ABSTRACT
This chapter explains what is meant by self-searching, the first of the three elements of self-searching migrants. A literal translation of jibun sagashi from Japanese, self-searching elucidates both ubiquitous and culturally specific modes of self-quest in late modernity. Drawing on concepts and theories from sociology, psychology, philosophy, and youth studies, as well as anthropology, the chapter first probes into the act of self-searching as a globally ubiquitous practice since the advent of modernity. Then it turns to the linguistic-cultural specificity of Japan and its historical context from the early 1990s, which gave birth to the idiom. It is argued that the linguistic-cultural specificity of Western modernity enhanced the ego-centric form of self-reflexivity, while the Japanese linguistic-cultural frameworks developed the ego-less search of the self, which was idiomatized as “self-searching” in the early 1990s, pushed by the increasing social uncertainty caused by the economic recession. Although industrialized countries around the world are experiencing three post conditions—postmodern, postindustrial, and postadolescence—which enhance individuality, the chapter explores how this individuality manifests itself differently according to each culture-society. It concludes with an overview of the Japanese self-searching phenomenon from the mid-2010s to the 2020s.
