This book investigates the connections between socio-structural aspects, individual agency and happiness in contemporary Japan from a life course perspective. The contributors examine empirical data on the processes which impact how happiness and well-being are envisioned, crafted and debated in Japan across the life-cycle. The book discusses the shifting notions of happiness during people's lives from birth to death, analyzing the age group-specific experiences while taking into consideration people's life trajectories and historical changes. It points also out recent developments in regards to demographic change, late marriage, and the changing labor market.

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 Manzenreiter

Part I: Childhood and Youth

1. Tanoshikatta ne? Learning to be happy in Japanese preschools Eyal Ben-Ari

2. "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 Horiguchi

4. Anxious, stress, and yet satisfied? The puzzle of subjective well-being among young adults in Japan Carola Hommerich

Part II: Adulthood

5. Being happy as a woman: The promise of happiness for middle class housewives in Japan Ofra Goldstein-Gidoni

6. The well-being of single mothers in Japan James M. Raymo

7. Happiness at work? Marital happiness among Japanese housewives and employed wives Mary C. Brinton

8. The happiness of Japanese academics: Findings from job satisfaction surveys in 1992 and 2007 Theresa Aichinger, Peter Fankhauser, and Roger Goodman

9. Dilemma of fatherhood: The meaning of work, family, and happiness for salaried male Japanese workers Futoshi Taga

Part III: Old age

10. Happiness pursued, abandoned, dreamed of, and stumbled upon: An analysis of twenty Japanese lives over 20 years Gordon Mathews

11. Senior volunteers and post-retirement well-being in Japan Satsuki Kawano

12. Well-being and decision-making towards the end of life: Living wills in Japan Celia Spoden

13. Fear of solitary death in Japan's aging society Tim Tiefenbach and Florian Kohlbacher

14. Reconsidering the four dimensions of happiness across the life course in Japan Wolfram Manzenreiter and Barbara Holthus