Were the Good Old Days Really Better?—The Light and Darkness of Japan from the 1960s to the 1980s in “Sunset on Third Street” and “Sunset on Fourth Street”

“Things were better in the old days.”

Older people often say this, but whenever I hear it, I have doubts.

Were things really better in the past?

There is a famous manga about postwar Japan called “Sunset on Third Street.” It was also adapted into films and portrays a time when people may have been poor, but helped one another and worked hard while believing in a brighter future. In this article, the period I am discussing is roughly the 1960s through the 1980s.

It certainly makes you feel nostalgic. It is filled with human warmth and seems to show something that modern Japan has lost.

But there is another manga called “Sunset on Fourth Street” that presents a striking contrast.

It also depicts the lives of ordinary people in the same broad period, but its content could not be more different.

A parent falls ill. Medical bills pile up. The family goes into debt, and a child gives up the chance to attend university. Debt collectors storm the house, use violence, and destroy the family’s life.

If “Sunset on Third Street” presents a warm and compassionate version of those decades, “Sunset on Fourth Street” presents the same period without salvation.

The contrast is so extreme that it initially feels almost malicious. But when I thought about it, I realized that this, too, was part of the reality of those decades.

In the Past, One Misfortune Could Ruin Your Life

What struck me while reading “Sunset on Fourth Street” was how difficult it was to escape once misfortune struck.

A parent became ill. The family could not pay the medical bills. They borrowed money, were pursued by debt collectors, and gave up on further education.

Today, Japan has the High-Cost Medical Expense Benefit system and various other forms of assistance. Such systems do not solve every problem, of course, but the social safety net is far more developed than it was in the past.

The same applies to debt collection.

In old dramas and manga, it was not unusual to see debt collectors storm into someone’s home and use violence. Today, that would clearly be illegal, and laws regulating debt collection are much more firmly established.

Violence was not legal back then either. But the existence of a law and the actual protection of vulnerable people were two different things.

In other words, once people fell, they often entered a world from which individual effort alone could not rescue them.

Can we really call such a time “better”?

By the Numbers, Japan Is Far Safer Today

Many people feel nostalgic for Japan from the 1960s through the 1980s, but traffic fatality figures show that Japan is far safer today.

Crime has also declined substantially when measured by the number of recorded criminal offenses, compared with the peak in 2002.

Medical technology has advanced, average life expectancy has increased, and social security has improved.

Many things we take for granted today were not taken for granted in the past.

On the other hand, during Japan’s period of rapid economic growth, salaries rose every year, and people expected to become more prosperous in the future. That was certainly different from Japan today.

But having hope for the future and actually living a safe, comfortable life are not the same thing.

Japan today suffers from a sense of economic stagnation. Even so, in terms of personal safety, healthcare, and social systems, we are far more fortunate than people were in those decades.

I would not want to return to that time.

People Edit the Past to Suit Themselves

Why, then, do people think the old days were better?

I think the reason is simple.

We forget the unpleasant things and remember only the enjoyable ones.

Summer vacations in childhood were fun. People knew their neighbors. The streets felt lively, and the future seemed full of promise.

But there was also pollution. Traffic accidents were more common. Poverty and arbitrary violence existed too.

Delete those inconvenient parts from memory and connect only the pleasant scenes, and anyone can create a wonderful era.

“Sunset on Third Street” is, in a sense, a collection of the best scenes from those decades.

“Sunset on Fourth Street,” by contrast, could be described as a collection of all the scenes people would rather not see.

It makes no sense to judge the entire period by looking at only one of them.

Is That Period Really What People Want to Return To?

I do not think there is anything wrong with feeling nostalgic for the past.

But there is one question I would like to ask people who say, “Things were better in the old days.”

Do they really want to return to that era?

There would be no smartphones or internet. Medical technology would be less advanced, social security would be inadequate, and the risk of dying in a traffic accident would be higher.

Would they still want to go back?

I suspect that what many people want to return to is not Japan from the 1960s through the 1980s itself.

They want to return to the time when they were young.

They had physical strength, possibilities ahead of them, healthy parents, and plenty of time remaining in their lives.

That, I can understand.

But it is not because those decades were wonderful. It is because they were young.

In the end, “Things were better in the old days” is probably less an assessment of an era than a reflection on one’s own life.

I would not want to return to Japan as it was in those decades, but if I could return to the age I was then, I would gladly go back.

I would just like to keep today’s living conditions.