Hikikomori

Author: Tamaki Saitō
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780816654598
Category : Alienation (Social psychology)
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
This is the first English translation of a controversial Japanese best seller that made the public aware of the social problem of hikikomori, or "withdrawal"--a phenomenon estimated by the author to involve as many as one million Japanese adolescents and young adults who have withdrawn from society, retreating to their rooms for months or years and severing almost all ties to the outside world. Saitō Tamaki's work of popular psychology provoked a national debate about the causes and extent of the condition. Since Hikikomori was published in Japan in 1998, the problem of social withdrawal has increasingly been recognized as an international one, and this translation promises to bring much-needed attention to the issue in the English-speaking world. According to the New York Times, "As a hikikomori ages, the odds that he'll re-enter the world decline. Indeed, some experts predict that most hikikomori who are withdrawn for a year or more may never fully recover. That means that even if they emerge from their rooms, they either won't get a full-time job or won't be involved in a long-term relationship. And some will never leave home. In many cases, their parents are now approaching retirement, and once they die, the fate of the shut-ins--whose social and work skills, if they ever existed, will have atrophied--is an open question." Drawing on his own clinical experience with hikikomori patients, Saitō creates a working definition of social withdrawal and explains its development. He argues that hikikomori sufferers manifest a specific, interconnected series of symptoms that do not fit neatly with any single, easily identifiable mental condition, such as depression. Rejecting the tendency to moralize or pathologize, Saitō sensitively describes how families and caregivers can support individuals in withdrawal and help them take steps toward recovery. At the same time, his perspective sparked contention over the contributions of cultural characteristics--including family structure, the education system, and gender relations--to the problem of social withdrawal in Japan and abroad.

Mental Health and Social Withdrawal in Contemporary Japan

Author: Nicolas Tajan
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351260782
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 266

Book Description
This book examines the phenomenon of social withdrawal in Japan, which ranges from school non-attendance to extreme forms of isolation and confinement, known as hikikomori. Based on extensive original research including interview research with a range of practitioners involved in dealing with the phenomenon, the book outlines how hikikomori expresses itself, how it is treated and dealt with and how it has been perceived and regarded in Japan over time. The author, a clinical psychologist with extensive experience of practice, argues that the phenomenon although socially unacceptable is not homogenous, and can be viewed not as a mental disorder, but as an idiom of distress, a passive and effective way of resisting the many great pressures of Japanese schooling and of Japanese society more widely. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781351260800, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CCBY-NC-ND) licence.

The Rental Sister

Author: Jeff Backhaus
Publisher: Algonquin Books
ISBN: 1616201886
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 205

Book Description
hikikomori, n. h?kik?'mo?ri; literally pulling inward; refers to those who withdraw from society. Inspired by the real-life Japanese social phenomenon called hikikomori and the professional “rental sisters” hired to help, Hikikomori and the Rental Sister is about an erotic relationship between Thomas, an American hikikomori, and Megumi, a young Japanese immigrant hiding from her own past. The strange, insular world they create together in a New York City bedroom and with the tacit acknowledgment of Thomas’s wife reveals three human hearts in crisis, but leaves us with a profound faith in the human capacity to find beauty and meaning in life, even after great sorrow. Mirroring both East and West in its search for healing, Hikikomori and the Rental Sister pierces the emotional walls of grief and delves into the power of human connection to break through to the world waiting outside. Named an Indie Next pick, an Amazon Best Book of the Month, one of Book Riot’s 5 to Watch, and an iBooks Store Editor’s Choice in hardcover.

Shutting Out the Sun

Author: Michael Zielenziger
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307490904
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 354

Book Description
The world’s second-wealthiest country, Japan once seemed poised to overtake America. But its failure to recover from the economic collapse of the early 1990s was unprecedented, and today it confronts an array of disturbing social trends. Japan has the highest suicide rate and lowest birthrate of all industrialized countries, and a rising incidence of untreated cases of depression. Equally as troubling are the more than one million young men who shut themselves in their rooms, withdrawing from society, and the growing numbers of “parasite singles,” the name given to single women who refuse to leave home, marry, or bear children. In Shutting Out the Sun, Michael Zielenziger argues that Japan’s rigid, tradition-steeped society, its aversion to change, and its distrust of individuality and the expression of self are stifling economic revival, political reform, and social evolution. Giving a human face to the country’s malaise, Zielenziger explains how these constraints have driven intelligent, creative young men to become modern-day hermits. At the same time, young women, better educated than their mothers and earning high salaries, are rejecting the traditional path to marriage and motherhood, preferring to spend their money on luxury goods and travel. Smart, unconventional, and politically controversial, Shutting Out the Sun is a bold explanation of Japan’s stagnation and its implications for the rest of the world.

The End of Pax Americana

Author: Naoki Sakai
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 1478022213
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 225

Book Description
In The End of Pax Americana, Naoki Sakai focuses on U.S. hegemony's long history in East Asia and the effects of its decline on contemporary conceptions of internationality. Engaging with themes of nationality in conjunction with internationality, the civilizational construction of differences between East and West, and empire and decolonization, Sakai focuses on the formation of a nationalism of hikikomori, or “reclusive withdrawal”—Japan’s increasingly inward-looking tendency since the late 1990s, named for the phenomenon of the nation’s young people sequestering themselves from public life. Sakai argues that the exhaustion of Pax Americana and the post--World War II international order—under which Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and China experienced rapid modernization through consumer capitalism and a media revolution—signals neither the “decline of the West” nor the rise of the East, but, rather a dislocation and decentering of European and North American political, economic, diplomatic, and intellectual influence. This decentering is symbolized by the sense of the loss of old colonial empires such as those of Japan, Britain, and the United States.

A Sociology of Japanese Youth

Author: Roger Goodman
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1136624287
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 213

Book Description
Over the past thirty years, whilst Japan has produced a diverse set of youth cultures which have had a major impact on popular culture across the globe, it has also developed a succession of youth problems which have led to major concerns within the country itself. Drawing on detailed empirical fieldwork, the authors of this volume set these issues in a clearly articulated ‘social constructionist’ framework, and put forth a sociology of Japanese youth problems which argues that there is a certain predictability about the way in which these problems are discovered, defined and dealt with. The chapters include case studies covering issues such as: Returnee children (kikokushijo) Compensated dating (enjo kōsai) Corporal punishment (taibatsu) Bullying (ijime) Child abuse (jidō gyakutai) The withdrawn youth (hikikomori) and NEETs (not in education, employment or training) By examining these various social problems collectively, A Sociology of Japanese Youth explains why particular youth problems appeared when they did and what lessons they can provide for the study of youth problems in other societies. This book will be of huge interest to students and scholars of Japanese society and culture, the sociology of Japan, Japanese anthropology and the comparative sociology of youth studies.

The Shut Ins

Author: Katherine Brabon
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 1761062204
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 178

Book Description
From the winner of the Australian/Vogel's Literary Award, this tour-de-force explores loneliness and desire, the peril and beauty of solitude - and our need for connection. 'A compelling story about isolation, duty, desire, fear and escape. As each character in The Shut-Ins feels increasingly trapped by societal pressure, they explore the possibility of retreating to some indefinable, unknowable place. The Shut Ins will appeal to fans of thoughtful literary fiction with a touch of otherworldliness, such as Untold Night and Day by Bae Suah and Earthlings by Sayaka Murata.' - Bookseller & Publisher 'Not only is The Shut Ins a compelling story about hikikomori, those who seek absolute isolation from society, and those who orbit them in their reclusion, it is also a profound exploration of loneliness, solitude, and that peculiar, ineffable yearning for inner or unconscious worlds; the chimeric 'other side'. Katherine Brabon is a precise and contemplative writer, her prose capable of intense, almost-heady evocation. I will read everything she writes.' - Hannah Kent, bestselling author of Burial Rites and The Good People 'Brabon's intellectual and emotional knowledge, and her plainspoken yet spellbinding prose come together in a mesmerising work of art.' - Mireille Juchau, bestselling author of The World Without Us 'Brabon has Murakami's verve and craftsmanship. Her love of Japan shines through: myths, metaphors, its social life, and the vividness of its human faces make this a particularly rewarding piece of fiction.' - Sydney Morning Herald Mai and Hikaru went to school together in the city of Nagoya, until Hikaru disappeared when they were eighteen. It is not until ten years later, when Mai runs into Hikaru's mother, Hiromi Sato, that she learns Hikaru has become a hikikomori, a recluse unable to leave his bedroom for years. In secret, Hiromi Sato hires Mai as a 'rental sister', to write letters to Hikaru and encourage him to leave his room. Mai has recently married J, a devoted salaryman with conservative ideas about the kind of wife Mai will be. The renewed contact with her old school friend Hikaru stirs Mai's feelings of invisibility within her marriage. She is frustrated with her life and knows she will never fulfill J's obsession with the perfect wife and mother. What else is there for Mai to do but to disappear herself? 'I was drawn in utterly by The Shut Ins. It illuminated the world around me in a strange and beautiful light, and it continues to unsettle my thoughts in the best possible way. At once bold and subtle, The Shut Ins is a haunting and transportive reading experience.' Emily Bitto, winner of the Stella Prize for The Strays 'Katherine Brabon's The Shut Ins is quietly mesmerising. Brabon has created an exquisite portrait of loneliness and aloneness through the stories of four interconnected people living in modern day Japan. Her prose is original and vivid, I found myself entranced by this novel from its first sentence to its last.' - Anna Snoekstra, author of Only Daughter

Ideologies of Experience

Author: Matthew H. Bowker
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317294491
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 183

Book Description
Matthew H. Bowker offers a novel analysis of "experience": the vast and influential concept that has shaped Western social theory and political practice for the past half-millennium. While it is difficult to find a branch of modern thought, science, industry, or art that has not relied in some way on the notion of "experience" in defining its assumptions or aims, no study has yet applied a politically-conscious and psychologically-sensitive critique to the construct of experience. Doing so reveals that most of the qualities that have been attributed to experience over the centuries — particularly its unthinkability, its correspondence with suffering, and its occlusion of the self — are part of unlikely fantasies or ideologies. By analyzing a series of related cases, including the experiential education movement, the ascendency of trauma theory, the philosophy of the social contract, and the psychological study of social isolation, the book builds a convincing case that ideologies of experience are invoked not to keep us close to lived realities and ‘things-in-themselves,’ but, rather, to distort and destroy true knowledge of ourselves and others. In spite of enduring admiration for those who may be called champions of experience, such as Michel de Montaigne, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and others treated throughout the work, the ideologies of experience ultimately discourage individuals and groups from creating, resisting, and changing our experience, urging us instead to embrace trauma, failure, deprivation, and self-abandonment.

Hidden Youth and the Virtual World

Author: Gloria Hongyee Chan
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1317513258
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 265

Book Description
Hidden Youth and the Virtual World examines the phenomenon of ‘hidden youth’ or hikikomori, as it is better known in Japan as well as Hong Kong. Exposure to the Internet has allowed these young persons to develop a high level of capability within the virtual world, however these are skills that are not highly valued by society. This book uncovers the truth about hidden youth, the causes, coping strategies, power relations between them and adults in society, and their relationship with the virtual world. Key topics surrounding the phenomenon of hidden youth are explored in detail, including: The framework of Social Censure Theory The theoretical concepts of hegemony and the impact that labelling by the Government, the media and institutions has had on hidden youth The willingness of the hidden youth to remain hidden within the virtual world Subcultures as a platform for hidden youth empowerment This is a particularly useful volume to researchers in child and adolescent psychology, clinical psychology, counselling and psychotherapy, school psychology, sociology, social work, and youth policy; as well as youth workers, school counsellors and mental health professionals, and will appeal to the interest of both academics and practitioners alike.

Issues in Clinical Psychology, Psychiatry, and Counseling: 2011 Edition

Author:
Publisher: ScholarlyEditions
ISBN: 1464963673
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 2917

Book Description
Issues in Clinical Psychology, Psychiatry, and Counseling: 2011 Edition is a ScholarlyEditions™ eBook that delivers timely, authoritative, and comprehensive information about Clinical Psychology, Psychiatry, and Counseling. The editors have built Issues in Clinical Psychology, Psychiatry, and Counseling: 2011 Edition on the vast information databases of ScholarlyNews.™ You can expect the information about Clinical Psychology, Psychiatry, and Counseling in this eBook to be deeper than what you can access anywhere else, as well as consistently reliable, authoritative, informed, and relevant. The content of Issues in Clinical Psychology, Psychiatry, and Counseling: 2011 Edition has been produced by the world’s leading scientists, engineers, analysts, research institutions, and companies. All of the content is from peer-reviewed sources, and all of it is written, assembled, and edited by the editors at ScholarlyEditions™ and available exclusively from us. You now have a source you can cite with authority, confidence, and credibility. More information is available at http://www.ScholarlyEditions.com/.