Use Japan as an example of how economic development shifts attitudes that may contribute to emerging adulthood.

Over the past 40 years Japan has undergone social and economic changes. In the latter half of the last century, after World War 2, Japan's economy grew. By the 1980s Japan became one of the most developed countries in the world. Traditionally, Japan has a collectivistic society in which individual and group goals are interdependent and social relationships are generally prioritized over individual needs and desires. Though traditional values of social harmony and obligations remain important an emphasis on individuality has emerged, leading some to refer to Japanese culture as "individualistic collectivism". Young people are more able to choose their own life paths than were previous generations of Japanese adolescents and young adults, consistent with a defining marker of emerging adulthood. In addition, arranged marriages, accounting for 50% of all marriages in the 1950s, is now uncommon, accounting for about 5% of new marriages. Whereas emerging adulthood may have been less applicable, or may not have existed, three decades ago, it is likely important now.