Word: shimogaki
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...cutbacks have hit people like construction company owner Kazuharu Shimogaki hard. Shimogaki's firm peaked in the early 1990s, when sales reached $8 million and he employed 80 people. Now, the company has just 18 on its payroll, and sales have dropped to less than $1 million. A few years ago, Shimogaki, 57, diversified into garbage incineration and a blueberry-farming operation that has yet to turn a profit. Shimogaki inherited his business from his father, but none of his four children is interested in taking it on. "Times are changing," says Shimogaki, with a trace of resignation...
...least people like Shimogaki?struggling nobly in the face of adversity?enjoy a measure of sympathy from their countrymen. In comparison, no consequence of Japan's restructuring has so vexed the country as the rise of the "freeter"?the name for a highly educated young person who seems to have it all but stops trying. Because a college education has become less likely to guarantee lifetime employment, the sons and daughters of baby boomers have increasingly resorted to taking part-time or temporary jobs without high pay or much chance of job development. (Coined by a job-placement magazine, "freeter...
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