Hikikomori - A Career scenario specific to Japanese Youth

Hikikomori?- A career scenario specific to Japanese Youth

"I have no interaction with anyone except my family.“

"I do not belong to any school or company.“

"Someone like me cannot belong to society.“

Such young people (at the age of 15-39) are so-called “Hikikomori”.

This is a social issue unique to Japanese society due to peculiar Japanese business culture.

Although there have been various non-personal causes, this issue has been considered to be solved within their own families. The number of youth suffering from this issue has never decreased for more than 10 years…

Possibilities of the youth diminish the entire Japanese society, which is why everyone should solve this issue as a social problem.

There are NGOSs who work to support Hikiomori to “work” and “continue to work.”

They work to create their second chances for these young people to be back to Japanese society.

Definition of?Hikikomori

1. Spending most of the day and nearly every day confined to home.

2. Having marked and persistent avoidance of social situations.

3. Showing social withdrawal symptoms which causes significant functional impairment.

4. The duration of social withdrawal symptoms is at least six months.

5. There is no apparent physical etiology to account for the social withdrawal symptoms.

Family Issue

Nobody wants to be isolated in society.?Hikikomori?’s family, especially parents will have blamed themselves for their ways of raising their children until they die. There is no perfect way to raise children. For instance, one of twins became?Hikikomori, the others didn’t.

Social Loss

Japan is one of the most severely aging societies with the lowest birthrate, so that it is social loss for the unemployed youth not to make the most of their youthful energy as workforce. If you compare a welfare recipient with a young adult working and paying taxes, their cost gap for Japanese government could be 150 million yen (about USD 1.5 million) per person (*Data from Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare, 2012). It is a worthwhile social investment to support the unemployed youth until they obtain jobs. (It is socially worth USD 1.5 million to support a unemployed youth.)

Ms. A

27 years old, female, dropped out of college

Was originally somewhat reluctant to enter the university that my parents recommended, but could not keep up with classes. In addition, having no close friends, she started to skip her classes without letting her parents know. She finally dropped out and became?Hikikomori.

Ms. B

29 years old, female, graduated from college (dropped out from high school before)

Soon after graduated from a college, she got employed in a small and medium-sized company. Due to the hard workload, she quit her job in a year. One month before leaving from the company, she was on leave for her mental health issue. While visiting a clinic, she studied and certified to become a professional caregiver. Her job-hunting, however, didn't go well and she eventually became?Hikikomori?.

Mr. C

36 years old, male, passed high school equivalency exam and graduated from high school

He expereinced being bullied at high school, so that he stayed at home almost every day. He had helped his mother's business at home but her business didn't go well and he lost his job as well. He has been Hikikomoi since 27 years old.

Source : Sodateage