the enlightenment generation

Today is Coming of Age Day in Japan -- a celebration day for young adults turning twenty (this is the age in Japan when you're given legal rights as an adult), and a nice day off for people who aren't twenty.

Apparently, the generation of the new adults are called 悟り世代 (the enlightenment generation) in that they know what it is to be satisfied with (what they have) now （足るを知る）; they don't ask for much, and they are happy with ordinary lives -- never controlled by desires.

Some people, mainly those who lived the age of economic growth after the war have misgivings about the future of Japan when they see "the enlightenment generation".  The older generations think the younger ones lack the motivation to bring further prosperity to Japan.

This might be very true.  In a way, it's simply sad that these young people have reached enlightenment at their age -- enlightenments are for old people.  Young people are supposed to be ambitious; they should stay hungry and foolish.  It's shocking that there are less and less Japanese students willing to study abroad.  It's sickening that young people are locking themselves up in a warm cocoon.  And it does seem like a big problem if they are really losing interest in the rest of the world.  Because a country like Japan with so little natural resource can not live on its own, and it's simply sad (again) to lock yourself away from this beautiful world when there's so much left to see.

But is that really a problem?

When the bubble popped in the early 1990s, the Japanese were forced to change their sense of value.  Putting too much emphasis on material wealth soon was something to be criticized.  Spiritual richness and health of the mind began to matter more.  It is no coincidence that the young generation has reached enlightenment at such a young age.

If the enlightenment generation is happy (they should be by definition), and if each individual is truly happy, what is the problem?  At least for the time being?  Is it so bad that Japan has given up its position as the second economic power?

I don't know much about Bhutan, but they are by no means counted as an economic power (and they have a high divorce rate), and yet it's said that more than 95% of their people are "happy".  It's an enlightenment country.  And books with titles like "how to learn the way of happiness from Bhutan" sell like bibles in Japan, only to tell us that the Bhutanese think very much like the Japanese enlightenment generation.

So if national prosperity and individual happiness contradict one another (since happy people apparently lack the motivation to make their country richer), which should come first?