Japanese youth as a topic of discourse intensified extensively after Japan`s bubble economy burst in the 1990s. This discourse, however, often lacked clear distinctions between the young generation`s “problems” and that of its “adaptation.” Previous research emphasizes either “youth deviation” or on a “standard life course model” particular to Japan. In this study, I focus on the latter. In particular, I conduct a generational-based comparative analysis of the life course of Japan`s youth, spanning from 1945 and with a particular focus on changes in employment environment and family structure. I found that in many cases the research was premised on generalized pretexts or framed the youth as primarily detached from the model modern family. Though the standard (or assumedly self-evident) life course has played an essential role in the production of modern Japan`s family structure considerable focus has been excessively placed on how youth detract from the ideal family frame as opposed to the roles they play in creating it. The so-called “Japanese-style modern family,” which ideally amounts to certain delineations pertaining to gender-based divisions of labor and a two-parent-two-child structure has become the standard life course model-both in discourse and in institutional support mechanisms-and reveals a gender asymmetry in that the focus of studies has been on the young generations deteriorating working conditions as opposed pinpointing the specific additional pressures placed on women within these problematic times. In sum, Japan`s modern family discourse should be used to understand its policy-orientating and normalizing effects on life course patterns in postwar Japanese society.