NHK Video: Hikikomori in an Aging Japan

[thomas]

This haunting video is part of NHK's On Demand series: it describes the fate of hikikomori who depend on their ageing parents and are left without support once their parents die or are moved into a care facility. The video looks at the cases of two recluses, who died at the age of 49 and 56 and showed the efforts of local town councils (here in Atami and Yokosuka), whose efforts are often outright rejected. In fact, 71.7% of all hikikomori refuse any help altogether. Very insightful and well-made.

It's estimated over a million Japanese live as "hikikomori," recluses totally withdrawn from society. Some hikikomori may even go for decades without leaving their house. While in the past the phenomenon was most commonly associated with young men, recent data has revealed a much wider demographic of people whose confidence in themselves, and in society, has been shattered. As the parents or relatives hikikomori so often depend on entirely become too old to care for them, many now face a dire situation, left alone and unable to cope.

Dying Out of Sight: Hikikomori in an Aging Japan | NHK WORLD-JAPAN

It's estimated over a million Japanese live as "hikikomori," recluses totally withdrawn from society. Some hikikomori may even go for decades without leaving their house. While in the past the phenomenon was most commonly associated with young men, recent data has revealed a much wider...

www3.nhk.or.jp

 

[Muz1234]

Japanese society is dying???

 

[nice gaijin]

Thank you for sharing this video, @thomas. It was a hard watch but it's an important story. The resistance to asking for help, or for accepting help that's offered, I think speaks to the depression that underlies this withdrawal from society. The pandemic saw me through several waves of depression and isolation, which had a tendency to feed off one another. Despite the misanthropy I felt from reading the news I had to force myself to go out and interact with people at times, knowing that it's the only real medicine to treat this illness.

Japanese society is dying???

Japan's birth rate has been declining for a while, meaning the average age keeps rising as there aren't enough children born to keep the population from declining. This is what they mean when they say Japan is aging, greying, dying, etc. @Muz1234 did you watch the video? What did you think of it?

edit: I hadn't quite finished it when I wrote the above message. The last five minutes are powerful.

Shinichi's brother Jiro makes a strong statement:
In spite of everything, it seems he never gave up on life.
Deep down, he wanted to connect with others.
He never earned praise from society, and he never built a family of his own.
In that respect, he made no real contribution to society.
But as his brother, I still want to believe that he deserved to live.
I wanted him to keep on living, no matter how he chose to.
ただ弟の意味からすればそれで生きる価値が無かったと思いたくはないので
どういう形であれ、命は長良行ってほしかった気持ちはありますね。

And the closing statements:
Our technologically connected, yet increasingly fragmented modern society, is witnessing ever more people struggling to find purpose in life
you don't have to prove anything, we're just happy you're alive
such simple words of acceptance can make a real difference to so many.

 

[Petaris]

Certainly there are people like this everywhere, in the US we usually call them "hermit"s. I have to wonder about some of the possible instigators of this though. I know that there are some people who just prefer to go it alone, but it doesn't usually get to the "hermit" or "hikikomori" point. My thought is that one possible reason could be bullying early in life, likely during early school years.

I'm no psychologist though and am just making a guess.

 

[thomas]

It starts at school and often in the early years of their professional career. Our neighbourhood has such a case: he must be in his late fifties/early sixties. His parents passed away and left him with the house, which is permanently shuttered, overgrown, and surrounded by a bulwark of plastic bags and other rubbish. He goes shopping on a wobbly mamacharri every midnight. I sometimes see him when I walk the dogs late. The only person entering the perimeter is the lady who reads the electricity meter. Probably she'll be the one who'll alarm the authorities when his bills go unpaid.

As @nice gaijin stated, it's a powerful video. Please watch it.

 

[Paint_Black]

oh well... tought tis Hokuto No Ken here...