Hikikomori and Japanese Society

Japan has such awesome potential in the international community. A culture once described by early western visitors as “socially advanced” in comparison to the west, but there is a dark invisible barrier that confines this society to it’s present state and impedes on it’s ability to fully metamorphe into the society it should and could be. Unlike other nations in Asia, Japan seems to be frozen in time socially. Unwilling to fully grasp and allow foreign thought and philosophy to penetrate what at times seems like a titanium wall built around the very heart of its culture. Japan’s culture however, is and has been for quite some time, under siege. It appears though that Japan’s titanium wall is finally beginning to show signs of vulnerability. As a result of years of forced conformism amongst international pressure to revolutionize has finally started to take it’s toll on the Japanese people. Alcoholism consumption is on the rise, while in most other countries it is on the decline. The birthrate is dropping at an alarming rate. The economy showing minor signs of recovery still appears to be stagnant. The countries productivity is dropping and millions of Japanese men are withdrawing from society and becoming social recluses due to their inability to cope with and understand a world that seems to be changing around them. There is a term in Japan for this phenomenon and it is Hikikomori (comes from the Japanese verb “hikikomoru” which literally means to shut ones self out from the world). Japanese society has often been criticized by many for it’s inability to internationalize and be culturally open; However, I do not believe it is the Japanese people that are to blame. There are many shackles that are holding the Japanese people down and almost all of them have chains that lead back to the same source. I believe this source is the old guard that is in embedded in the cracks and crannies of the Japanese Government and financial elite. Japanese children are taught and brainwashed from a very young age that they must conform to Japanese society as it know exists and not to question the way things are. Hence the popular Japanese proverb “Deru kugi wa utareru” or “The nail that sticks up will be hammered down”. Although numerous Japanese and foreign scholars, professors and linguists have recommended teaching critical thinking skills to school children and how lack of doing so is causing not only the inability to properly learn English and other foreign languages, but it also contributes to the in ability to interact with different cultures and society as a whole. The Ministry of education ( as well as several other institutions in Japan) fails to understand, is just unwilling to or is afraid to except this reality. I think it is a combination of all three with emphasis on afraid. I think the old guard in Japan (there are a lot more than one might realize and many are in very powerful positions) still have this “inferiority complex” that was born in the Meiji era and was given growth hormones after World War II. The old Guard has been unable to overcome this “complex” and feel that if Japan is on the same playing field, it could not measure up to the rest. Due to their own insecurities, they have short changed the Japanese people and caused them a lot of grief. It is a situation that I believe started during Japan’s isolation from the rest of the world. After being forced open and peeking outside it was realized that the rest of the world had advanced around them. Instead of changing and trying to fit in with this new world, they tried to force it to understand them. This mentality lead to the first in a long string of mistakes which was trying to become an empire and force people to respect them. Over the last 50 years Japan has slowly once again isolated itself in a very inconspicuous way at the hands of this very mentality. I believe these trends we are begining to see are the result of the beginning of change in Japan. The beginning of a social revolution like none other that it has experienced. Things always get worse before they get better. The Japanese people need to be given the tools and ability to interact with and cope with an international community. One of the first steps is to weed out these old fogies with their old mentality from government offices, financial institutions and other places were they hold positions of power. They have tormented Japan long enough and Japan is and deserves much better. Second Japan must implement a process of teaching critical thinking skills to it's children and encouraging them to think freely and on their own and lose it's old decrepid process of forced conformity and allow some acceptance of individuality. Japan can achieve without losing the rest of it's beautiful culture. The following are some stories that contributed to my thought on this subject. "Deep pessimism infecting many aspects of Japanese society" from Michael Zielenziger of KR News and "Japan: The Missing Million" from Phil Rees of BBC News.