It was a shock and a disappointment to learn, courtesy of a survey released in August by the Dai-ichi Life Research Institute, that men in their 40s are the unhappiest people in Japan. Who are the happiest? This is even more surprising: men in their 80s. That gives younger men something to look forward to. But 40 years is a long wait.
What is poisoning the lives of men in their prime? Pressure? Responsibility? A gnawing feeling, precisely because it is the prime of life, that the restless hopes and dreams of adolescence are not coming true, never will come true, were doomed from the start not to come true because life simply isn't like that? And might that be a clue to the happiness of men in their 80s? Resignation is long in coming, but it does come at last.
Women, the survey shows, tend to peak in terms of happiness in their 60s, after floating on an even keel through their 30s, 40s and 50s. In general, their lot seems a more fortunate one. Of women, more in a moment. Men first.