Buying a car is idiotic. It's better instead to have ¥10 million in the bank.

Such is the mentality of Japanese in their late 20s and early 30s, according to Hisakazu Matsuda's book "Ken-Shohi Sedai no Kenkyuu" ("Research into the Anticonsumption Generation").

The book, published in November 2009, delves into the behavior of a generation that has known only economic contraction. The "postbubble generation," as Matsuda defines it, came of age during the decline of Japan Inc.