Government

Churches in Japan--

Recently, christian churches in Japan have been encouraged to seek out hikikomori individuals to join them. Hikikomoris should readily open to the religion as it brings scheduled, non-pressured and naturally accepting social interaction to the hikikomori who has difficulty finding reason to leave their room. This induction can start to lead hikikomoris down a road to recovery from their rooms, but alone this may not affect their lifestyle. At any moment a slight social trigger could put any progress that a recovering hikikomori has made down the drain. This action while possible to be effective, has not shown any benefits in decreasing or slowing the number of hikikomoris. General reasons for churches to attempt to help hikikomori isn't necessarily to help them, either. A church may only have them come to church which may not have purely positive and easy social requirements, creating a possibility of meltdown, or further alienation and paranoia in the individual that inhibits him from accepting the church as a place of safety, eventually leading him back to his room.


Unstable Job Market in Japan--

In the 1990s, Japan faced a recession and job markets became less available and the transition from school to work for the Japanese youth was disrupted. This disruption resulted in a new abundance of Japanese giving up on seeking work and becoming NEETs (a British term meaning Not in Employment Education or Training) a position associated to social isolation.  This is rather normal for an economy, and is commonplace among most market economies, however this change is new for the young democracy of Japan. Without proper handling from the government to open more jobs during the recession, many youth were unable to successfully transition from education to a lasting career. When the economy started to improve in the 2000s, the unemployed from the 90s were left behind and had difficulty finding jobs or wanting to find jobs. This shell-shock from the recession coupled with the  advancements of home entertainment is likely the starting point for the hikikomori phenomenon. The lack of government action during this trying period in Japanese life has created the uncertainty of a reliable job ,therefore, an unreliable future, and an unreliable future with school/social problems can easily lead to depression and eventually the classic hikikomori agoraphobia.


Japanese Lack of National Action/Alternative Solutions--

Despite the growing number of hikikomori, despite the dent in workers and despite negative effects on the nation's economy; Japan has yet to instantiate any national legislature providing help for the socially isolated. Awareness and support programs are created and funded by private charities and small communities, which, while possibly effective and noble in goal, can not have the potency or voice that the national government commands. As the hikikomori problem rapidly expands each year and the government puts nothing in its way to halt it, companies struggle to find workers and demand action. Instead of working on the hikikomori problem, the government suggests that companies look to hire the elderly over the age of 65, creating jobs now but down the road leaving Japan with a non-existent workforce. Hikikomoris in Japan also face a stigma against them, which is the absolute last thing someone with this condition should face. Problems similar to hikikomori in the U.S. are currently handled as individual cases and can be managed due to help from family members and caring friends. However, in Japan hikikomoris are sometimes seen as lazy and dumb, which can lead to family and friends not becoming involved to insist for treatment much later in the cycle when they are already deeply isolated. It is a shame that irony should exist in such a serious problem, that a now abundant illness of lack of will to do anything and fear of change should be prolonged by the same problem in a government.