24th Jun. 2004

The scheme uses so-called 'navigators'
- from small business owners to lawyers -
to guide the students

Washington,DC, but about lunchtime she was taken to one side by a superior,who quietly suggested that I might be more comfortable at home. Over the years,non-profit organizations and committed,maverick teachers have attempted to fill the gap where universities and high schools have been deficient.In essence,these organizations and individuals are trying to provide young people with more exposure to working professionals before graduation,so students will have a better idea of what sort of career would fulfil them.

Yukari Shibuya,the 30-years-old executive director of Carinavi(short for "Career Navigation"),one such non-profit group,explains: "The Japanese educational system forces students to be the same. As a result,many young Japanese people today are lost as to what they want to do with their lives. After World War 2, Japan became a nation too self-centred on wealth from an economic perspective, and thus it neglected an individual's personal wealth, or happiness."

Carinavi, house in a dilapidated former middle school in the heart of Tokyo, helps young students identify what sort of career they might like to pursue by interviewing working adults, who are dubbed "navigators".The students interview these chats, and post them on the Carinavi website.

"In Japan, if you enter a good school and then go on to work at a well-known company, you are considered a success," says Ms Shibuya, who resigned from her job at International Business Machines after three months, after deciding she wanted to start Carinavi. "My parents were against the idea of me starting a non-profit enterprise, after the money they had spent on my education. They said it was Japan's responsibility to start a programme, not mine."

Hiroyo Kogo, a former participant in the Carinavi programme, said that the career guidance centre at her university was woefully deficient."The career services centre emphasised getting a job at one of the 'big 10' companies, so that the name value of these firms could be used to attract future students, "Ms Kogo, 23 , now works at Xavel, a company that provides website content for mobile phones.