Hikikomori
Why are a million Japanese people voluntarily hiding for years on end? Japan’s government has been struggling to come up with a solution for the “hikikomori” social epidemic for years.
The term “hikikomori” describes Japanese people (predominantly men) between the ages of 15 and 59 who have confined themselves to their rooms for six months or more. These people have limited contact with the outside world, and in severe cases, no contact. The Japan Times estimates that each year since 2013, hundreds of thousands of young people have chosen to seclude themselves. However, given the hikikomori’s secluded nature, we can only guess at how many there are — and why there are so many.
Many hikikomori, and former hikikomori, admit to retreating away from society because they were afraid of intense professional and social expectations. Japan’s high achieving culture creates a pressure too great for many to handle. Further, Japan still stigmatizes and shames social disorders. This combination forces citizens to rise to the challenge or else tuck away in secret.
The BBC recently ran an article titled “The Young Japanese Working Themselves to Death” which spotlighted this heart-breaking phenomenon. The author writes about the prevalence of “kiroshi”, which is the Japanese word for ‘death by overworking’. (There became a need for this word in the 1960’s, when this practice first became common among Japanese ‘labormen’, and it has only worsened since then.) Annually in Japan, hundreds — others estimate thousands — commit suicide, overdose on self-medications, and die of exhaustion due to ‘overworking’ (working upwards of 80 overtime-hours each month). The BBC adds that oftentimes, these overtime hours are unpaid. A mother of a kiroshi victim explains that committing to excessive overtime is simply expected, especially of the younger workers.
Rather than face these pressures, the hikikomori prefer to stay within their homes, and generally further confine themselves to their bedrooms. An RT Documentary short called “Hikikomori Loveless: What Causes Young Japanese Hermits to Give up on Real Life” gives an inside view of the “hikki” lifestyle. One interviewee, Ito, is essentially nocturnal and spends the bulk of his waking hours playing video games — many of which simulate real life. He later vocalizes that as a child he was violently abused by his parents, and now takes a number of medications to help him cope. Another, Ryoji Tani, opens a middle school yearbook and recounts being severely bullied. He says that is why he has been hiding for the last eight years.
In another scene in the RT Documentary, a specialized psychologist hosts a seminar for parents of hikikomori. The doctor has met with (or rather, spoken on the phone with) hundreds of young men like this, and says he has found that “they would probably like to overcome this seclusion, but they’re afraid the world doesn’t accept them, that others look at them strangely” (translated). Given the cultural stigmatism around mental illnesses, this fear seems rational. Newsweek’s article “One in Four Japanese Consider Suicide” reports that 23.6% of Japan’s population admit to contemplating suicide (compare to 2.9% in the USA), and only 36.7% of that group feel comfortable informing friends or family members of their struggles (compare to 50–75% in the USA).
The hikikomori are, sometimes entirely, reliant upon their parents, yet that caregiving generation is dying out. GQ’s article “People in Japan are Increasingly Shutting Themselves Off From Society,” warns us of the ‘2030 Problem.’ In the next 11 years, many of the older hikikomori will lose their parents who function as their only financial supports and bridges to the outside world. Japan’s economy and society will take a hit, as thousands of hikikomori will be left further financially destitute and dramatically socially isolated.
Some may suggest that self-isolation is not as bad as violence, crime, or other destructive urban practices. Others may say that if people are alone at least they can’t be hurting others. However, hikikomori exist in droves and live in intense isolation. Japan’s total population is 126 million, and the number of hikikomori is estimated to be climbing above 1 million. With nearly 1% of the population not working, Japan’s GDP will drop and unemployment rate will rise (Business Insider, “The Economic Impact of Hikikomori”). This will damage Japan’s standing in the global market, and cause severe internal social problems as fewer and fewer people are interacting with and marrying one another.
The social concern is addressed in The Guardian’s article, “Japan Shrinking as Birth-Rate Falls to Lowest Level in History” (December 2018), which reports that Japan’s current birth-rate is not high enough to keep the population stable.
The Japanese have begun to chip away at the problem in both public and private sectors. In 2016, The Japanese Prime Minister worked to set up counselling centers with support staff for hikikomori, which has proven helpful (Bloomberg, “Why Half a Million Japanese Young People Can’t Face School or Work”). One private organization, New Life, offers a program called ‘rental sisters’ where parents of hikikomori can pay trained workers to visit biweekly and attempt to befriend their sons.
While these programs help shed light on the problem and have been able to reach a few hundred hikikomori, there are still hundreds of thousands hiding in fear. It seems that the cure for the epidemic will only come from a country-wide decrease in professional pressures and destigmatizing of mental illnesses.
