A Sociology of Hikikomori

Teppei Sekimizu

doi:10.5771/9781666900958

Summary

Hikikomori, which literally means “withdrawal,” is considered an increasingly prevalent form of social isolation in Japanese society. This issue has been attracting worldwide attention for two decades. Based on interviews with people who have experienced it, Teppei Sekimizu explores what the hikikomori experience is like from a sociological perspective. He also examines the characteristics of four decades of hikikomori discourse by governments, professionals, and mass media; the difficulties faced by parents with hikikomori children; and the social policy which has relegated most provision of welfare for citizens to the private sector. Through these examinations, the author illustrates how the exclusive labor market and familial social policies create masses of family-dependent and isolated individuals in contemporary Japan. A Sociology of Hikikomori leads the reader to a deeper understanding of the manifold hikikomori phenomenon and Japanese society itself.

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Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2022
ISBN-Print: 978-1-6669-0094-1
ISBN-Online: 978-1-6669-0095-8
Publisher: Lexington, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 168
Product type: Book Titles

1. Contents No access
2. Acknowledgments No access
3. Glossary of Japanese Terms No access
4. 1. Overview of My Field Research on Hikikomori No access
  2. Definition of Terms: Hikikomori Subjects, Hikikomori Experience, and Hikikomori Problems No access
  3. Objects and Methods of Analysis No access
  4. Note No access
1. 1. Questions in the Hikikomori Experience of Kazuki Ueyama No access
  2. Despair in Communication No access
2. 1. The Case of Mr. A No access
  2. The Case of Mr. B No access
  3. The Case of Mr. C No access
  4. The Case of Ms. D No access
  5. The Case of Minoru Katsuyama No access
3. Discussion of Ambivalence from Arendt’s Perspective No access
4. Conclusion No access
5. Notes No access
1. Hikikomori as a Self-Definition No access
2. 1. The Case of Mr. B No access
  2. The Case of Ms. D No access
  3. Other Cases No access
3. Self-definition of Hikikomori: Relationship with Mental Disorders No access
4. Becoming a Hikikomori Subject: Not Subordination to the Category No access
5. Conclusion No access
6. Notes No access
1. The Hikikomori Problem for Families No access
2. Perspectives of Analysis: Market, Government, and Family as Actors of Life Security No access
3. 1. Development of Life Security through the Labor Market No access
  2. Decline of Life Security through the Labor Market No access
  3. Changes in the Quality of the Labor Market No access
4. 1. Characteristics of the Social Security System in Postwar Japan No access
  2. Low Benefits in the Field of Disability No access
  3. Public Spending on Education No access
5. 1. The Historical Changes of the Family Role in Life Security No access
  2. Parental Duty to Support Immature Children No access
  3. Non-intervention in the Family: The Case of School Non-attendance No access
6. 1. Familialistic Welfare Regime as a Social Foundation of the Hikikomori Problem No access
  2. The Hikikomori Problem in the Modernization of Japanese Society No access
  3. Toward the Comparative Study of Hikikomori Problems in Other Countries No access
7. Conclusion No access
8. Notes No access
1. What Is the Hikikomori Problem? No access
2. 1. 1. “Dropouts, Apathy, and Hikikomori” (May 1986) No access
    2. Children’s Relationship Disorders (October 1989) No access
    3. The Council on Youth Affairs, Opinion Report: “Toward the Realization of Comprehensive Youth Measures” (June 1989) No access
    4. Summary of the Discourse in the Late 1980s No access
  2. 1. White Paper on Youth: Current Situation and Measures for Youth Problems (January 1990) No access
    2. Model Project for Welfare Measures for Hikikomori and School Non-Attendance Children (April 1991) No access
    3. Report of the Council on Youth Affairs, Basic Measures to Deal with Youth Apathy, Hikikomori, and Other Problematic Behaviors: Toward the Development of Youth with Vitality (December 1991) No access
    4. Fujiya Tomita, Departure from Hikikomori: A Heartfelt Record of Children Who Refuse to Go to School, Refuse to Work, and Reject Human Beings (September 1992) No access
    5. Hiroshi Inamura, School Refusal and Hikikomori Q&A (September 1993) No access
    6. Summary of the Early 1990s No access
  3. 1. Sadatsugu Kudō, Hey, Hikikomori: It’s Time to Go Outside (August 1997) No access
    2. Japanese Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, Special Issue on the “Psychopathology of Hikikomori” (September 1997) No access
    3. Tamaki Saitō, Social Withdrawal: Adolescence without End (December 1998) No access
    4. Summary of the Late 1990s No access
3. 1. 1. An Expanding Target of Psychiatry: Discussion by Psychiatrists No access
    2. Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the Guideline for Community Mental Health Activities Regarding Hikikomori, Focusing on People in their Teens and Twenties (July 2003) No access
    3. Government Discourse Regarding Youth Independence (in 2003) No access
    4. Headquarters for the Promotion of Youth Development, The “National Youth Development Policy Outline” (December 2003) No access
    5. Summary of the Early 2000s No access
  2. 1. Setting up Employment Support for Youth in the Late 2000s No access
    2. Headquarters for the Promotion of Youth Development, the revised “National Youth Development Policy Outline” (December 2008) No access
    3. Act on Promotion of Development and Support for Children and Youth (July 2009) No access
    4. Summary of the Late 2000s No access
4. 1. 1. Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, the Guideline for the Evaluation and Support of Hikikomori (May 2010) No access
    2. The Cabinet Office, Survey Report on Youth Consciousness (Fact-Finding Survey on Hikikomori) (July 2010) No access
    3. Headquarters for the Promotion of Support for the Development of Children and Youth, “Vision for Children and Youth” (July 2010) No access
    4. The Cabinet Office Handbook for Hikikomori Support People (July 2011) No access
    5. The Social Security Council, Report of Special Subcommittee on Livelihood Support for Those in Need (January 2013) No access
    6. Act for Supporting the Independence of Those in Need (December 2013) No access
    7. Summary of the Early 2010s No access
  2. 1. The Cabinet Office, Survey Report on Youth Living (September 2016) No access
    2. Headquarters for the Promotion of Support for the Development of Children and Youth, the “Policy Outline for the Promotion of Support for Children and Youth Development” (February 2016) No access
    3. The Cabinet Office, Survey Report on Living Conditions (March 2019) No access
    4. Revision of the Social Welfare Act (May 2017) No access
    5. Kawasaki City Child Murder Case, Nerima Ward Son Murder Case, and the MHLW Announcement (May–June 2019) No access
    6. Summary of the Late 2010s No access
5. 1. Three Contexts of Hikikomori Discourse No access
  2. Hikikomori in the Employment and Social Welfare Contexts No access
  3. Hikikomori as a Mental Health Problem No access
6. Conclusion No access
7. Notes No access
1. Focusing on the Situation Rather than the Psychology of Hikikomori Subjects No access
2. 1. Narratives and Interpretation Regarding Lack of Recognition No access
  2. Mutuality as a Requisite for Self-Identity No access
  3. Hikikomori Experience as an Identity Crisis No access
3. 1. The Need to Focus on the Logic of the Situation No access
  2. The Situated Self as a Derivative of a Situation No access
  3. Participation and the Person-Role Formula No access
  4. Achieving Proper Person-Role in Mr. B’s Case No access
4. 1. Imagining a Person as a Virtual Focus No access
  2. Between the Situated Self and the Self-Identity No access
  3. Practical Implications for Hikikomori Support People No access
5. Conclusion No access
6. Notes No access
1. Time in the Narratives of Hikikomori Experiences No access
2. Narrative Theory of Time No access
3. 1. The Teller of the Restitution Narrative No access
  2. Skepticism about the Restitution Narrative No access
  3. Creating Alternative Stories No access
4. 1. The Dominant Story and Unique Subjectivity No access
  2. Telling “Our” Hikikomori Stories No access
  3. Interactive-Practical Process of Retelling No access
5. Conclusion No access
6. Notes No access
1. 1. Conformism and Its Social Background No access
  2. The Ambivalence and Nature of Hikikomori Subjects No access
2. 1. Japanese Life Security System and Assimilationism No access
  2. The Assimilationism and Pursuit of Happiness No access
3. Concluding Remark No access
4. Notes No access
References No access Pages 149 - 162
Index No access Pages 163 - 166
About the Author No access Pages 167 - 168