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Abstract  This paper reviews and describes the various results of the life course approach in Japan in the decade since its introduction. During the latter half of the 1960s and the early part of the 1970s young researchers of the postwar generation were searching for a new perspective with which to describe and explain the world. It was at this time that the life course approach was developed in the American academic community among several interrelated disciplines, such as sociology, anthropology, psychology, and history. In this preliminary phase the FLC research group, organized and administered by Kiyomi Morioka, played a significant role. Since its dissolution, many former members have continued to introduce the life course approach to other researchers, and much work has been done.

This study uses American (Manchester, New Hampshire) and Japanese (Shizuoka) cohorts in 1910–1950 to explore the similarities and differences between "life-course transitions," defined as the movements of individuals and families within socially constructed time-tables; and "life-course turning points," which represent individuals' subjective assessment of continuities and discontinuities over their lives. Considerable differences are found among cohorts in each society, but there are also similarities that cut across both societies. Whereas cultural differences in the timing of life transitions and the subjective construction of the life course are significant, the common experience of cohorts in response to shared historical events may transcend cultural differences.

This study uses American (Manchester, New Hampshire) and Japanese (Shizuoka) cohorts in 1910-1950 to explore the similarities and differences between "life-course transitions, " defined as the movements of individuals and families within socially constructed time-tables; and "life-course turning points," which represent individuals' subjective assessment of continuities and discontinuities over their lives. Considerable differences are found among cohorts in each society, but there are also similarities that cut across both societies. Whereas cultural differences in the timing of life transitions and the subjective construction of the life course are significant, the common experience of cohorts in response to shared historical events may transcend cultural differences.