Hikikomori means being isolated or confined in Japanese. It’s used for adolescents or adults who withdrew from society and seek extreme degrees of isolation. This became a national problem in Japan. It affected 800,000 people in the country according to 2019 data.
According to the Japanese government census, 540,000 people between the ages of 15 and 39 experienced this problem in 2016. (Source) However, mental health and treatment in Japan are seen as a serious weaknesses. Instead of treatment, they find a temporary solution called folding.
Almost all of the inhabitants of Hikikomori are men. They do not work in a job, do not go to school, do not establish social relationships with the outside world (except the internet). They often contact their families, even reluctantly, and often rarely. The majority isolates themselves in their rooms. Very few of them only come out at night to satisfy some of their needs such as shopping and eating.
Between the ages of 35-49, the number of men who have this problem increases everyday. In this video, Kazuo Okada is a patient with this condition.
How Is Hikikomori Therapy Applied?
Hikikomori Disease
This disease can be observed in Japanese men between the ages of 15 to 30. These people isolate themselves from society as a result of failure, social pressure, or bullying. These people lock themselves in a room or a house. Hikikomori is the name given to this closure behavior.
Usually, the underlying problem disappears within a few days. But sometimes it is long-term. They read books in the room, spend time on the internet, play video games. The time spent in isolation is very important for this diagnosis. When there are more than 6 months of isolation, the diagnosis can be made. In some cases, this isolation period can be 20-30 years long.
Riki Cook, 30, has an American father and a Japanese mother. His family lives mainly in Hawaii while he lives alone in Japan. “Riki always tries to be outstanding,” writes Elan, but has a fear of making mistakes. Photo: Maika Elan
According to the Japanese State Hikikomori Criteria and Diagnosis;
- Going to school and not going to work.
- Difficultly interacting with people outside family members.
- And these are going on for at least 6 months.
- Clearly and permanently avoid social situations and social relations.
Photo: Maika Elan
From time to time, we encounter people who are isolated from the world, for example (Genie). Examples of this are frequently seen in the cinema. In the (Room), the life of a mother and child who live in a closed room is being told. In (Oldboy), the screenwriter talks about the issue more fantastically: an office worker remains mysteriously locked in a room for more than 15 years. He is released after 15 years of captivity. However, his mental health deteriorates beyond recovery and he wants to punish those who are responsible.
A Big Problem for Japan: Hikkomori!
This behavior of consciously isolating himself/herself is a very serious problem for Japan. These young people do not finish their education, do not work, do not participate in any social activities. They are living with their parents’ income or pension. They don’t pay taxes, they don’t pay for health insurance. As a result, these young people cost about 1.680 billion yen ($ 15,456 million) each year. ( Source)
Why Did Hikikomori Became a thing? What are the reasons?
First of all, Hikikomori is not a formal disease. However, it is known that the Japanese culture has a significant impact on this problem affecting hundreds of thousands of people. Most psychologists and psychotherapists agree that this problem is linked to the Japanese social belief (sekentei).
So what is the “sekentei?”
For centuries, Japanese culture has established loyalty in their social structure. So, your reputation in the community and your ability to influence others depend on the secular belief.
Japan, which has created a country from scratch after the Second World War, has became one of the strongest economies in the world in a very short time. (1950 – 1970) However, in 1980, Japan entered an economic recession. The generations that were raised during this period understood that their parents could never achieve success. But their parents still expect them to create a better future.
The next generation will remain in the shadow of this success. Most young people in Japan accept this pressure at various levels and continue their lives by struggling. There are a great number of Japanese people who have been crushed under this pressure. When these young people feel unsuccessful, they isolate themselves from society. They feel more unsuccessful and consequently further punish themselves.
The Dependency Between A Japanese Mother and Child Is A Problem!
The only reason for Hikikomori is not the fear of success for the Japanese.. One of the most important reasons is the relationship between mother and son. In Japan, there is a very dependent relationship, especially among the eldest son and mother. The mother shows deep respect and compassion for the boy. This bond is so strong that it continues even when the boy is 30 years old. Yes, every mother loves, cares, and protects her son but that also causes dependence. It also causes the boy to be weaker and more vulnerable in society. If the boy is sensitive too much, and if he does not fulfill his wishes, he can be increasingly violent.
This unhealthy mother and son relationship ensures that the child will always take care of his mother. The reason why a mother shows such unconditional love to her son is because of society and it comes from a hundred years of tradition.
This unhealthy relationship between the mother and the child can decrease the child’s resistance to pressure. The boy might give up instead of fighting the pressure. He accepts defeat, abandons his expectations from life, and just wants to linger. However, he will often fail to accept how unrealistic this life is.
“Amae” is a Japanese concept/word to describe the feeling of wanting to be loved and to be taken care of by someone. You can often hear this term in articles about Hikikomori. This unhealthy behavior starts from a very young age, it is crucial to fix this situation. Even though it’s the son’s problem the mother primarily must have this awareness as well.
Japan Interviews What Is Hikikomori?
Treatment
Although Hikikomori seems to be a problem in Japanese society, it is a disease and needs to be treated. It is known that young people have isolated themselves in their rooms and authorities have massive problems in the method and application of treatment because their patients refuse to connect with them.
Today, non-profit organizations like Newstart-Jimu are working for the solution to the Hikikomori problem. In this case, “rented sisters” are being contacted from outside world to reach those people. We discussed this subject in detail in the topic “A different solution to the problem of Hikikomori”.
You can find more information about mental disorders from here.
Last Updated on December 10, 2022 by Lucas Berg
8 thoughts on “What Is Hikikomori? A Great Isolation from the Society”
Girl, no offense, but your articles are awfully written. If you’re not a native speaker (which neither am I) you should definitely get someone to proofread them. I have a hard time finding out what you are even trying to say.
Hey Emma,
Thanks for the feedback. As you mentioned, some of the articles need adjustment but I want you to know that we’re working on it.
Have a good day,
Sefa
Informative article. The editing (grammar) needs work such as “The only reason for Hikikomori is not the success of the Japanese.” <This sentence makes no sense. Are you trying to say that the successes are not the only reason?
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Feedback:
Stop calling every outlying behaviour a "disease". I could barely get through the article because of this, no matter how informative it is.
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1. For one thing, when you do this, the non-belivers/non-supporters/skeptics who say things such as "i don't believe in mental health needs or treatment" only feel more right. They continue to think that psychologists and psychiatrists are only trying to medicate everyone/sell more drugs and exaggerate people's problems by labelling them as "crazy". (These are also the types of people who don't "believe" in adhd for example.) By calling any damaging behaviour a "disease" it sounds as if there is no right way to be. As if people cannot go through trauma or hardship without being labelled a "problem". A person's situation can be an emergency or in need of help without comparing it to cancer with such an extreme word as "disease". You are belittling actual diseases by doing that.
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The idea of the grieving spouse who can't move on after a month and then they are prescribed psychiatric drugs instead of getting counselling or moving through the pain like a living breathing person should? That's the stereotype in the medical field that you're feeding – blowing things out of proportion by using the word "disease" for everything.
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2. You shouldn't be calling something a "disease" when there is no evidence to support calling it that. You yourself admit that it is "not a formal disease". It is not recognized or researched the world over, and it's not in the DSM. Most importantly it's only recognized in Japan. If it was a regular thing that people experienced, there would be billions of people self-isolating everywhere. It's only in Japan because it's culture-based, it isn't anywhere else or at least not in large enough numbers to rack up billions in government costs.
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3. There are not enough words and not the right words to express how unhelpful the words "disease, illness, sickness" are – I have severe OCD. If somebody calls that a "disease, brain disease, mental illness, a sickness" in front of me I will tell them how insulting they are being. Since I have severe OCD and most of the people I talk to do not, and also since I have been this way my entire life (I turn 40 in february), I do have a great level of insight that any psychiatrist is not going to gain no matter how many lectures they go to or how many patients they see. Their experience is important, but I am the one who lives this, they don't, you don't. You do not get to label it.
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Calling something that is a "mental health need" a "disease" is just repeatedly making people who experience trauma feel like a broken toy. It is right there in the word. Look at these words and tell me that you would be comfortable being told that your brain is "sick", has a "disease", that you are "mentally ill" and "unwell" and "disabled". How can you eb so unaware of what you are doing that you don't hear yourself when you say this? Here, below
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Stop lumping all mental health needs under the same umbrella i.e. learning differences, neurological differences, brain damage, trauma, addiction,
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and stop using "illness, sickness, disease, disability" for every single thing that you don't like or that confuses you. Yes, they can be difficult and hard and sometimes ugly, but I have never hated my OCD. That is my experience – there are some good things about OCD the same way that some people with autism or adhd say there are good things about their differences too. Some such as phobias or paranoia I would say have absolutely nothing good about them. Those are like cancerous tumours (and I would know, I have both the mental and physical kind). But others are the reasons for a lot of the music and art and innovation we have in the world. We are not the same, stop treating us as if we are. (as a positive example, my OCD is the reason I did all of this in 30 minutes and why I can so easily do this amount at the drop of a hat.)
Thank you for your feedback.
As for the grammar part of the article, it is a small editorial mistake and it is corrected as we speak.
For the rest of the article: Yes, it is currently not defined as a “disease” in DSM-V but there are numerous diseases such as social anxiety disorder and avoidant disorders which closely resemble our subject. In addition to that, there are various essays on why hikikomori should be considered a disease. Furthermore, there is a well-based proposal for hikikomori’s addition to DSM-5’s next revision.
You can find mentioned essay here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4912003/
We are sorry it bothered you. We are trying to be more sensitive about mental illnesses. On the other hand, we are just an informative website and we do not claim any final decisions on our topics.
Hi Marilyn! I noticed how negative the comments below were and I just wanted to say thank you for the information provided in your article. I put you down as a one of my works cited for a college assignment (Medical Sociology). Hope you have a wonderful day and wish you the best of luck with your upcoming studies!
Hi Arlene,
Thank you for your kind words. I am happy to hear that this post helped you with your college assignment. I wish you the same. I hope your college goes well.
Your mistakes as others commented are the less important here, really well informed and focused on a reality that affects many people, maybe mostly in Japan because of the rigid system, but in other countries, may be not as much as in Japan, there is the same problem. I think is because we have created a human system based more in greed, unnecessary competition and individalism. It is something that happens in capitalist countries. Thank so much for bringing up this issue.
日本の社会は非常に厳格であるため、国としての日本は清潔で整然としていて安全です。また、非常に剛性が高いため、柔軟性がなく、不幸で壊れています。規律は、個人的および社会的レベルでの両刃の剣です。あなたは変更が欲しいけど変わりたくない。そして、変化こそが唯一の答えです。実生活では、固定されているものや静的なものは何もないことを忘れないで。すべてが絶え間なく変化しています。ほんの少しの変化が社会を改善することができます。
[赤井気]
Japan as a country is clean, orderly and safe because Japanese society is very strict. It is also very rigid, so inflexible, unhappy and broken. Discipline is a double-edged sword on a personal and social level. You want change but you don’t want change And change is the only answer. Remember, nothing is fixed or static in real life. Everything is in constant change. Small changes can improve society.
[Akai Ki]
You are so right. In the neoliberal order, individuality is at the forefront. Many people feel bad in this selfish social order.