Hikiomori

Hikikomori
The Japanese educational system has failed to accommodate the fierce nature of the global market, and many Japanese youth are locking themselves in their rooms. With the Internet, CDs and television to occupy their minds, they can stay in their rooms for months, years and in many cases decades. The very technology that has helped fuel globalization has also enabled, and in many cases, caused hundreds of thousands of Japanese youth to remain isolated from society. In an article covering this new social problem, hikikomori, the New York Times states, “A leading psychiatrist claims that one million Japanese are hikikomori, which, if true, translates into roughly 1 percent of the population. Even other experts' more conservative estimates, ranging between 100,000 and 320,000 sufferers are alarming, given how dire the consequences may be.” (Jones 1) There are many causes of Hikikomori “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.”(Jones 1) In his book, Shutting Out the Sun, Michael Zilenger , shares personal stories of many different Hikikomori that reflect each of these reasons and more, but the most common causes of Hikikomori depicted in the book are school bullying and failed tests. Students are put under intense pressure to succeed, and because Japanese society tends to the conformist, students who fail academically have few alternatives.

In Japanese culture, conforming to an idea of normal has been ingrained into almost every aspect of society, and is one of its strongest means of control and social defense. Tchigau, the Japanese word for “No, you’re wrong”, can be more literally translated as “to be different”. Unlike Western culture, with its deeply ingrained beliefs of objective right and wrong, good and evil, in Japan right and wrong is closely tied to conforming to what is accepted. In his book, “A History of Japan” Kenneth Henshall talks about the difference between Japanese Mythology and Western, “But what is quite distinctive about Japanese myths is an avoidance of moral judgment as to good and evil. . . Behavior is accepted or rejected depending on the situation, not according to any obvious set of universal principles.” (7) Neil Postman describes this use of language and culture as “invisible technologies” He argues that language plays a large role in shaping one’s world view and is often hidden from sight, “language has an ideological agenda that is apt to be hidden from view. In the case of language, that agenda is so deeply integrated into our personalities and world-view that a special effort and often special training are required to detect its presence.”(123- 124)

The social defense of community thinking has helped Japan recover from the massive losses sustained in World War II, and, according to the “World Economic Outlook Database,” is now the second largest economy in the world. Now Japan is going through a hard recession, “In the early 1990s Japans economy suffered a massive blow, “Growth slowed markedly in the 1990s. . . Government efforts to revive economic growth met with little success and were further pered in 2000 to 2001 by the deceleration of the global economy” (World Factbook). In the preface to his book, “Shutting Out the Sun” Michael Zielenziger comments on the worsening conditions in Japanese life, “Japan has the highest suicide rate and the lowest birthrate of all industrialized countries, and a rising evidence of increased depression.” He goes on to argue that the stifling of individuality and the ability to express oneself, as well as Japans tradition-steeped societies’ aversion to change has damaged Japan’s ability to compete on the world economy.(1).
With a group focus and little regard for the individual, Japan has been manufacturing its workers for almost 50 years in an attempt to compete and dominate the world market. The intense strain of this process has been blamed for many Hikikomori cases. In “Shutting Out the Sun”, Zielenziger tells the story of Hiro, “I just didn’t have the energy, physically. . . I’d go to juku (a cram school designed to prepare students for an elite high school) at four and come home every day around ten at night.” (36) Japanese school systems tend to focus on rote memorization of facts, and students are required to pass entrance exams to every stage of the educational process. From elementary school to the University, difficult exams are often required to gain acceptance. The exams for the University are so intense that students often take a year off after high school just to prepare for them. Upon graduation from the university, the expected route would take the graduate to a position in a large company working 12 hour days in a monotonous job with few vacations until retirement. Thus the Japanese Salary Man is created. Postman illustrates the effects of this normative expection by borrowing the eloquence of others. “In England, William Blake wrote of the “Dark Satanic mills” which stripped men of their souls. . . In France, Balazac, Flaubert and Zola documented in their novels the spiritual emptiness of “Economic man”. (42-43)

The pressure to succeed in an ever-changing global economy is greater then ever, especially during school. Children are being pushed at earlier ages to succeed, yet the current method of education, intense though it may be, is not adequately preparing children for the competition of the global market. Life has grown monotonous; it offers little accommodation to those that do not wish to follow the accepted path to success. When this is combined with the fact that the approved route has men dropping dead in their 40s from work exhaustion, it is no wonder that Japanese youth are locking themselves in their rooms, unwilling or perhaps unable to continue on that same path.

With the desire to conform and increasing pressure to succeed in a failing school system, Hikikomori are being left with a very confusing and, what must seem to be, a hopeless situation. The information in the world is increasing rapidly, a report by the “Executive Summary” claims that over 1 Exabyte of unique information is produced every year. They go on to claim that magnetic storage is the largest medium for this, as books and printed material only account for .003% of the new information created, it also claims that on the internet alone over 7.3million new documents are produced every day. (Executive Summary) I believe the Japanese education system, with its continual focus on rote memorization of an ever increasing amount of facts, and a de-emphasis on and often harsh reaction to independent thought is one of the primary factors in Hikikomori because these focuses do not allow students to adapt to the changing world climate. In his book “Technopolly” Neil Postman states, “When the supply of information is no longer controllable, a general breakdown in psychic tranquility and social purpose occurs. Without defenses, people have no way of finding meaning in their experiences, lose their capacity to remember, and have difficulty imagining reasonable futures.”(72) Many Hikikomori express this same feeling of a life without direction or purpose, “I couldn’t find my own identity,” . . . “I wasn’t developing. I couldn’t communicate or assert myself, so I stayed in my room.” (Zielenziger 34)

After retreating from society, many Hikikomori sleep during the day and get up at night, where they pass the time by reading manga (Japanese comic books), surfing the web, listening to music, watching movies and playing video games. Often times, they will browse discussion boards and blogs such as 2channel (Wikipedia). While there are many factors that contribute to Hikikomori that don’t necessarily have a direct correlation to computers and networking, I believe that the ability to network with other individuals through anonymous message boards and to remotely interact with outside people plays a large role in helping to sustain the lifestyle of isolation. However, I do not believe that these types of activities are helping them regain that valuable ability to interact with other humans, or to discover their true identity.
“Our children will only come to know what it means to be human if they first sink their hands deeply into what is real.... Learning what it means to be human is the first order of business in a machine-saturated world. The computer impedes this learning rather than aids it. In short, a high-tech world requires a low-tech, high-touch childhood” (Phi delta)

Due to the prolonged isolation there are many negative affects on Hikikomori including the loss of skills needed to function in every day society. Many have not completed school and the few that come out of their self imposed isolation find it hard to hold a job. A few Hikikomori have become violent, and in some cases have killed family members as well as tortured people. “Two years ago, a 17 year old hikikomori sufferer left his isolation and hijacked a bus, killing a passenger. Another kidnapped a girl and held her captive in his bedroom for nine years.”(Rees 3) While most hikikomori do not commit these types of crimes, and some argue that the people who committed the crimes were not true Hikikomori (they would be to afraid to leave their homes much less hijack a bus), the social stigma stands, and most formerly and recovering Hikikomori are looked down on. With the loss of education, the stereotyping of other Japanese and the general loss of social skills, many Hikikomori have incredible difficulty adjusting to life outside their tiny rooms. “As a hikikomori ages, the odds that he'll re-enter the world decline. Indeed, some experts predict that most hikikomori who are withdrawn for a year or more may never fully recover. That means that even if they emerge from their rooms, they either won't get a full-time job or won't be involved in a long-term relationship. And some will never leave home.” (Jones)

The effects of Hikikomori extend beyond their tiny rooms, and engulf their whole families, yet tend to stop at that point. Families are often too embarrassed to seek assistance form the government, and while in American society most fathers would likely break the door to the room down to forcefully remove the child, or quickly involve outside help such as the police, many Japanese families take a much more passive approach, and are reluctant to involve outside assistance in fear of the shame it would bring them. An article BBC News describes the situation of an unnamed boy who had locked himself in his kitchen, “Then one day, he walked into the family's kitchen, shut the door and refused to leave. . . The family have since built a new kitchen - at first they had to cook on a makeshift stove or eat take away food.”(Rees) I believe that this passive reaction, by the parents, is one of the sustaining factors of Hikikomori.
There are several treatments for Hikikomori; each is dependent on how the problem is viewed. If seen as a psychological problem, the patient is admitted to a hospital and treated as if he or she has a mental illness. If viewed as a social problem, there are two approaches: removal from the family setting into a shared living environment, usually with other Hikikomori, or to leave the country, where they can be allowed to express themselves more freely with a greater flexibility of life choices. The last two options have met with moderate success.

Some help is available for families that have Hikikomori children: there are support groups for parents, but with the risk of exposure many families fear to ask for any outside help. Programs are available to help reach hikikomori. One such program is called New Start. The goal is to draw Hikikomori out of their rooms and to place them in a setting with other Hikikomori so as to be surrounded by people that understand the situation. Typically a woman known as a “rental sister” will make first contact. It is a slow process and can sometimes take years to encourage a hikikomori to leave his room. The New York Times describes one such first meeting, “When Kawakami arrived at his house in Chiba, near Tokyo, for the first time, Y.S opened his bedroom door long enough to tell her, “Please, go home.” It was a typical first meeting.” (Rees) Once they have moved into the new environment they are slowly integrated back into society. Some will end up taking jobs and eventually be able to live on their own. It is a long process and success is not guaranteed.

Psychologists and social scientist have come up with a verity of reasons as to the cause of Hikikomori, yet all seem to be at least partially related to the rise of technology and the affects that computers and networking have had on our shrinking world. Hikikomori are a recent phenomenon, the physical result of a clash between an old way of thinking and the realities of a new world. No longer can the negative aspects of the Japanese education system be overlooked. No longer can Japan’s refusal to change its policies in a meaningful way be accepted. Japan needs to adapt to the changing world, reassess the focus of their education system and try to create a society that more openly accepts free thinking, or the numbers of Hikikomori will continue to rise.

Works Cited
"How Much Information? 2003." Executive Summary. 2003. UC Berkeley.
30 May 2007 .

Henshall, Kenneth. A History of Japan: From Stone Age to Superpower.
2nd. New York: PALGRAVE MACMILLAN, 2004.

Jones, Maggie. "Shutting Themselves In." The New York Times 15 Jan 2006 6. 15 May
2007.

"Japan." CIA-The World Factbook. 2007. CIA. 16 May 2007

Moll, Marita. "Computers and kids: Pulling the plug can protect the planet."
Phi Delta Kappan 84.8Apr 2003 600. 19 May 2007

Phil, Rees. "Japan: The Missing Million." Correspondent 20 Oct 2002 20 May 2007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/correspondent/2334893.stm.

Postman, Neil. Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture of Technology.
1st. New York: Vintage Books, 1992

Zielenziger, Micheal. Shutting Out the Sun: How Japan Created Its own Lost Generation.
1st. New York: Random House, Inc, 2006.