Hikikomori

Thursday at lunch in Oldenborg there is a ridiculously interesting talk on hikikomori in Japan. The hikikomori are hundreds of thousands of men (and some women) in Japan who have locked themselves in their rooms in their parents homes, starting as early as age 13 or 14, and some staying their entire lives without further social contact with the world. It's not a movement, it's more of a syndrome, and like anorexia in western cultures it only sprouts up in areas with certain social pressures. In Japan, young men are pressured to succeed in school and come out on top of the stagnant economy. Countercultural sentiments are looked down upon, leaving youth who would normally turn to goth, punk or hardcore in american culture feeling alone in their distance from mass culture.

I think this is pretty interesting when you view it as a reaction to a stifled need for creativity - for some option other than go to school, do well in math, sleep, repeat. The immense pressure to conform cuts out the function of the subculture and leaves people who don't think their souls are represented by the Pillows feeling alone in a mass of conformity, and abandoning all desire to interact with society (I'm not sure completely on this because I know there is a big Japanese punk scene...but maybe not an explicitely political or counter-cultural scene...maybe they're all Avril Lavignes). Anyway I may be over-analyzing it but take a look for yourselves, I first read about it in this article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/15/magazine/15japanese.html?ex=1159502400&en=db376478c9dc230c&ei=5070

The talk Thursday is called "Shutting Out the Sun: How Japan Created Its Own Lost Generation."