History

Japan during and before World War II was mostly dominated by a culture of progress, tradition and honor. The ambition of conquest and growth from Japan's military leaders required complete support from the Japanese people, therefore the leaders created propaganda based on the existing values of Japanese society. Some men worked hard for the pride of their country, others worked and served for the honor that their family must uphold, but a man would always work. After the war ended when Hiroshima and Nagasaki were destroyed and Japan surrendered, many Japanese people were faced with a completely new way of life. Instead of working for his honor or his state, he worked for himself. When a man couldn't find work, it's reasonable to imagine that he had nothing to live for.

Today I visited the Dixie Wing Commemorative Air Force museum at Falcon Field, Peachtree City. I was led through the museum by a member of the crew working there who showed me the work that goes into the maintenance and creation of airplanes at the hangar. I was also shown the museum section of the hangar which displayed World War II exhibits that featured a small to-scale figurine of the Enola Gay, the bomber that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. All the two hundred and twenty workers at this establishment are volunteers that use specialized skills in order to build and restore and maintain the complicated, working aircraft. Currently they've been focusing on the P-63 KingCobra which has been a restoration of the base since 1996, and just recently has had its engine installed, an event, our guide tells us, he's been waiting for for more than a decade of his life. These volunteers take time from their day to do trying and difficult work that doesn't directly benefit them. Instead, they can look at all the hard work they performed as it gracefully flies through the heavens. While they may be still stuck paying bills that they are forced to take donations for, these men and women found something that is separated from the logic and burden of society. Something that is just beautiful and their own. A pride of work that it seems the socially isolated can't find. There rarely is a work that hikikomori does in his room that he can touch, listen to, talk about with his friends who helped him make it, like that of the planes built from scratch with custom remade parts, precision welded and perfectly painted.

Howard Hughes was a successful American aviator, film producer, entrepreneur and hermit who created films and aircraft shortly before, during and soon after the years of World War II (1932-1947). During this time period he lived an exorbitant lifestyle, only doing what he wanted to do. Creating films like Hell's Angels which he likely made because he wanted to explore aviation more than he wanted to make money. After some time creating movies in the 1930s he ventured to create airplanes by creating "Hughes Aircraft Company" in 1933 which created many successful aircraft during and before the war. However, when the war ended Hughes had difficulty finding direction in life. He became distrusting of people and near the end of his life, despite his amassed riches (2 billion dollars) he died emaciated and sick after years of seclusion.(Thomas) Displaying many of the classic descriptions of a hikikomori, Hughes may provide insight on what can cause hikikomori to happen. Hughes had lost direction. Where he had once been confident and proud that his success was almost guaranteed in life, he had suddenly realized that the world who he wished to stay with forever had moved on from him. Hikikomori face similar problems when they isolate, they leave school due to failure or isolate themselves after they leave school and can't find a job. Howard Hughes was by no means a failure, but the confidence in absolute success, like that of many students in Japanese society are expected to have, was destroyed. Perhaps avoiding this mindset could help Japanese youth escape from social isolation. Ironically, what's considered Hughes's most lasting achievement isn't one of his lifelong works, instead it is the medical institute made in his name near the end of his life that still exists today.

Thomas, Tony. "American National Biography Online: Hughes, Howard." American National Biography Online: Hughes, Howard. Oxford University Press, n.d. Web. 03 May 2014.

In addition to visiting the Dixie Commemorative Air Force Museum in person I also accessed the website of the museum. There, I found specific information about the planes at the hangar that any tour guide could never provide such as the exact date the P-51 mustang was taken in by the establishment or what airplane beat out the p-63 KingCobra for U.S. use during World War II. Despite this however, you can not see the small figurines of famous planes such as the Enola Gay or stand in the middle of the workshop floor as volunteers work tirelessly on their restoration of the p-63. A hikikomori would probably see the website and say that it provided everything essential the museum provided, but it doesn't present the soul the establishment brings. You can see a picture of the aircraft in the air, but you can get a first hand look of the aircraft as you stand on top of it, or see it take off in person, or see a man tediously work to create a small metal piece from hand for the aircraft. Hikikomoris feel like they can adequately grasp the world from their room, but the world they see is only a twisted up version of the real one. Hikikomori are afraid to look at the world because they think it hates them. They think they have no reason to be a part of society. What they don't realize is that many places outside aren't necessarily society. Places like this don't have an agenda, nor do they have long term aspirations for growth, they exist to look at beauty. I think hikikomoris don't need necessarily need therapy or drugs, they just need a new direction, they just need to look for beauty.

Entertainment

Welcome to the NHK
Welcome to the NHK is a novel, manga and television series created by Tatsuhiko Takimoto that centers around a young man, Tatsuhiro Sato, who has lived alone in his apartment with little outside contact for four years, a textbook definition hikikomori. Tatsuhiko explores the psychology of both hikikomoris and those who try to help them, his story provokes that social isolation is something that can not easily be fought, and attempting to fight can lead to only worsening the condition. His work shows us that this problem may not have an answer and that hikikomori and social isolation, like their much more known counterpart, depression, may be something that someone has to live with and hopefully grow away from. The animated series portion of of NHK is notably different in tone and pacing than other series in its category. NHK has a very blunt and realistic approach to this topic, exploring every issue of the hikikomori showing the difficulty of performing mundane tasks such as talking to others, getting food, or doing work. When the show's setting takes place outside the color palette of the show is bright and vivid with rich greens for plants and bright stars at night, emphasizing the beauty of nature, however this is usually when the main character is at his most clumsy, awkward and, albeit least isolated. When the setting is in Sato's room, the palette shifts to darker and blander colors, often the only source of light in the room being the soft glow of a computer screen. His room also often contains garbage and disorganized belongings sprawled across the floor which he often ignores. Overall, this shift in colors alone signals the seriousness of Sato's condition, which forces him to resist and even despise the beauty of the outdoors while he sadly waits in his room for hours. As the show progresses and Sato's condition only worsens Tatsuhiko explains the pain and danger that hikikomori presents for the youth, and how little can be done to stop it.
Welcome to the NHK. Gonzo Studios. AT-X. 2006. Television.

Free To Play
Free To Play is a documentary developed by Valve following the careers of three professional gamers for the game Dota 2. These gamers, describe their lives up to a gaming championship with a prize pool of $1,000,000. The players in this film often came from modest upbringings, some were talented in a number of areas and gave up everything to pursue this shaky career, others have trained for this alone for a long period of time. The players presented in this film display many of the problems that the socially isolated have, such as disconnect from society, dropping out of school, not having friends outside their team, inability to foster a healthy relationship, etc. HyHy in particular, a player from Singapore, shows these traits when he is shown not attending his college's finals to attend the mentioned tournament, which he ends up losing, and when he continues to cling to his ex girlfriend from years past who broke up with him.

Free To Play. Perf. Benedict Lim, Danil Ishtun, Clinton Loomis. Valve Corporation, 2014. Film.

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.

Opinions

Triggers for hikikomori and social isolation are often found to be a result of bullying, embarrassment and failure, all of which commonly occur in high schools across the world. Organizations such as Teaching Tolerance help avoid bullying and embarrassment by instituting programs such as "Mix It Up at Lunch Day" across many schools, especially in southern America. This organization works with children to encourage tolerance of those who are different than them. Hikikomoris and social isolationists often feel that they are not only excluded from society, but that society also looks down on them the more they stay away. This method of thinking  creates a vicious cycle of loss of self esteem and fear of society, as they individual begins to think that the outside world secretly despises him for being disconnected for so long and he perceives that they think of him as so insignificant that they don't even notice him. Programs like "Mix It Up at Lunch Day" encourage children at an early age to avoid behavior that could create this problem down the road, by making students sit with people they are unfamiliar with during lunch. This program presents a simple and effective solution to discrimination in schools, instead of other programs that reactively approach bullying and discrimination with punishment and support for the victims, this program proactively stops the problem before it does permanent damage to the victims. Damage which could trigger social isolation. More than just this program should be instituted in more schools, however. "Teaching Tolerance" aims to plant more of these kinds of programs to encourage more students to accept and respect each other, which is a key factor in containing the spread of social isolation. More problems than discrimination in high school can trigger social isolation, however. Therefore, problems such as failure and embarrassment should be addressed by school institutions. These problems are classically addressed by school counselors, but Teaching Tolerance also helps students struggling with grades and social skills by providing guidance for teachers hoping to follow their guidelines and having a free online resource for students to use.

Essays

Russell, Rupert. "PAPERMAG: Exploring Harajuku Parties, Nightclub Rules, and a "Celibacy   Syndrome" In Tokyo." PAPERMAG: Exploring Harajuku Parties, Nightclub Rules, and a "Celibacy Syndrome" In Tokyo. Paper Magazine, April 2013. Web. 01 May 2014.

Russell in his article explains the night-life and parties in japan, or more accurately, a lack thereof . Many Japanese youth are beginning to shy away from social responsibilities and, therefore, rarely attend parties. Russell explores this phenomenon and shows his western audience, who are most likely at least semi-social, the extremities of Japanese culture by providing examples such as the hikikomori problem, which he addresses may have serious effects for Japan down the road, mail order wife dolls, cuddle cafes, etc. Russell finally points out that these celibacy phenomena may not be limited to Japan, as he notes the way that these can exist are only possible through somewhat new technologies, and solemnly admits that these problems may be soon facing the west because "Japan, as usual, is ahead of the curve."(Russell)

Kremer, William, and Claudia Hammond. "Why Are so Many Japanese Men Refusing to Leave Their Rooms?" BBC News. BBC World Service, June-July 2013. Web. 01 May 2014.

 Kremer and Hammond work to provide insight to western audiences on the increasing hikikomori population in Japan. A national census in Japan showed that at least 700,000 people are hikikomori (completely socially withdrawn), and this number is said to increase, however healthcare professionals are somewhat baffled about how to help the situation. Overall, this article expresses the growing concern that the hikikomori  phenomena presents to society, and hopes that audiences look into the subject further.

Fondi, Francesco. "A Day-trip Date with the Virtual Romantics of 'New LovePlus+'" Japan Times RSS. Japan Times, 7 Apr. 2014. Web. 01 May 2014.

In his article, Fondi describes the new scene of Japanese gaming and its impact/appeal on Japanese society. Where once Japanese games were once the lead in their industry, they are now falling behind. New Japanese games are dating-sims ( dating simulators) which, as described, can take all the effort and time that a real girlfriend takes. Fondi explains how this fits into the rising trend of social evasion in Japan, especially hikikomori. Despite these games having a social reclusive reputation with western audiences, Fondi points out that there are many who are perfectly normal who play these games, therefore these games' popularity are most likely a result of social withdrawal rather than a cause of it.

Otsu, Kazuo, and Yomiuri Shimbun. "Japan's Shrinking Society 4 / NEETs and the Elderly Could Lead Japan's Way Forward." The Japan News. Japan News, 30 Apr. 2014. Web. 01 May 2014.

Japan will soon face a workforce crisis if employees keep dwindling as they are now. Otsu and Yomiuri explain how the elderly and NEETS (hikikomori) must work to sustain Japan's Economy. The report optimistically documents the success of hiring the elderly and socially withdrawn as a hard counter to this stifling trend that is also beneficial and productive for a company, hoping the audience, Japanese business executives, hires more of these people.

Design

 

Dziesinski, Michael. Progression of Hikikomori. 2005. Photograph. blogs.comWeb. 27 Mar 2014. 

This Graphic shows the progression of a Hikikomori from the point of origin (trigger) to complete isolation/rehabilitation. The graph effectively shows these progressions and their causes.

Universal Truths

"When fortune turns against you, even jelly breaks your teeth".

 
-Iranian Proverb

Essentially, this proverb states that when cruel events surround you, you are demoralized and when you are demoralized you are more likely to have cruel events happen to you, because you can not see a point to defending yourself. Most people feel this when they fail or feel humiliated, when you fail the natural reaction is to avoid what you failed at so it doesn't happen again, but many times we can't avoid something entirely, so we are forced to fail again and again. When a Hikikomori individual gives up on being a part of the "outside world", he becomes more and more distant from it, meaning he has less reason to return to it. I face this adversity when I make bad grades, it becomes less important for me to make good ones after I've made many bad ones.

"Isolation is the sum total of wretchedness to a man".

-Thomas Carlyle

Carlyle provokes that we are at our weakest and most desperate when we are alone, and that loneliness leads to desperation. The most "wretched" men are often those who worked alone. Those who are calculative and manipulative of people, not compassionate or helpful. Prisoners who are a danger to those around them are put into solitude as both punishment and protection. When I am home alone for even just a day, I often become slightly paranoid, projecting worst case scenarios in my head or idly wandering the house looking for something to keep my mind busy. Being in a situation where I see no one for years is almost incomprehensible to imagine. Paranoia of the outside world is logical if you decided you wanted to be alone for so long. Thus, Hikikomori could easily be damaging their mind further every day they don't inhabit the outside world.