The coming of age of the postwar baby boom and an entry of women into the male- domiated job market have limited the opportunities of teen-agers who are already questioning the heavy personal sacrifices involved in climbing Janpan's rigid social ladder to good schools and jobs.
While in America the trend started as a reaction to the economic decline-after the mass redundancies caused by downsizing in the late ' 80s-and is still linked to the politics of thrift, in Britain, at least among the middle-class down shifters of my acquaintance, we have different reasons for seeking to simplify our lives.
