A group of young people recently gathered in a darkened park here. Holding placards and megaphones, they chanted slogans condemning the Japanese government and a lack of jobs and opportunity.

The scene, which is repeated often in the gritty Tokyo neighborhood of Koenji, is nothing close to the protests that have recently shaken Iran. Indeed, the protests would hardly raise an eyebrow in most parts of the world, but in this country, which values conformity, they represent a stark departure from the norm. Since the 1960s, when youth protests turned violent, even the mildest form of protests by young people has been viewed as taboo.

But the pain of recession is changing that, giving rise to a new activism among Japan’s youth, who have long been considered apathetic.

“I’m here because I want to change society,” one leader, Yoshihiro Sato, 28, recently shouted to a crowd of about 50. Unlike the ’60s generation, which agitated to change the bourgeois basis of Japanese society, Mr. Sato and other young people are today fighting to join it. They are demanding greater professional opportunities, more job security and a stronger social safety net.

After so many decades without a grass-roots movement, protests are so rare here that many who wish to take part require basic training.