(Yicai) May 20 -- Preeminent Japanese sociologist Atsushi Miura believes that China will enter the fifth consumption era before Japan.

China’s economy, demographics, and consumption patterns are undergoing more drastic shifts than Japan’s, Miura told Yicai in a recent interview. These changes, combined with aging population, booming internet and virtual economies, e-commerce growth, and artificial intelligence development, will likely help China enter the fifth consumption era earlier than Japan, he added.

The fifth consumption area (2021-2043) is characterized by solitude, sustainability, and new community, according to Miura. The first consumption area (1912-1941) was marked by urbanization and elite consumerism, the second (1945-1974) was defined by mass consumption and family-centered growth, the third (1975-1997) featured individualism and diversification, and the fourth (1998-2020) was centered on minimalism and shared values.

Consumption eras evolve sequentially but often overlap. China has already entered the fourth consumption era but retained the characteristics of the third consumption era. In large cities, consumers embrace the ‘consumption downgrade’ trend and prioritize shared, eco-friendly, and minimalist lifestyles.

“I think China is still in the third era,” Miura said. “Looking at young people, I see some are entering the fourth era, but the fourth and fifth are very similar.

“In Japan, values from the fourth consumption era favored by the youth are just now starting to be recognized by the government, administrations, and large companies as beneficial approaches for the fifth consumption era society, leading their commercialization,” Miura noted.

“In China, administrative power is strong, so when authorities determine something is valuable, they can advance it rapidly,” he explained. “Therefore, without waiting through Japan’s 25-year fourth consumption society period, China might leap directly to the fifth stage, with information technology and AI accelerating this transition.”

Well-being is the core concept of the fifth consumption era, according to Miura.

“The fifth consumption era’s focus on well-being is actually a goal,” he noted. “The components of well-being are peace, purpose in life, financial security, and social connections, which are straightforward and obvious universal human values that have persisted for thousands of years, yet we haven’t truly realized them.”

Miura believes that these values represent humanity’s ultimate aspiration. “It’s no longer about catching up to the United States or France but about realizing universal values,” he added. “In that sense, these values are the same in China, India, Thailand, or anywhere else.”

Miura published The Fifth Consumption in China in April last year, marking the book’s global debut. Miura is also the author of Downwardly Mobile Society, The Rise of Sharing: Fourth-Stage Consumer Society in Japan, and others.

Editor: Futura Costaglione