HikikomoriHow private isolation caught the

public eyeSachiko Horiguchi

Temple University, Japan Campus

Hikikomori

In Japan: abnormal avoidance of social contact; acute social withdrawal; (also) a person, typically adolescent male, engaging in this; a recluse, a shut-in.

(Oxford English Dictionary 2010)

Gendered, ethnicized, classed issue

Outline of the presentation

• Methods

• Brief ‘history’ of hikikomori as a social problem: moral panics & beyond

• Debates in definitions of hikikomori

• Contemporary concerns

Methods

• Japanese language literature & media analysis

• Fieldwork in Tokyo Metropolitan area from 2003-2005, 2010-

Predecessors

• Futoko (school non-attendance), kateinai boryokyu (violence in the home), moratorium ningen (moratorium beings), otaku, taijinkyofu, taikyaku shinkeisho (student apathy)

2000s

• -1999 Few newspaper reports (Mainichi, Asahi)

• 1998 Shakaiteki Hikikomori (Saito Tamaki)

• One million estimate

• 2000: Moral panic: Reporting of crimes allegedly committed by hikikomori

Definitions?

• MHLW (2003): life centered around the home & shun social participation for 6 months & over; excluding psychosis

• Psychological condition? Labor issue? Always at home?

• Local usage of the term: variety in understandings, pure vs fake hikikomori

‘Hikikomori industry’

Public sector: (Mental) health centers; private organizations commissioned by local governments

Private sector:• Psychiatry <- medicalization!?• Psychologists, counselors• Media (NHK)• Lay supporters

for tojisha: ‘ibasho’, job training approach, residential/ non-residentialfor parents: oya no kai

Tojisha voices:NHK NHK hikikomori hikikomori support campaign support campaign

(2002-2004)(2002-2004)

The impact of NEET

• Focus on the labor issue

• Hikikomori organizations -> NEET organizations?

• Hikikomori boom over??

Hikikomori now• Continuing to be on policy agenda: new guidelines from MHLW & Cabinet

Office survey (2010); MHLW (mental illness) vs Cabinet Office (youth problem)

• Relationship with hattatsu shogai (developmental disabilities), internet use/ addiction

• Concern with aging hikikomori not in employment: disability rather than a temporary condition?

• Global attention (South Korea, France, Italy, U.S.)

• Hikikomori support organizations becoming an alternative space where young people can share difficulties in life

• Female hikikomori?

Who are hikikomori?

In Japan (?): abnormal avoidance of (obsession with?) social contact; acute social withdrawal; (also) a person, typically adolescent (?) male (?), engaging in this; a recluse, a shut-in.

Mentally ill?