Why is the hikikomori phenomenon in Japan being treated like a national crisis? Are there legitimate health concerns involved or is it more related to culture?
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because it became a trend.and i do believe i read it somewhere regarding its health and mental issue.
Because of its increasing “popularity” . It really is a symptom of culture especially because mh isn’t treated as seriously in Japan and even Korea. Japan socially is a strong conform society and people that don’t conform are looked down upon. Hikikimoris are kinda a way to escape the social norms etc that the culture has
It’s obviously a mental health concern.
It is related to their culture, but in almost any culture if you had hundreds of thousands of young men suddenly becoming reclusive hermits then it’d likely be the precursor to some bigger problem coming.
Isolated young men like that are huge targets for cults, extremist groups, radicalization etc… it’s that sort of thing that ultimately ends up in other countries as serial killers, mass shooters, terrorists, racist, sexist and other hate groups etc…
It’s definitely a sign that somehow your society is failing these people
1. It says something about the culture. A culture that makes young people, ya’ know, a traditionally risk taking demographic, to basically cower in fear in their homes.
2. Mental health.
3. If all young people are not educated, not trained, not skilled, then who’s gonna be the next generation of productive demographic? How will a country operate if there’s literally NO COMPETENT MANPOWER?
Because they are, for the most part, not productive members of society.
And honestly this isn’t a Japanese exclusive problem, they just seem to have been the first to identify/name it and try to do something about it. It’s for sure happening in the US as well, I myself know plenty of young people (20-30) who have essentially not left their homes in years (pre-covid mind you).
And as another posted mentioned extreme isolation like that isn’t good for the mind and a lot of these people wind up falling down some pretty dark rabbit holes, only to pop out sometime later spewing crazy nonsense (Q is a secret operative within the government who can read the secret messages Trump is blinking to us) or worse killing a bunch of people before (usually) killing themselves.
It’s a problem we’re going to have to actually tackle at some point, but our media and politicians seem to be interested in everything but.
I think that most of what other people have said is on the right track.
I’d also add that Japan has an aging population combined with declining birth rates. Add in increasingly larger numbers of “non-productive” members of society and you’re going to have problems in the future.
I don’t want to sound mean, but just think about it for a minute. What are the consequences to a nation when millions of young men basically give up and check out of society to spend their days consuming media?
It’s arguably a bigger problem in Korea these days.
And it’s sad. I blame the parents for indulging them that far.
A lot of comments about hikkikomori has mental health issues But look at it a bit closer.
From one side is normal japanise male life. Oretty deprived one without chance to leave our region. Where you considered good person if you try to kill yourselve by overworking and fear to cone home to person you hate (because majority of couples are formed not on basis of feelings or commitment but on desperation). If you leve home you are welcomed by incredibly plesent japanise ethicet, through if people has knowladge of ther cultures they found it horrific.
From other side relaxed gamer life full of discoveries and achivments.
Why would anyone select later?
I do belive it is important to understand that almost every culture in world was developed with mind that women are deprived of rights. When those rights were returned many things in cultures whent loose and become broken. Hower countries do refuse to acknowledge it and fix new ussues and chalanges.
The root causes of a phenomenon is not what makes it an important issue for a country, but rather the consequences of this phenomenon.
And this one is obviously a national crisis given that a large portion of society decides to withdraw from society instead of keeping Japanese society alive by 1) being productive for the economy and 2) having kids (Japanese society is literally dying out because they don’t have enough kids)
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