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The Fight to Save Japan’s Young Shut-Ins
21–30 of 79 posts
Re: The Fight to Save Japan’s Young Shut-Ins
#22So first, economy in Japan sucks, there is not that many jobs and houses to go around. Also problem is not just depression, but shame and lack of alternatives. And hikomori also affects women at large scale.
Japan (and any Confucian culture) shames people who do not accept their traditional roles. Men are expected to work until they fall dead. Women are expected to take care of children (while optionally following career at the same time). This sort of works in closed system, where people do not really know about any alternatives.
But with internet everyone can see that ordinary western people live happy lives, without working themselves to death. I bet most hikimori just want to live western way. Go to nice college, have a few parties, eventually graduate and work 9-5 job. This is simply not an option in Japan, with its elite schools and work culture.
'Saving those people' without providing better alternative is a nonsense. They are already on path they are most happy with. Shaming and dressing it as mental illness is not going to work.
Re: The Fight to Save Japan’s Young Shut-Ins
#23There's a public service announcement for hikikomori:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50Y7R5zP0wc
This, strangely, is in English.
Support website for hikikomori: http://www.newstart-jimu.org
Re: The Fight to Save Japan’s Young Shut-Ins
#24One reason for this is the primacy of the workplace/school, to the total exclusion of any third place. If you don't have a job or are harassed out of your school, what does one do when not working? Japan does not have great ready-made answers to this question, for many people. (It seems like a silly question, but after six years here, I honestly struggled with it after leaving the day job. Where should one be at 3 PM…
I go to Taito Station and play Ultra Street Fighter 4 and/or coffee shops when I don't have much else going on.
Re: The Fight to Save Japan’s Young Shut-Ins
#25One reason for this is the primacy of the workplace/school, to the total exclusion of any third place. If you don't have a job or are harassed out of your school, what does one do when not working? Japan does not have great ready-made answers to this question, for many people. (It seems like a silly question, but after six years here, I honestly struggled with it after leaving the day job. Where should one be at 3 PM…
> to the total exclusion of any third place there were Arcades, but they pretty much all closed in the nineties
Not here in Japan. I just left as a matter of fact. Lots of people there.
Re: The Fight to Save Japan’s Young Shut-Ins
#26I think the Hikikomori phenomenon has been widespreading due to its popularization. imho being a shut-in has become a codified cry for help, a way to express a certain discomfort backed up by social proof. It has nothing to do with being lazy or spoiled, as implied in Japanese media like the Welcome to the NHK anime; I've yet to read the novel.
Hikikomori exists outside of Japan too. I recommend you to watch the following video about hermitism and shut-ins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70bv5gaN4LI
Re: The Fight to Save Japan’s Young Shut-Ins
#27I might be way off, but I tend to view this from an economic perspective in that these young (and not so young) shut-ins, in a pragmatic sense, don't need to work to survive. Their parents are able to provide for them all the basic needs for life - mostly shelter and food. It is a relatively small marginal expense to the parents who usually already have fair incomes. Until the parents pass away, which may take some t…
One doctor in the article states that the diagnosis criteria ought to include whether or not the shut-in is unhappy with the situation. A happy hermit would not be a hikikomori in his eyes.
That said, I'm an introvert myself as well. Spending time with others in a social setting drains me mentally, and I prefer being alone or with my SO. But if I never left the house for months or years, it would be quite depressing for me.
I think the issue goes beyond people who simply don't like spending time with others. People are suffering.
Re: The Fight to Save Japan’s Young Shut-Ins
#28I might be way off, but I tend to view this from an economic perspective in that these young (and not so young) shut-ins, in a pragmatic sense, don't need to work to survive. Their parents are able to provide for them all the basic needs for life - mostly shelter and food. It is a relatively small marginal expense to the parents who usually already have fair incomes. Until the parents pass away, which may take some t…
I'm extremely introvert and – as a student, not a neet! – I've lived the past months in a manner similar to that described by the article. I think no shut-in nor introvert gets satisfaction from such behaviour.
Re: The Fight to Save Japan’s Young Shut-Ins
#29One of the nice things about having a 9-5ish job is that I have to go into the office on a regular basis (not necessarily every day). Even just being in an environment (yes, open workspace) with some kind of energy/noise is good for someone who is so inwardly focused they tend to not need headphones in such an environment. As someone who has done mini shut-ins of almost double-digit days at a time (with corresponding…
I left my job to make video games, mostly solo. I'm financially able to pursue this lifestyle for the foreseeable future.
> One of the nice things about having a 9-5ish job is that I have to go into the office on a regular basis (not necessarily every day).
You hit the nail on the head for me. What I miss most from a normal job isn't money or status, but simply being around other people. I never once thought that I would have felt this way.
I'll be joining a coworking space when money permits, to be sure.
Re: The Fight to Save Japan’s Young Shut-Ins
#30One reason for this is the primacy of the workplace/school, to the total exclusion of any third place. If you don't have a job or are harassed out of your school, what does one do when not working? Japan does not have great ready-made answers to this question, for many people. (It seems like a silly question, but after six years here, I honestly struggled with it after leaving the day job. Where should one be at 3 PM…
> to the total exclusion of any third place There's always Starbucks. I'm only half-joking, there's always people there at all times of the day in Japan.
Well, starbucks was intentionally founded to be a "third place".