Shirake generation

A nickname for Japanese people who came of age in the 1970s, after the student movement faded; roughly those born in the early-to-mid 1950s. There is no official definition.

Births: MHLW, Vital Statistics (2025 final data, Table 4.1).
Birth years used on this page	1950–1955
Age in 2026 (after birthday)	71–76
Births in those years	11,848,670
Peak year	1950 (2,337,507)

Who are they?

The shirake sedai came right after the baby boomers and reached university and their first jobs in the 1970s, after Japan's student movement had faded. The name comes from the word for "cooled off" or "indifferent", used at the time for young people who kept their distance from politics.

No public agency defines it, and the range varies. This page uses births from about 1950 to 1955.

No Japanese public agency has defined this term; the birth years above are a common rough range.

Be born in Japan

What they lived through, and at what age

Ages are for people born 1950–1955 (the age they turned that year; those not yet born are left out).

Events from the timeline used in the game.
Year	Event	Age
1953	TV broadcasting begins	0–3
1956	"No longer the postwar era"	1–6
1958	Tokyo Tower and instant noodles	3–8
1960	Protests over the US–Japan Security Treaty	5–10
1964	The first Shinkansen and the Tokyo Olympics	9–14
1968	Japan's GNP becomes the world's second largest	13–18
1969	Apollo 11 lands on the Moon	14–19
1970	Expo '70 in Osaka	15–20
1972	Okinawa returns to Japan; ties with China normalized	17–22
1978	Narita Airport opens	23–28
1985	The Plaza Accord	30–35
1986	Equal Employment Opportunity Act takes effect	31–36
1987	Japanese National Railways is privatized	32–37
1989	Showa ends, Heisei begins	34–39
1990	The national university entrance test begins	35–40
1990	Stock prices crash; property lending curbed	35–40
1991	The Gulf War and the fall of the Soviet Union	36–41
1993	The employment ice age begins	38–43
1995	The Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake	40–45
1997	Consumption tax rises to 5%; major financial firms fail	42–47
2001	The September 11 attacks	46–51
2002	Japan and Korea host the World Cup	47–52
2004	The Chuetsu earthquake in Niigata	49–54
2008	Smartphones arrive	53–58
2008	The 2008 global financial crisis	53–58
2009	Lay judges introduced; change of government	54–59
2011	Switch to digital TV	56–61
2011	The Great East Japan Earthquake	56–61
2014	Consumption tax rises to 8%	59–64
2016	The Kumamoto earthquakes	61–66
2016	Voting age lowered to 18	61–66
2019	Heisei ends, Reiwa begins	64–69
2020	The COVID-19 pandemic	65–70
2021	The Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics	66–71
2022	Age of adulthood lowered to 18; war in Ukraine	67–72
2023	COVID-19 downgraded to a common infectious disease	68–73
2024	The Noto Peninsula earthquake; new banknotes	69–74
2025	Expo 2025 in Osaka	70–75

Public statistics

*University (undergraduate) entry rate in year of birth + 19, the spring most people born April–December enter at 18. **Annual average in year of birth + 18 (last year of high school) and + 22 (last year of university). Sources: MHLW, Vital Statistics (2025 final data, Table 4.1) / MEXT, School Basic Survey, annual series, Summary Table 4 / MHLW, Employment Referrals for General Workers, long-term Table 3.
Born	Births	University entry rate when they turned 18*	Jobs-to-applicants ratio at 17–18**	at 21–22**
1950	2,337,507	15.4%	1.12	1.16
1951	2,137,689	17.1%	1.30	1.76
1952	2,005,162	19.3%	1.41	1.20
1953	1,868,040	21.6%	1.12	0.61
1954	1,769,580	23.3%	1.16	0.64
1955	1,730,692	25.1%	1.76	0.56

11,848,670 babies were born in Japan in 1950–1955, peaking at 2,337,507 in 1950. When they turned 18, the university entry rate was 15.4–25.1% (24.6–37.9% for men, 5.8–11.6% for women). In the year they were in their last year of university, the jobs-to-applicants ratio ranged from 0.56 to 1.76 (1.0 means one opening per job seeker).

Game simulation: 1,500 lives

We ran 1,500 lives in the Born in Japan simulator for people born 1950–1955 (the game does not include 1952, 1953, 1954), choosing birth years in proportion to actual births and leaving every decision on default. These are game estimates, not statistics.

Born in Japan simulation (estimate). Money in today's yen, inflation removed. Future years are the game's assumptions.
Item	Simulation
Average age at death	82.6 years
Graduate from university or grad school	27.2%
Ever married by 50 (of those alive at 50)	90.6%
Regular (full-time) employee at 30	47.7%
Living in an owned home at 60	42.3%
Average number of children	1.91
Lifetime gross earnings, men (median)	¥225 million
Lifetime gross earnings, women (median)	¥77 million
Net worth at 65 incl. home (median)	¥23 million

In the game, 1950–51 births belong to the "Dankai generation" and 1955 to "Born 1955–1964". The game does not include 1952–1954 births, so the simulation uses only the other years.

Real dataStatistics on this page

Births and total fertility rate: MHLW Vital Statistics (Japanese nationals in Japan; Okinawa excluded until 1972)
University entry rate: MEXT School Basic Survey (university entrants, including those who entered after a gap year, divided by junior high graduates three years earlier)
Jobs-to-applicants ratio: MHLW, annual average for all job seekers at public employment offices, not only new graduates
Definitions: the public documents cited on each page

AssumptionGame simulation

The "game simulation" table comes from running lives in the Born in Japan simulator with default choices
Wages and life expectancy are based on public statistics, but marriage, job changes and investing include assumptions without a source. Years after 2026 are the game's assumptions
Money is in today's yen, adjusted for inflation; expect a margin of a few points

Be born in Japan

Your generation is chosen at random, in proportion to births.

FAQ

What is the Shirake generation?

A nickname for Japanese people who came of age in the 1970s, after the student movement faded; roughly those born in the early-to-mid 1950s. There is no official definition.

What years were they born?

This page uses 1950–1955. There is no official definition, so ranges vary.

How old are they in 2026?

71–76 years old (after their birthday in 2026).

How many people were born in those years?

11,848,670 births in 1950–1955, according to Japan's Vital Statistics.

Other generations

All generations / Explainers / 日本語