Why is this generation of young people in Japan so self-absorbed and seemingly unconcerned, to the point of distracted apathy, about the social and political dilemmas facing their country today?

I have been trying to put my finger on the pulse of this generation for several years now, but the apparent weak flow of blood through their veins has made its discovery elusive.

Then, a few weeks ago, I had a revelation. It was all thanks to a speech that Steve Jobs, the charismatic co-founder and CEO of Apple Inc., made to the graduating class of Stanford University in California in 2005.