Japan’s Lost Generation – Hikikomori

Socially withdrawn kids, lock themselves in their bedrooms and refuse to have any contact with the outside world.

Hikikomori has turn out to be a major issue in Japan. A unique social phenomenon captured worldwide attention for around the past 10 years or so. An observer, Jonathan Watts said, “The problem is an almost too-perfect manifestation of Japanese society's worst fears and not for the first time. In the early Nineties, when the economy was roaring ahead, doctors identified a new problem, karoshi, or death from overwork. Now, with Japan in the doldrums, the country is obsessed on the opposite reason for fear, hikikomori, and the ultimate in social parasitism.” According to Michael Zielenziger, hikikomori are not just cultural oddities. Their isolation is really a silent protest against contemporary Japanese society.

All this leads to incredibly high expectations by parents and a constant uncertainty of what the future holds for the teenager’s. Sadly, there’s also a rise in the suicide rate for teenagers when final results for university entry are given out. Because of these highly demanding environments that teenager’s are living in a social and psychological phenomina is occuring in Japan, hikikomori. They’ll watch TV, play video games really do anything that involves not leaving their room and parents will normally allow it by feeding them and pretending not to notice it because they’re too embarassed of people finding out to get help.

There seems to be a link between hikikomori cases and pressure/stress itself. Whatever adversities these people face, and often face alone, would no doubt place them under significant amounts of pressure/stress. It rather paints the image that people is being continuously cornered in life and has no idea of how to get himself or herself out of it. Then, when they have the opportunity to run - they run and hide. Perhaps running away and hiding is easier than enduring. Thus, locking themselves away becomes habitual. Moreover, habits are hard to break.

Although his figures are not clear-cut, Tamaki Saito, the Japanese leading psychiatrist who coined the term, has estimated that there may be one million hikikomori in Japan, representing 20% of all male adolescents in Japan, or 1% of the total Japanese population is suffering from this psychological disorder. However, no matter how much they research the cases or facts, it all appears sketchy. The only way researchers can really tell how many cases there are is if people report them.

As the problem has become more widespread in Japan, an industry has sprung up around it. There are support groups for parents, psychologists who specialize in it (including one who counsels shut-ins via the Internet) and several halfway programs like New Start, offering dorms and job training. For all the attention, though, hikikomori remains confounding. The Japanese public has blamed everything from smothering mothers to absent, overworked fathers, from school bullying to the lackluster economy, from academic pressure to video games. Murakami Ryu pointed out “It is concerned with the increase of socially withdrawn kids, while at the same time it applauds gizmos like the new Sony PlayStation, which comes equipped with an Internet terminal and a DVD player. Technology like that has made it possible to produce animated movies and graphics, as well as conduct commercial transactions, without ever stepping out of the house.”

There are different opinions about the treatment of a hikikomori, and the opinions often split into Japanese and a western point of view. Japanese experts usually suggest waiting until the hikikomori reemerges, whereas western doctors suggest dragging the hikikomori back into society, by force if necessary. It seems Japan takes a negative attitude in treatment of a hikikomori and they do not understand how serious it is. The more problem is, the parents often simply "wait-it-out" hoping that just their children will grow out from the facing the real world. Some may seek counseling but all measures taken are just as passive. Even worse perhaps, is the attitude that families often feel "ashamed" if one of them becomes a hikikomori. They would internalize the problem and refuse to seek help.

Imagine spending 5 years of your life locked up alone in a room. This must be feeling really lonely and unhappy. Nevertheless, the hikikomori feels relaxed and relief to be in his or her small room rather being outside among the people watched by them as a different to them. The fact that many of the victims are children or teenagers make it even sadder to envisage a good portion of their childhood is… wasted away.