A youth group is a traditional educational organization that gathers local youths who have reached a certain age and teaches them local discipline and rules of life.
It was called by various names in different areas, such as "young people," "young friends," " youth group," and " youthful group.
The places where they gathered also had various names depending on the region, such as "youth lodge," "young people's lodge," " youthful lodge," "sleeping lodge," "hut," etc. In the past, the "young people's lodge" was a traditional community in many parts of Japan.
They used to be found in traditional communities throughout Japan and in the world.
They guarded the village, performed various tasks, and gathered together for friendship.
In some communities, there were also " girl's lodges," where girls of the same age would gather, and the role of the lodge was to find a marriage partner through mutual interaction.
Although they were created as a place to prepare young people to become full-fledged members of the local community, they declined and disappeared after the war as public education became widespread and young people moved to cities, leading to a sharp decline in the population of youth in rural areas.
In Japan, the "Neyako" system miraculously survives in part on the island of Toshijima in Mie Prefecture.
Boys who have graduated from junior high school gather at a sleepy house after dinner to socialize.
They work and socialize under the supervision of their parental substitute and graduate in marriage.
They learn things about fishing, festivals, and rituals from their elders there.
The bonds between the young people who grew up in Neyako are thick and strong, and are said to be more than kin.
Well, most young people today would not be able to spend time at a youth lodge or in a neyako.
First of all, they would go crazy because they cannot spend time alone on their phones or playing video games.
Mothers will not send their children out because they are afraid that it is a hangout for delinquents.
The school's lifestyle guidance teacher might be the first to object.
But is there anything we can learn from the youth lodge and bed-and-breakfast system that was once common in Japan, and apply it to the upbringing of today's youth!
Today's children are usually confined within nuclear families, and families do not get along with each other, or there is abuse.
Children are then forced into a uniform "study" lifestyle with the goal of taking exams.
Even if they attend cram schools or sports clubs, there is little interaction or fellowship among the children.
What the youth group and the Neyako custom have in common is that they have a communal living space away from their parents and home.
There, they learn social skills and how to contribute to the community and put them into practice.
They could also naturally learn about sex and love, which are important aspects of life.
In Japan, where both parents and children are already immersed in a disjointed, solitary lifestyle, it would be very difficult to incorporate this in its original form.
But wouldn't it be nice to have a new system or structure that successfully excludes the risk of being tainted with delinquency, assigns appropriate and good leaders, and separates the youth from their parents and home for a certain period of time to interact and live?
I don't see this kind of discussion in Japan right now (*^. ^*)
No matter what we do, private, free life is our top priority and we can't abandon it.
It would be laughed off as an anachronism.
However, I believe that there are some important hints hidden in the traditional youth inns and the "bed-and-breakfast" system to change the current situation of non-marriage, declining birthrate, and stagnation in Japan...