Hikikomori: A Cultural Perspective on Social Isolation

Hikikomori, derived from the Japanese words hiku (to pull back) and komoru (to shut oneself in), describes a phenomenon and individuals who experience social isolation by withdrawing from society and confining themselves to their rooms. According to Naomi Berman, the Japanese government defines hikikomori as someone who has been self-isolating for six months or more.

Individuals who have been self-isolating

Nick: So today, we're not really talking about these quirky tribalism, or this sense of unity, actually, we're almost talking about the opposite. It's a sad and shocking condition, but it's also sort of fascinating at the same time. So I am familiar with this, to some degree on a personal level, involving one of my family members, and it's hikikomori.

So what is hikikomori? I should mention, you've written several papers on this, you've done your own research on this, and I think you've spoken to other researchers, and even spoke with your students to some degree on this thing. So what is hikikomori?

Naomi: So hikikomori, to really reduce it into a single kind of sentence definition, basically, it's social-isolation, they withdraw themselves from society, basically lock themselves in their room at mostly.

And according to the government definition, if they've been self-isolating for more than six months, then that constitutes hikikomori. There's so many negative ways to describe it, so it's hard to kind of, you know, especially with, well, as you mentioned, the things I've been writing, it's kind of critiquing some of the ways it's been understood and described, and the narratives surrounding it.

But yeah, the stereotype is often of the ‘otaku’, you know, gaming geeks just locked in their room. But it really is, there's a range of variability, but basically, an individual that locked themselves away, usually in their home, or mostly even in their room if they've got family that can take care of them and don't really leave.

Nick: I love exploring words, or the compound of the word; so hiku is the verb to pull or drawback, and then komoru is to shut oneself in, be confined to hideaway. And I mean, this is a problem. But starting in the late 70s, early 80s, particularly with boys, teenagers, men, who just [finds] schools too stressful, ‘I want to stay home’, or ‘This company is too stressful, I'd rather just stay at home and lock myself in my room.’

And then that goes from one day, to one week, to one month, to one year, to a decade. It’s a condition, I mean, the word hikikomori describes the condition but also the person who does lock themselves away. And we're talking decades, we're not talking a couple of weeks or months—years to decades. So it's sort of astounding that someone can even do that. Like I can't imagine wanting to lock myself in a room for more than a few hours.

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