English Language IV

Debate 10: Hikikomori or Social Shut-ins

Owner:

L-LIV-G10-1

Members:

ST-LIV-G10-1
ST-LIV-G10-2
ST-LIV-G10-3
ST-LIV-G10-4
ST-LIV-G10-5

 

 

L-LIV-G10-1

2d

FORUM debate 10/Hikikomori or Social shut-ins

Group members:
ST-LIV-G10-1
ST-LIV-G10-2
ST-LIV-G10-3
ST-LIV-G10-4
ST-LIV-G10-5

STEP 1: Breaking the Ice:
– Write and post an introductory paragraph together with four ice-breaking questions. Make sure you answer some of the questions posted by your group mates and the moderator.

STEP 2: Initiating the Discussion:
– With the guidance of the moderator assigned to your group, write 4 or 5 posts of about 200 words each.

 

·         ST-LIV-G10-1

Hello everyone,
my name is ST-LIV-G10-1, 23 years old and I am an Erasmus-student from Bremen in Germany. I will be the moderator for this forum debate about “Hikikomori or Social shut-ins” and I am really looking forward to it, because I think it is a very interesting topic, even though, I have never heard of the term before.

I will start telling you some details about myself for you to get to know me better. I study English and Spanish in Valencia to improve my Spanish and once I have my Master´s degree I aim to become a teacher as I am very passionate about languages. In my free-time I love spending time with my family, friends and dog. I also play volleyball in Germany and I tried to do it here but the beach and sun is just too tempting so that it turned out as Beach-Volleyball. Furthermore, I like going to the gym but here I don´t do it that often as the weather is just too good to be spending time in a sweaty and smelly gym. I also like to go out dancing because the music and feeling is so different from Germany. I guess all of you have the cliché of Germans being a bit uptight and serious. Well, I have to say, it is not that wrong sometimes.

To start the forum debate I would like to begin with some ice-breaking questions:

1.) What are your hobbies?
2.) Have you ever been to another country?
3.) What do you want to do when you finish your studies?
4.) Have you ever heard about the term “Hikikomori” before?

I am looking forward to your participation and ideas!

 

·         ST-LIV-G10-3

Hello everyone!
My name is ST-LIV-G10-3, I’m 20 years old and I live in a small town near Valencia. I study English and French Translation at the University of Valencia and also Italian at a school language. Languages are my passion so that is why I want to become an audiovisual translator or an interpreter in a nearly future. Not only I love languages but also sports, I play basketball since I was seven although this season I couldn’t play because of a serious injury. Moreover, I’m an adventurous and open-minded person who enjoys travelling and discovering new cultures. I have been to Italy, UK, France and I will go to Romania this summer, I like European countries but I would like to travel to the Asian ones as I believe that they have a very strong culture.

Regarding the topic of this forum debate I have to say that I have never heard about the term “Hikikomori” before. After doing some researches I found that this term refers to “a person who avoids social contact”, as it says the Oxford Dictionary. The expression “Hikikomori” was originated in Japan as early as the 1980s and literally means “staying indoors, (social) withdrawal”, but what’s more this word it is being used just for Japanese men. However, there is still much debate on how exactly this condition is triggered and how it can be defined.

According to BBC news (http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-23182523) as many as a million young people in Japan are thought to stay at home for decades, this is a very controversial and problematic issue. Why do you think they do this? Some of them start feeling this way when they give up school and begin to blame themselves and their parents for not going to school. Then, gradually, they become afraid to go out and meet people. How do you think this can affect their mental health? Which would be the consequences of this behaviour for the Japanese society? Is there any solution for this problem?

 

·         ST-LIV-G10-1

Hello everyone,
thank you for your contribution ST-LIV-G10-3. I read an article about this topic at a webpage “Psicología y Mente” (https://psicologiaymente.net/clinica/hikikomori-sindrome-oriental-habitacion) and it is pointed out that social shut-ins start when a person does not leave their room for about six months. In Japan this problem is well-known as you already pointed out ST-LIV-G10-3, but the problem is already coming over to European countries as well. In Spain for example, about 200 cases of Hikikomori have been discovered over the last few years. In my opinion, this is very concerning. We also have to distinguish between pre-hikikomori, social hikikomori and Netogehaijin. A person who suffers from pre-hikikomori, goes out every once in a while, for example to school, work or university but avoids every type of social contact. A person with social hikikomori quits all of it but may maintain some social contacts through the internet. They feel scared and intimidated by meeting people in real life. A person suffering from Netogehaijin, is called to be a complete zombie of computers. They dedicate their whole life towards computers and video games.

One possibility why they may do this is, because they may have had a dramatic situation once in their life. Due to this they may have lost the ability to trust in other people and that is why they shut themselves out. On the other hand, some people in general are shy and introverted and do not have the ability to get in contact with other people that easily. Computer games in contrast, do not ask questions or treat you badly. However, I think, that trying to solve problems by dedicating one´s live to computer games and the virtual world, is a fatal approach as it would make the situation even worse. The right approach would be to start a therapy in order to identify and analyze the problem and to find a solution on how to treat the desease.

 

·         ST-LIV-G10-3

Hi ST-LIV-G10-1,
I’m really interested in participating in this forum debate and I thank you for your contributions too. As you pointed this social problem is not only taking place in Japan but also expanding to other countries, especially to the European ones. I did a research to know why there are more and more young people who become Hikikomori and I found that the problem is due to many causes.

According to an article written by a group of psychologists, Hikikomori is caused by social concerns, familiar problems and economic factors. However, are the familiar problems the ones who have more influence in developing this kind of behaviour. This young people, as ST-LIV-G10-1 said, may come from a dysfunctional family or, by contrast, they don’t adjust to the traditional family structure. Moreover, Hikikomori feel ashamed and their mind feels divided. On the one hand, they are ashamed because of the fact that they cannot work or go out as other people do. On the other hand, they reject to socialise with other people but they judge themselves to do this.

So, in order to find a solution for this social problem, we first have to distinguish, as ST-LIV-G10-1  has well explained, between pre-hikikomori, social hikikomori and Netogehaijin. Once we have identified it, I consider that it is necessary to start a therapy but also show that person that we support him/her, that we are able to help him/her and make him/her feel part of the society. It would be also a good idea to develop a kind of application that can make them start thinking about the possibility to go out again.

 

·         ST-LIV-G10-1

Hello ST-LIV-G10-3,
I totally agree with the things you said about how Hikikomori can develop. Another thing I have read on a webpage (shiatsu Austria) is, that besides social, familiar and economic problems, the relation to the mother has a really big impact on the disease. In Japan in this case, mother and son often have a kind of symbiosis and it is normal that 30 to 40-year-old men are being mothered. In cooperation with the fact that many Japanese parents do not expect their children to begin their career at top speed, this may lead to the reasons for developing Hikikomori, like feeling anxious about their own future,being scared to make contact with other people and many more reasons mentioned in anterior posts. Of course, this does not mean that being there for your child is a bad thing, in fact, the contrary is the case, but exaggerating the care and always providing for your grown-up child without making sure that it can survive on its own, is leading in the wrong direction based on the data given about Hikikomori.

As both of us have pointed out, a therapy is inevitable in order to treat the disease. On the other hand, we must take into consideration fight the disease at its origin in order to prevent others from developing a Hikikomori. By saying this, I am referring to going into schools, talk about first signs of Hikikomori and what it may lead to in the end; being trapped in a virtual world full of loneliness. Furthermore, I suggest an awareness training for teachers as well as parents for them to be able to identify students with Hikikomori at an early stage. In that way, affected students can be helped faster and a potential outburst of the disease could be prevented in time.