When Masao Suzuki heard his company was offering an early retirement program that paid out 2.5 times the regular amount, he figured it was time to move on. But first he has to find a new job.

And at 54, the certified electrical engineer is facing a whole world of difficulty.

Suzuki, not his real name, works for a well-known electronics maker. He hopes to find a new job before his employer's generous retirement offer expires in March.

"So far, I have sent resumes to 20 companies but I haven't met with any success," he said while attending a recent seminar for middle-aged job-seekers held in the western Tokyo suburb of Tachikawa.

Suzuki hopes to find work as an electrician in charge of an entire building. Despite having passed the national electrician's exam and holding eight government-issued certificates all related to electricity or building management, Suzuki cannot find a job. "It is probably because I have no previous experience in the job," he said, "even though I have qualifications."

When Suzuki paid a recent visit to a branch of Hello Work, a local government-run job center, he was stunned to find how hard it is for people middle-aged and older to find a job.

But he refuses to give up. He is determined to quit his job, take the payout and begin a new career.

Others, however, are facing a much harder time.

Tokuyuki Kudo, a 40-year-old former chemical engineer who lives in Osaka, has been unable to find full-time employment since leaving his old job at a chemical manufacturer 10 years ago. Kudo quit when the firm decided to indirectly fire him by forcing him to transfer.

After a spate of temporary and part-time jobs, Kudo found work as a security guard. However, his hours are irregular and the number of working days per month is decreasing as companies cut back on spending.

Kudo has sent out applications to numerous companies over the past decade, hoping to make good use of his experience as an engineer. He said he has been continually rejected because of his age.

"I was even told that I only had four months to go before turning 36," when applying for a position for which the maximum age was set at 35, Kudo said. "I was exactly at that age."

A nationwide poll by an affiliate of the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry and released last March revealed that more than 90 percent of firms have an age limit for job applicants. The average cut-off age was 41.

Firms blamed the seniority wage system for creating a situation in which it is no longer economical to hire older workers. In response, the labor ministry revised the Employment Measures Law, making firms answerable to the government when they impose age limits on a job.

However, the law, which took effect in October, is not legally binding.

Of the nation's 3.37 million unemployed, 1.38 million are aged 45 or over. And many face age discrimination.

For some, the situation is darker still. With a family to support and loans to pay off, extended unemployment results in suicide.

According to the National Police Agency, there were more than 30,000 suicides in 2000, the third straight year the figure topped 30,000. Nearly 3,000 cases were attributed to financial hardship, up 5.3 percent from a year earlier.

A new way of thinking

Nobuyuki Kanematsu, the founder of Hatarakizakari-no Kai, a Kanagawa Prefecture-based civic group for people in their prime working years, has called for the abolishment of all age limits in hiring.

The revised Employment Measures Law, despite lacking teeth, has at least played a role in raising awareness of the issue, he said.

Kanematsu, 49, began campaigning to eliminate age limits in 1998, when he found himself unable to apply for positions simply due to his age.

"At first, most people laughed at me when I delivered a speech (on the issue) on the street," he said, because age limits were so common that everyone took it for granted and never even thought that it could be a form of discrimination.

"To set a condition on something that originates in one's nature is definitely a form of discrimination," he added.

Kanematsu stressed that setting age limits affects the entire labor market -- not just older job-seekers -- and prevents the market from being truly flexible.

"The lifetime employment system is beginning to crack, but the way of hiring remains the same," and that is where the paradox lies, Kanematsu said.

Yasuo Suwa, a professor in sociology at Hosei University in Tokyo who participated in the revisions to the law, agrees with Kanematsu.

He said a number of Japanese firms are also rejecting younger job-seekers in order to protect their current employees and the seniority-based wage system, leading to an increase in new job-seekers being unable to find full-time employment.

However, as young job-seekers often do not have to support a family and many live at home with their parents, their employment-related problems do not draw as much public attention as those of the middle-aged.

The Japanese tendency to place enormous importance on a person's age is part of a longtime tradition, Suwa said, preventing the age bias from disappearing.

"When the economy was expanding, the age discrimination system benefited all people regardless of age. But this is no longer the case," Suwa said, noting that it will take a long time for society to eliminate such a deeply rooted system.

Lifetime employment and seniority-based wages were developed when the nation's economy was growing rapidly in the postwar years in order to maintain the pyramid-shape structure of the workforce.

In return for guaranteeing a stable income over an employee's working life, the companies demanded that employees devote their entire working life to the company.

However, the shrinking economy has made it impossible for firms to pay the same wages as they used to. And the high wages being paid by firms to the increasing number of senior employees who were hired a couple of decades ago during the boom years are weighing heavily on companies' finances.

Times have changed and so must people and companies. Suwa said, however, both seem to be stuck in the middle, resulting in turmoil.

An end to arrogance

While some see this situation as an opportunity for people to change themselves and discover a newfound freedom away from dependence on their company, the middle-aged -- who have long enjoyed the benefits of being spoon-fed by their employer -- are having a harder time adapting.

Shunzo Hirayama, a Tokyo-based consultant who provides support for unemployed middle-aged people, believes people must face up to the cold hard realities of the present and change for the better rather than clinging to a glorious past that will never return.

Hirayama firmly believes middle-aged people are much more competent than their younger counterparts.

"Middle-aged people in general are rich in experience, have built up social skills and have a wide network," but have not realized how worthy they are, Hirayama said, noting his job is only to remind them of their value, which has often been suppressed by their company.

He believes that a hastily acquired qualification will not help them if they do not discover their own personal worth.

Hirayama boasts that nearly 95 percent of his clients aged over 41 have succeeded in finding new jobs within a year.

"Small and medium-size enterprises and venture businesses comprise more than 90 percent of the total companies in Japan," he said. "And those firms are all in need of mature senior workers."

But senior workers must let go their arrogance and memories of the glory days when they earned high salaries or had a number of obedient subordinates if they want to enjoy working for a new firm.

"They should be aware that they unknowingly became totally dependent on their firms under the traditional working system, devoting all their life to the firms," he said. "Therefore, they should also realize that they now have a great opportunity to become self-reliant, change their life to truly enjoy their own life and own work."

Asked about the falling number of jobs available to middle-aged job-seekers, Hirayama said it is only an index at Hello Work and does not fully reflect the reality.

"Private firms that provide support for job-seekers have said there are many openings," he said.

While Hirayama's words may sound overly optimistic to those who cannot even get an interview due to their age, there are people who have overcome their difficulties and changed their lives.

Ikuo Akizuki, 55, is one of them. In 1998, Akizuki took advantage of an early retirement offer and quit his job as a researcher at chemical giant Tonen Corp. He now works as a care worker in Saitama Prefecture, supporting the elderly.

After passing the national exam to become a certified care worker, Akizuki initially was unable to find a position at any facilities for the elderly due to his age and gender. Such care workers are still predominantly women.

But he never gave up. In 2000, he finally found employment as a care worker.

Then in 2001, Akizuki established a station where care workers are based and he now employs several full- and part-time workers, whom he dispatches to clients.

But freedom came at a cost. Akizuki now earns one-eighth of his old salary.

"But I can still make a living (with my family) by using the early retirement allowance," he said. "I left the firm after thoroughly calculating how it would be if I lost the salary but got the allowance.

"What is more important is that I am feeling happy and fulfilled by doing what I like." he added. "That's something that I would have never had if I stayed at the firm."