How Should a 30-Year-Old Man Live? (Part 1)

The image of the 30-something man revealed by the " THINK30 " analysis: "No role models," "Avoiding loss over gaining profit." How should these men, who might seem like a generation without dreams, live from here on? Motohiko Onuki, head of THINK30, interviewed author Gen Shiraiwa, who made a striking debut with "Producing the Wild Pig" and has published works like "R30's Desire Switch " and "Unmarried 30," focusing on men and women around age 30. What path should these men take, as glimpsed through their conversations?

The Invisible Face of the 30-Something Man

Onuki: Working in advertising, I truly feel how difficult it is to get attention for 30-year-old men. Various clients tell me, "30-year-old men are the hardest to understand, and marketing-wise, they're the hardest to target." In advertising and communications, the target audience is segmented into youth, seniors, women like moms or gals, but 30-year-old men are left behind.
Mr. Shiraiwa, you're right in the middle of the 30-something male demographic, yet in works like 'R30's Desire Switch' and 'Unmarried at 30,' you write from a perspective very close to your own reality.

Shiraiwa: When I was around 24 or 25, I started finding it incredibly difficult to write about young men in my work. I'm not sure if it was because the themes I wanted to explore at the time didn't align, or if it was a technical issue on my part...
But I kept wondering, where are the authentic voices of young men in the world?

Onuki: So you couldn't grasp it?

Shiraiwa: For me, there's a tendency to write using the prevailing consensus of the time—that sense of "this is what everyone is thinking right now." 'Producing the Wild Pig' might fall into that category.
My second work, 'Singing to the Sky', was written from the farthest point from that consensus—closest to the "individual." When I tried to open up outward again from there, I couldn't find a model for a young man within society that could hold that universality.

Onuki: I see.

Shiraiwa: Especially for men, once they enter society, their entire lives become dictated by their jobs, right? Whether they work for a major corporation or, even if not, are satisfied doing what they want. Trying to "aim" for either of those limits you and makes it hard to achieve universality.
More broadly, since society includes people of various generations and positions, I might not have clearly seen how I should write within that context. I think this applies to men's work styles in general.
But precisely because I can't write, I keep trying to figure out a way. Like the vague feelings my peers carry.

Precisely because it's overlooked, I want to convey it as a 30-something man.

Onuki: One thing we felt when launching "THINK30" was that "men in their 30s don't have a nickname." For example, terms like "young people," "active seniors," or "moms" evoke a clear image in everyone's mind – a kind of "portrait" that comes to mind when you hear the word. But we felt that didn't exist for men in their 30s.

Shiraiwa: "Arasa" is a bit different, isn't it?

Onuki: Exactly. In fact, many people told us, "The term 'arasa' conjures an image of women around 30." That's why at THINK30, we call them "30-year-old men."

Shiraiwa: I genuinely believe the only ones seriously considering men in their 30s are the 30-year-old men themselves.
Because nobody else is interested in 30-year-old men. To the outside world, they're just a vague, elusive concept.
That's why I think the "image" of 30-year-old men isn't recognized. Since I'm one of them myself, I can't help but care about 30-year-old men and want to write about them.

Onuki: How do women see 30-year-old men, for example?

Shiraiwa: Risking misunderstanding, I feel like women only show interest in men they have feelings for. It might happen that the person they like happens to be a 30-year-old man, but they don't give the collective group of 30-year-old men a second glance (laughs).

Where's the breakthrough?

Onuki: That lack of attention as a group applies socially too, right?
Hmm, I can only nod in agreement (laughs). Is there any way to get women to notice us 30-year-old guys?

Shiraiwa: Of course, I think there are ways. One possibility I see is for men in their 30s to stop playing it safe and redefine what it means to be masculine.
Right now, women's achievements in society are getting a lot of attention, but if you trace it back, I think it started with the women's liberation movement in the 1960s. What women were thinking back then, I believe, was, "How should women live in society?"

Onuki: So women were thinking, "What weapons can we wield to survive in society?"

Shiraiwa: That's part of it, but it's not like women had nothing before. They had lived obediently to men, built a society within the home, and certainly enjoyed things only women could experience. But when women tried to expand that society they had lived in out into the wider world, they had to deeply consider, "What am I trying to become?"
In other words, they had to, in a sense, negate their previous femininity.

Onuki: So it meant leaving behind a way of life that was possible precisely because they were women.

Shiraiwa: If you think about it in terms of men, I don't think many men would want to do that. Because men have lived in a society where they've had more rights than women since ancient times. They don't even have to seek anything new; they can just live within that system.
It's just one example, but take landing a job at a major corporation. If you can do that, there's this societal foundation where people will recognize you, saying things like, "That guy's really something," right?
To put it more plainly, even when it comes to marriage, men don't get pressured by their surroundings nearly as much as women do if they stay single. Men actually have many options to live their lives without stirring up trouble.
But that's also part of men's cunning. It comes down to whether you can let go of what you inherently possess simply because you're male.

Onuki: When you ask yourself, "Who am I trying to become?", you can't find the answer for the future without first considering "Who have I been based on what I've done?"

※Part 2 of the interview will be published on May 25.