Hikikomori

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Hikikomori (ひきこもり or 引き籠もり Hikikomori?, lit. "pulling away, being confined", i.e., "acute social withdrawal") is a Japanese term to refer to the phenomenon of reclusive individuals who have chosen to withdraw from social life, often seeking extreme degrees of isolation and confinement due to various personal and social factors in their lives. The term hikikomori refers to both the sociological phenomenon in general as well as to individuals belonging to this societal group.

Contents

[edit] Definition

Although there are occasions where the hikikomori may venture outdoors,[1] usually at night to buy food, the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare defines hikikomori as individuals who refuse to leave their parents' house, and isolate themselves from society in their homes for a period exceeding six months.[2] While the degree of the phenomenon varies on an individual basis, in the most extreme cases, some youths remain in isolation for years or even decades. Often hikikomori start out as school refusals, or tōkōkyohi (登校拒否) in Japanese.

[edit] Situation

[edit] Japan

According to psychologist Tamaki Saitō, who first coined the phrase, there may be one million hikikomori in Japan, representing twenty percent of all male adolescents in Japan, or one percent of the total Japanese population.[3] Saitō later admitted in his autobiography (Hakushi no kimyō na shishunki) that he made up this number to draw attention to the phenomenon and that it had no factual basis.[citation needed] He had based the figure on the number of people with schizophrenia in Japanese society. His clinical work had convinced him that there were at least as many hikikomori.

Though acute social withdrawal in Japan appears to affect both genders equally, due to differing social expectations for maturing boys and girls, the most widely reported cases of hikikomori are from middle and upper middle class families whose sons, typically their eldest, refuse to leave the home, often after experiencing one or more traumatic episodes of social or academic failure.

In The Anatomy of Dependence (Tokyo: Kodansha, 1973, translated by John Bester), Takeo Doi identifies the symptoms of hikikomori, and explains its prevalence as originating in the Japanese psychological construct of amae (in Freudian terms, "passive object love", typically of the kind between mother and infant). Other Japanese commentators such as academic Miyadai Shinji and novelist Murakami Ryu, have also offered analysis of the hikikomori phenomenon, and find distinct causal relationships with the modern Japanese social conditions of anomie, amae and atrophying paternal influence in nuclear family child pedagogy.

[edit] Worldwide

While hikikomori has been claimed to be mainly restricted to Japan, reports of similar phenomena are emerging in South Korea, Taiwan and China.[citation needed]

When a BBC program was aired claiming that hikikomori was a phenomenon particular to Japan, the network received furious messages from viewers stating they had personal experience with hikikomori.[citation needed] With the help of former hikikomori, the trend is receding in Japan as current hikikomori are counseled to find people with whom they are comfortable socialising.[citation needed] In the Republic of Ireland the primary reason for becoming hikikomori is disgrace arising from an act which has turned the majority of the local community against oneself rather than shyness. Those who are hikikomori through shyness are treated with indifference, indeed most Irish people either don't mind the phenomenon, ignore it completely or are too polite to inquire as to an individual's reason. [9] In Switzerland hikikomori are viewed as lazy.

[edit] Causes

[edit] General causes

Sometimes referred to as a social problem in Japanese discourse, hikikomori has a number of possible contributing factors. Young adults may feel overwhelmed by modern Japanese society, or be unable to fulfill their expected social roles as they have not yet formulated a sense of personal honne and tatemae - one's "true self" and one's "public facade" – necessary to cope with the paradoxes of adulthood.

The dominant nexus of hikikomori centers on the transformation from youth to the responsibilities and expectations of adult life — indications are that advanced capitalist societies such as modern Japan fail to provide sufficient meaningful transformation rituals for promoting certain susceptible types of youth into mature roles.

As in many societies, Japan exerts a great deal of pressure on adolescents to be successful and perpetuate the existing social status quo. A traditionally strong emphasis on complex social conduct, rigid hierarchies and the resulting, potentially intimidating multitude of social expectations, responsibilities and duties in Japanese society contribute to this pressure on young adults.[4] Historically, Confucian teachings de-emphasizing the individual and favoring a conformist stance to ensure social harmony in a rigidly hierarchized society have shaped much of the Sinosphere, possibly explaining the emergence of the hikikomori phenomenon in other East Asian countries.

In general, the prevalence of hikikomori tendencies in Japan may be encouraged and facilitated by three primary factors:

  1. Middle class affluence in a post-industrial society such as Japan allows parents to support and feed an adult child in the home indefinitely. Lower-income families do not have hikikomori children because a socially withdrawing youth is forced to work outside the home.[5]
  2. The inability of Japanese parents to recognize and act upon the youth's slide into isolation; soft parenting; or even a codependent collusion between mother and son, known as amae in Japanese.[6]
  3. A decade of flat economic indicators and a shaky job market in Japan makes the pre-existing system requiring years of competitive schooling for elite jobs appear like a pointless effort to many.[7] While Japanese fathers of the current generation of youth still enjoy lifetime employment at multinational corporations, incoming employees in Japan enjoy no such guarantees in today's job market[8] (See Freeters and NEET for more on this). Some younger Japanese people begin to suspect that the system put in place for their grandfathers and fathers no longer works[9], and for some, the lack of a clear life goal makes them susceptible to social withdrawal as a hikikomori.

It should be noted that hikikomori is similar to the social withdrawal exhibited by certain adults with Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDDs) in Western cultures, a group of disorders that include autism, PDD-NOS and Asperger syndrome. Japan has the highest incidence of PDDs in the developed world, recent epidemiological studies carried out indicate that PDDs affect between 1.2 to 2.2% of Japanese children.[10][11] This is significantly more than in the UK, for example, where a 2002 study determined that 0.6% children in Cambridgeshire have a PDD.[12] Indeed, in Nagoya, Japan, 3.3% of boys were found to have a PDD according to DSM-IV criteria.[13] This has led some western psychiatrists to suggest that people with hikikomori maybe affected by PDDs or other disorders that affect social integration, but that their disorders are altered from their typical western presentation due to the social and cultural pressures unique to Japan. However, this suggestion has been rejected by Japanese psychologists who associate hikikomori with emotionally distant parenting that causes children to develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).[14]

According to Michael Zielenziger's book, Shutting out the Sun: How Japan Created its Own Lost Generation, the syndrome is more closely related to PTSD. The hikikomori studied and interviewed for Zielenziger's book were not autistic, but intelligent people who have discovered independent thinking and a sense of self that the current Japanese environment cannot accommodate.

[edit] Education system

The Japanese education system, like those found in China, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan, puts great demands upon youth. A multitude of expectations, high emphasis on competition, and the rote memorization of facts and figures for the purpose of passing entrance exams into the next tier of education in what could be termed a rigid pass-or-fail ideology, induce a high level of stress. Echoing the traditional Confucian values of society, the educational system is still viewed as playing an important part in society's overall productivity and success.[15] In this social frame, students often face significant pressure from parents and the society in general to conform to its dictates and doctrines.[16] These doctrines, while part of modern Japanese society, are increasingly being rejected by Japanese youth in varying ways such as hikikomori, freeter, NEET (Not currently engaged in Employment, Education, or Training), and parasite singles.

Beginning in the 1960s, the pressure on Japanese youth to succeed began successively earlier in their lives, sometimes starting before pre-school, where even toddlers had to compete through an entrance exam for the privilege of attending one of the best pre-schools. This was said to prepare children for the entrance exam of the best kindergarten, which in turn prepared the child for the entrance exam of the best primary school, junior high school, high school, and eventually for their university entrance exam.[17] Many adolescents take one year off after high school to study exclusively for the university entrance exam, and are known as ronin.[18] The higher the prestige of the university, the more difficult the exam, the most prestigious university with the most difficult exam being the University of Tokyo.

Since 1996, the Japanese Ministry of Education has taken steps to address this 'pressure-cooker' educational environment and instill greater creative thought in Japanese youth by significantly relaxing the school schedule from six day weeks to five day weeks and dropping two subjects from the daily schedule, with new academic curricula more comparable to Western educational models. However Japanese parents are sending their children to private cram schools to 'make up'.

After graduating from high school or university, Japanese youth also have to face a very difficult job market in Japan, often finding only part-time employment and ending up as freeters with little income, unable to start a family.[19]

Another source of pressure is from their co-students, who may harass and bully (ijime) some students for a variety of reasons, including physical appearance (especially if they are overweight or have severe acne problems), wealth, educational or athletic performance, or even having lived overseas for a short period. Some have been punished for bullying or truancy, bringing shame to their families.

[edit] Symptoms

While many people feel the pressures of the outside world, hikikomori react by complete social withdrawal. In some cases, they lock themselves in a room for prolonged periods, sometimes measured in years. They usually have few, if any friends.

Hikikomori often set their own sleep schedules, typically waking in the afternoon and going to bed early in the morning. Their days are characterized by long spells of sleeping, while nighttime hours are spent watching TV, drawing, playing computer games, surfing the Internet, reading, listening to music, and other non-social activities. While hikikomori favor indoor activities, most venture outdoors on occasion, though they prefer to do so at night. [3]

Although rare, some hikikomori have become extremely wealthy. For example, starting with 1.6 million yen (apr. US$14,000) in 2000, Takashi Kotegawa (Japanese: 小手川 隆) grew his account in the JASDAQ Securities Exchange 10,000 fold over 7 years to 17 billion yen (apr. US$152 million). [6] He first gained fame in Japan after he managed to profit 2 billion yen (apr. US$20 million) in 10 minutes from a Mizuho Securities order blunder.[7]

Refusal to participate in society makes hikikomori an extreme subset of a much larger group of younger Japanese that includes parasite singles and freeters.

The withdrawal from society usually starts gradually. Affected individuals may appear unhappy, lose their friends, become insecure, shy, and talk less. Those in their teens may be bullied at school, which, atop the already high pressures of school and family, may be the final trigger for withdrawal.

[edit] Controversy

Hikikomori gained increased worldwide attention when the media attributed a number of high profile crimes to it a few years ago. In 2000, a 17-year-old labeled as a hikikomori by the press hijacked a bus and killed one passenger. In fact, it was discovered later that the hijacker had originally been a hikikomori, but his parents, in frustration, had committed him to a mental hospital for two months of observation. Allegedly, the boy felt betrayed by his parents as a result of his hospital admission, and some argue that the violence during the bus hijacking was directed at his mother by proxy. In the ensuing days, the media characterized other extremely violent crimes as having been perpetrated by hikikomori, such as one man named Sato who was criminally insane kidnapped ten-year-old Sano Fusako, (who became hikikomori herself but then returned to being an outside person) and held her captive for nine years and two months. Another case involved Tsutomu Miyazaki, who in 1989 killed four young girls. As a result of this negative media attention, hikikomori acquired a social stigma of being violent and mentally ill that is unlikely to ever leave, Japanese society being the them-and-us mentality that it has. Hikikomori are viewed as useless scum by the majority, the phenomenon being contrary to human nature.

[edit] In pop culture

 Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (July 2008)
  • In the anime Hayate the Combat Butler, the female lead Sanzenin Nagi is a hikikomori.-
  • In the 2002 film Moon Overflowing the character (Koboreru Tsuki) is a hikikomori.
  • In the drama Ikebukuro West Gate Park, the minor character Kazunori gradually loses his hikikomori status.
  • In the dorama Seito Shokun!, one of the students in class 2–3, Shirai Naoki, became a hikikomori after a mountain climbing accident.
  • Ultraklystron's 2007 CD, Opensource Lyricist, features a track entitled "Hikokomori," revolving around the lives of hikikomori.
  • In the video game .hack, the character Endrance is a hikikomori.
  • In the drama Dicey Business, Bosco Wong plays a hikikomori in modern day Hong Kong.
  • The 2008 South Korean horror film Loner is about a girl who is a hikikomori
  • World War Z contains a story about a hikikomori.
  • In the 2008 three-part film Tokyo!, Teruyuki Kagawa plays a hikikomori, in the third part of the film entitled Shaking Tokyo.
  • In Cat Street, a girl becomes a hikikomori after a traumatic incident.
  • In the 2007 New Yorker short story "Sweetheart Sorrow" by David Hoon Kim, the main character has a Japanese girlfriend who is a hikikomori.
  • The American Philidelphia based band Conservative Man released an album entitled Mirabel and the Hikikomori in 2006.
  • In the anime/manga series Gin Tama, the character Tsu Terakado writes a pop single entitled "Your Brother is a Hikikomori".
  • Madotsuki, the female protagonist of the computer game Yume Nikki, is a hikikomori who spends all possible time sleeping and roaming through her dream world.
  • There is a freeware video game entitled "Hikikomori Quest" (a near-farcical parody of the Pokemon Game Boy games) in which the protagonist is flamed on the Internet then goes to the shop to prove to himself that he can go outside and come back home in one piece.
  • In the webcomic Hetalia Axis Powers, the nation of Japan is portrayed as a hikikomori for approximately two hundred years, leading up to the arrival of the Black Ships.

[edit] See also

[edit] Related Japanese topics

[edit] Medical diagnoses for hikikomori behaviors

[edit] Other

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://vickery.dk/hikikomori
  2. ^ Itou, Junichirou. 2003. Shakaiteki Hikikomori Wo Meguru Tiiki Seisin Hoken Katudou No Guide-line (Guideline on Mental Health Activities in Communities for Social Withdrawal)." Tokyo: Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare.
  3. ^ Saitō, Tamaki. 1998. Shakaiteki Hikikomori (Social Withdrawal). Tokyo: PHP kenkyuujyo.
  4. ^ Rohlen, Thomas P. 1989. "Order in Japanese Society: Attachment, Authority, and Routine." Journal of Japanese Studies. Society for Japanese Studies: Vol. 15, No. 1.
  5. ^ Kudō, Sadatsugu and Saitō, Tamaki. September 2001. Argument! Hikikomori. Tokyo: Studio Pot. Shuppan.　工藤　定次(著),斎藤　環(著),「永冨奈津恵」。「激論!ひきこもり」東京：ポット出版、９月、２００１。「ISBN 4939015378」
  6. ^ Kudō, Sadatsugu. October 2001. Hey Hikikomori! It's Time, Let's Go Out. Tokyo: Studio Pot. Ed.,Tokyo: Pot Shuppan.　工藤 定次 (著), スタジオポット(著)。「おーぃ、ひきこもり そろそろ外へ出てみようぜ—タメ塾の本」。出版社:ポット出版、１０月、２００１。「ISBN 493901510」
  7. ^ Okano, Kaori and Motonori Tsuchiya. 1999. "Education in Contemporary Japan: Inequality and Diversity." Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
  8. ^ “White Paper on Labour and Economy 2006: Diversification of Employment and Working Life.” 2006. Provisional Translation by Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training (JILPT). Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare.
  9. ^ Matthews, Gordon, and Bruce White. 2004. Japan's Changing Generations: are young people creating a new society? London: Routledge Courzon.
  10. ^ Sumi, S., Taniai, H., Miyachi,T. & Tanemura, M., (2006): Sibling risk of pervasive developmental disorder estimated by means of an epidemiologic survey in Nagoya, Japan. Journal of Human Genetics, 51, 518-522, [1]
  11. ^ Honda, H., Shimizu, Y. & Rutter, M.,(2005): No effect of MMR withdrawal on the incidence of autism: a total population study. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 46(6):572–579. [2]
  12. ^ Scott F.J., Baron-Cohen, S., Bolton, P. & Brayne, C., 2002. Brief Report Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Conditions in Children Aged 5-11 Years in Cambridgeshire, UK. Autism, 6(3): 231–237. [3]
  13. ^ Sumi, S., Taniai, H., Miyachi,T. & Tanemura, M., (2006): Sibling risk of pervasive developmental disorder estimated by means of an epidemiologic survey in Nagoya, Japan. Journal of Human Genetics, 51, 518-522. [4]
  14. ^ Kary, T., Jan/Feb 2003. Total Eclipse of the Son: Why are millions of Japanese youths hiding from friends and family? Psychology Today Magazine [5]
  15. ^ Rohlen, Thomas P. 1992. "Learning: The Mobilization of Knowledge in the Japanese Political Economy." The Political Economy of Japan. Volume 3: Cultural and Social Dynamics. Kumon, Sumpei and Henry Rosovsky (eds.). Stanford, CA: Stanford university Press, 321-363.
  16. ^ Rohlen, Thomas P. 1996. Building Character. In Teaching and Learning in Japan. Rohlen, Thomas P, and Gerald K. Le Tendre (eds.). Cambridge, U.K.: Cambiridge university Press, 50-74.
  17. ^ White, Merry. 1987. The Japanese Educational Challenge. New York, N.Y.: The Free Press.
  18. ^ Tsukada, Mamoru. 1991. Yobiko Life: A Study of the Legitimation Process of Social Stratification in Japan. Berkeley: University of California.
  19. ^ Yoshimoto, K, and Japan Institute of Labor. 1996. "High School and Initial Career of Graduates." JIL Report No. 89.

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikikomori"
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