our Tokyo headquarters, Kansai branch, and Chubu branch. We also share updates on the Wakamon Facebook page ( https://www.facebook.com/wakamon.dentsu ).