I can feel for this guy. I just spent 8 years without seeing the sun or breathing fresh air. (Jail) I hope he's taking some vitamins. I'm assuming he's doing no exercise?
Japanese game developer hasn't left the house in 10 years
41–50 of 128 posts
Re: Japanese game developer hasn't left the house in 10 years
#42I first read about this lifestyle in World War Z, a decent book for zombie lore with no connection to what ultimately became the movie. There is a character in the book named Kondo Tatsumi who is described as an “otaku” which I presume has some approximation to hikkikomori.
Yeah, there's a "dark triad" of Japanese-bred terms for given behaviours that usually occur together.
-Hikikomori is a shut-in.
-NEET is someone who is "Not in Employment, Education or Training".
-Otaku means basically a "super-geek", an enthusiast about something.
They happen a lot in Japanese society and the terms got recognized and coined here, but they are not exclusive to Japan. I believe, as a foreign resident, that the more "Tokyo-like" the conditions of life in a place get, the greater the pressure is to embrace this dark triad.
Going out to spend time in a crowded noisy polluted modern city space full of judging eyes is unsettling, so living as a hikikomori offers some shelter from that. Long work hours and demanding extra expectations, and things like academic anxiety are exhausting so NEET life gives an expensive way out. We are all wired to love to learn about and play with something. In a world where people don't communicate positively with each other much passing by in the streets, and you have to sit in institutions all day with other people suffering these pressures and not communicating positively with us, it's not so strange to lean harder on a fascination with something to cope.
Re: Japanese game developer hasn't left the house in 10 years
#43It is a shame that the hikkomori is a trend and becoming popular with COVID.
I'm actually attracted to it - the more I get older the more I think it's a lifestyle for me.
I am generally fine only interacting with people face-to-face once or twice a month. All my close friends live states away, so we text or talk. I have my dog who I take on walks. And if I absolutely get tired of being alone (about once or twice a month) I go to a bar and strike up conversation. Sure I do vacations and concerts and the like, but in general I prefer being solo.
I've been this way my whole life. I like it, I definitely don't like doing stuff with people more than once a week, too draining on me. Amazingly I even have a girlfriend. She lives two hours away and we switch off who drives to stay the weekend each month.
Re: Japanese game developer hasn't left the house in 10 years
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’d say it still fits the NEET/hikkikomori definition.
Doesn’t “NEET” mean “Not in education, employment, or training?”
It does, but, as a colloquialism, it’s reaching a disassociation from its original meaning and is now used to describe “asocial” behavior. You will often see shutins called neets (and I think this colloquial case change further disconnects the word from its original meaning) as well as someone who has a job but lives with their parents.
The word police have not been enforcing the law, so unfortunately for any pedants this change in meaning is likely to stay.
Re: Japanese game developer hasn't left the house in 10 years
#45I first read about this lifestyle in World War Z, a decent book for zombie lore with no connection to what ultimately became the movie. There is a character in the book named Kondo Tatsumi who is described as an “otaku” which I presume has some approximation to hikkikomori.
Yeah, there's a "dark triad" of Japanese-bred terms for given behaviours that usually occur together. -Hikikomori is a shut-in. -NEET is someone who is "Not in Employment, Education or Training". -Otaku means basically a "super-geek", an enthusiast about something. They happen a lot in Japanese society and the terms got recognized and coined here, but they are not exclusive to Japan. I believe, as a foreign resident,…
> Going out to spend time in a crowded noisy polluted modern city space full of judging eyes is unsettling
Tokyo really isn't that, though. Of big cities it's probably one of the most comfortable to live in. I live walking distance to Shinjuku station, which is the most transited train station in the world, and rarely does a car pass by my apartment. Other than the occasional ambulance there's basically no audible noise from indoors. Sure, you can walk towards the center and end up in the middle of a big crowd - or you can just not do that and spend most of your time in smaller neighborhoods. Convenience stores provide all basic necessities a minute or two's walk away, you have supermarkets within walking distance without having to delve into any dense crowds. You can take main streets to travel around the city and pass by a bunch of people, or you can step 20 meters into a side street and rarely cross paths with anyone. There's parks to relax in all over the city. And if you don't mind taking a few detours and avoiding rush hour, you can get anywhere in Tokyo via the train network (or even buses!) while getting to sit down the whole way, never ending up in an uncomfortably full car.
That said - yes, people don't talk to each other in Tokyo by default, and that takes a toll. I've had more random people talk to me on the street in my visits to Osaka than in 7 years living in Tokyo. To socialize here, you need to find groups with similar interests. It took me a while to figure out how this all worked, but for three or so years now I've been going to anime music and jazz jam sessions and related events, and I even play in a couple amateur bands (modulo COVID). If you don't put in the effort to find these kinds of groups, you can certainly end up quite lonely in Tokyo.
Re: Japanese game developer hasn't left the house in 10 years
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, there's a "dark triad" of Japanese-bred terms for given behaviours that usually occur together. -Hikikomori is a shut-in. -NEET is someone who is "Not in Employment, Education or Training". -Otaku means basically a "super-geek", an enthusiast about something. They happen a lot in Japanese society and the terms got recognized and coined here, but they are not exclusive to Japan. I believe, as a foreign resident,…
> Going out to spend time in a crowded noisy polluted modern city space full of judging eyes is unsettling Tokyo really isn't that, though. Of big cities it's probably one of the most comfortable to live in. I live walking distance to Shinjuku station, which is the most transited train station in the world, and rarely does a car pass by my apartment. Other than the occasional ambulance there's basically no audible no…
I'll give you that there are cities that can be worse for this particular part of the problem, but you can't package a product without polluting some. And Tokyo is a city with millions of people-products.
Re: Japanese game developer hasn't left the house in 10 years
#47Quoted post unavailable.
What mental illness?
Re: Japanese game developer hasn't left the house in 10 years
#48Has anyone told this guy that it's really easy to cut your own hair? Especially if you don't need to impress anyone.
He has a youtube channel so he probably does need to impress people.
Re: Japanese game developer hasn't left the house in 10 years
#49> Per ITK, Nito only leaves his apartment to get a haircut and take out the trash, as well as any other activity that absolutely requires him to step outside of the comfort of his room. So actually: "Japanese Game Developer rarely leaves his house." I can see why they went with their own headline, though.
It's also possible that there is no Nito and the whole article is The Submarine at work. Successfully.
Re: Japanese game developer hasn't left the house in 10 years
#50It is a shame that the hikkomori is a trend and becoming popular with COVID.
I think the relevant question is “why are people dropping out of society in greater numbers than ever before? What changed?”
And another relevant question, is it actually happening more or are we just noticing it more and calling attention to it?
The concept of a hermit is very, very old. Some percentage of humans have always opted out of communal culture for a more isolated experience. Whether that percentage is rising, by how much, and why, is tough to analyze.
Also, the "why" of that question is ripe culture war fodder, which makes any discussion difficult.