Forever Alone? More Than Half a Million Young Japanese Live as Recluses

Hikikomori is a Japanese term used to describe people who withdraw from society. The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry defines hikikomori as those who have stayed at home for a minimum of six months without going to school or work, or interacting with others, according to the Japan Times.

A 2010 survey conducted by the Cabinet Office noted some 696,000 recluses in Japan. A December 2015 survey does not include people age 40 and over, but does reveal that 35 percent of the total have remained at home for at least seven years, documenting a trend of staying homebound for longer periods. The survey also demonstrated that the number of hikikomori aged between 35-39 has doubled.

Some 34.7 percent have been reclusive for at least seven years, 28.6 percent for three to five years and 12.2 percent have shut themselves in for four to seven years.

According to Tamaki Saito, a Japanese psychiatrist and the country's leading expert on the hikikomori phenomenon, the hikikomori state is similar to alcoholism, and a support network is crucial. In his book Hikikomori: Adolescence without End, he analyzes various aspects regarding the condition.

Saito suggests that the problem is caused primarily by the relationship between parents and children, and the pressure parents exert on children in Japan, especially male. Japanese parents have high expectations of sons, often contradicting a child's aspirations. As a result, if a child fails he loses confidence and self-esteem, followed by a period of withdrawal. Saito offers that Japan and many other countries, in which rapid post-industrialization has changed social and family structures, experience the phenomenon of hikikomori.