Did you know that the pressures from work and society are causing more people in Japan to shun the outside world.

In the attached article by The Economist we can read about “Mika Shibata’s youngest son”, aged 26, who has not emerged from his bedroom for a year! (The Economist, 2019, p.49).

In an article by Andrew McKirdy, for the JapanTimes.co.jp, he states that a Government survey suggested that 613,000 people, between the ages of 40 and 64, are believed to be hikikomori.

This is up from the estimated 541,000 people aged between 15 and 39 that a 2015 Cabinet Office survey found to be hikikomori.

References

McKirdy, A. (2019) The prison inside: Japan’s hikikomori lack relationships, not physical spaces. Available from World Wide Web: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2019/06/01/lifestyle/prison-inside-japans-hikikomori-lack-relationships-not-physical-spaces/#.Xil8ymieSUk. [Accessed: 23 January, 2020].

The Economist. (2019) Mental Health in Japan: The Rise of Recluses. The Economist. 30 November 2019.