Only 8% of Japanese high-school students are ambitious enouch to become “somebody”

Only 8% of Japanese high-school students are ambitious enough to become “somebody” in the future, according to the result of a survey released by the Japan Youth Research Institute on April 25, 2007. The survey said the ratio was far below those of 22.3% of their peers in the United States, 34.4% in China and 22.9% South Korea. Together with those who replied in the survey they “rather wanted” to become somebody, the ratio came out to be 44.1% of the students in Japan, the only country where such percentage was below 50%. The survey was conducted in the second half of 2006 by selecting about 1,200-1,700 high-school students in the four countries.