I would further suspect that some of these problems are caused by the Japanese recession, which has been going on since the early nineties. I would suspect there is some connection here with a widespread resurgence of asexuality among young people who aren't recluses, whereas they no longer want to get married, have relationships, or even have sex. In fact, I've read Japanese education is actually becoming slightly less rigorous. Pezar, the problem with the PTSD theory is that Japanese education has always been rigorous, but hikiomori is only about twenty years old, at least as a widespread phenomenon. Some aspects of AS can resemble hikikomori, but hikikomori is something unique to Japan. Hikikomori may be committing "living suicide"-too weak to go through and kill themselves, they instead lock themselves away. Failure is taken deadly seriously by Japanese, and that is not a pun-in feudal Japan, a great failure was a reason for suicide, and often suicide was even expected.
#Hikikomori neet freeter series#
At age 15 each Japanese schoolchild is put through a rigorous series of exams that determine what university they will attend and what subjects they will study once there, it's possible that failure or perceived failure at these exams may bring it on. The article also said that some psychologists think that the hikikomori phenomenon may be a form of PTSD, brought on by the intense demands of Japan's educational system. I just wish I could recall more names, since some of them are well-known even today.Īctually, I was just reading the Wikipedia article on hikikomori, and it said that when hikikomori were tested, between 30-40% tested on the spectrum. Again, this was an alarmingly common phenomenon in her time, particularly with young women. Please note that the onset of her withdrawal from society came on very quickly, though the article does state she sometimes suffered from "melancholy" in her younger years. I've been sitting here scratching my head trying to recall names, but only one comes to mind: The poet Emily Dickinson: And many of them just as suddenly became social again. Years ago I read an article stating the same thing happened here in the US and in Britain in the nineteenth century, with many women in particular refusing to socialize, or leave their houses, and very suddenly. A similar phenomenon happened in the US and Britain. This phenomenon has something to do with Japanese society. The reason I say this is that AS is something we're born with, have all our lives, and then die with. I read this article, and what is being described is similar to AS, but not AS. Read this article today called "Hikikomori: Why are so many Japanese men refusing to leave their rooms?".Ī lot of it seemed consistent with Asperger's.