In 2005, Genda Yuji, an associate professor at the University of Tokyo, and Maganuma Mie, a freelance writer, published NEET, a sociological work that draws attention to the employment troubles of contemporary Japanese youth. The book immediately sparked debate on the NEET lifestyle--Not in Employment, Education, or Training, i.e. done with school but seeking neither employment nor marriage--now prevalent among young Japanese.
2005 年，東京大學副教授玄田有史和自由撰稿者曲沼美惠合著，凸顯時下日本青年就業無奈選擇的社會學著作《NEET》出版，立即引爆各界討論，而已經離開校園卻不見邁向職場與婚姻的「尼特族」，也幾乎成了東瀛年輕人最新的生存狀態代名詞。