
Japan’s Hikikomori Already Faced Stigma. Then Came 2 Shocking Acts of Violence - pseudolus
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/06/world/asia/japan-hikikomori-recluses.html
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SolaceQuantum
When I was young (from ~16 - 19) I entered a hikikomori type of way. I
couldn't tell you what started it, really. I had never been one to make
friends. I grew up largely alone, and never felt lonely. That level of
isolation into one's teenagerhood defines one's identity, I think. You can
cycle inside your mental landscape almost eternally, spiraling ever deeper
into increasingly abstract conceptions on onesself and onesself's relationship
with the world.

I joined a forum for shut-ins like myself. Many were older than me. They had
realized that they are slowly being left behind by the world they knew, as
their friends and family 'moved on' in life but they stood still in their
homes. It wasn't agoraphobia, although some were agoraphobic. Some was due to
trauma they cannot recover from. Others were disillusionment from society.
Misanthopy. Autism. There were a myriad of reasons.

These people taught me a lot about what it means to be alone in a social
world. There was much pain, even anguish. It's easy to lose onesself in anger
when the world seem so still in your room. It's one of the only things that
makes one still feel like a living creature, and not a ghost waiting to leave
the shell.

I had friends who aren't around anymore. Their anger went self-directed. They
couldn't escape the pain. Others lashed out, and I couldn't be friends with
them anymore. They followed pattern of self-isolation that prepetuated even
over the internet. I'm not surprised that violence occured.

It's rather interesting to me that the concept of a hikikomori is viewed
generally as a Japanese specific construct. In reality, I think the hikikomori
concept is reflective of an international disenfranchisement of young adults
as they come into their own and realize the world has many problems that they
are ill equipped to tackle, within themselves and within the literal global
landscape.

I'm 25 now. I didn't think I'd live this long. Sometimes I mourn the isolation
I left behind. The world is so bright and big, filled with light and wonder
almost blinding, sorrow and suffering almost deafening.

------
bitL
Society discards people, society makes it impossible for discarded people to
come back, society is shocked some of discarded people do horrible things.
Society looks elsewhere to blame.

~~~
munmaek
> “In the past 20 years, the number of hikikomori who have committed a violent
> crime is only a few — no more than 10 cases, for sure,” said Tamaki Saito, a
> psychiatrist at the University of Tsukuba, about an hour northeast of Tokyo,
> who is a leading expert on hikikomori. “If we compare that with the general
> population, I think it’s fair to conclude that hikikomori noticeably have no
> relation to crimes. They are a group with a low crime rate.”

> Although some studies suggest that hikikomori commit acts of domestic
> violence at higher rates than the general population, experts say the most
> pressing problem is that those with the condition, like others in Japan,
> rarely seek help for their mental health problems. Hikikomori may be
> affected by schizophrenia, depression or anxiety, or they may be on the
> autism spectrum.

This seems like a mental illness problem, of which "hikikomori" is one side
effect. It may likely be exacerbated by a stronger need to conform to culture
and/or societal expectations.

------
munmaek
Note that hikomori = recluse, at least from the article title. Perhaps it was
changed after posting?

