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August 13, 2026
 

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HIKIKOMORI

Japan faces a growing crisis of social isolation, with over 1.4 million people ¡ª many middle-aged ¡ª living reclusive lifestyles, and experts say only long-term, trust-based community support can reverse the trend.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 16, 2025
Japan needs to rethink how it helps hikikomori
While hikikomori, the Japanese term for acute social withdrawal, often brings to mind young recluses in dark bedrooms, the reality is broader.
The basic framework adopted by the government calls for measures to improve the employment situation of those in their 40s and 50s, and for steps to assist them in their later years.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 3, 2025
Japan government to boost support for job ¡®Ice Age¡¯ generation
The framework calls for measures to improve the employment situation of those in their 40s and 50s, and for steps to assist them in their later years.
Located in Nagano Prefecture, Samurai Gakuen tries to help young and old individuals who have withdrawn from society rediscover their places out in the world.
LIFE / Lifestyle
May 31, 2025
How ¡®hikikomori¡¯ shut-ins ¡®start to have dreams for the future¡¯
As many as 1.5 million ¡°hikikomori¡± shut-ins withdraw from social life in Japan, but one school in Nagano is finding success is coaxing them back into the world.
Yoshihito Sasaki at Nijikko no Ie, a facility he set up in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, to provide a safe space for those suffering from severe social withdrawal
JAPAN / Society
Mar 14, 2025
Man¡¯s grief over wife and son leads to haven for social recluses
Yoshihito Sasaki sought to fulfill his late wife¡¯s wish of providing a safe space for those suffering from severe social withdrawal.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 31, 2023
Â鶹´«Ã½ parliament enacts bill to tackle social isolation
The legislation obliges local governments to make efforts to set up regional councils made up of groups offering aid to people suffering from isolation.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 13, 2023
South Korea tries $500 handouts to help get reclusive children outside
The new policy¡¯s main goal is to help disadvantaged youth, but it¡¯s also a way for the country to address its shrinking working-age population.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 1, 2023
1.5 million people in Japan living as social recluses, many as a result of the pandemic
Some 20% became social recluses due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Cabinet Office survey.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Mar 4, 2023
A Tokyo esports school coaxes dropouts back to class
Parents are realizing that nontraditional schooling is better than none at all.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 13, 2022
A third of social recluses are in their 40s and 50s, Tokyo¡¯s Edogawa Ward finds
The ward¡¯s survey also showed that 1 in 4 hikikomori had isolated themselves from society and not participated in any social activities for at least a decade.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Dec 12, 2021
¡®The Shut Ins¡¯: A poignant look at loneliness from four points of view
The individual voices of the characters shine in Katherine Brabon¡¯s novel, which delves into societal pressures and isolation in contemporary Japan.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
May 1, 2021
Solitude or isolation? Whatever it is, it¡¯s spreading.
While humanity is a social species, there¡¯s something to be said about solitude. The good kind, that is.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Feb 20, 2021
Line between solitude and withdrawal becomes blurred in Japan amid pandemic
More than half of the nationwide hikikomori population of 1.15 million are between 40 and 64 years old.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 15, 2020
The trouble with linking COVID-19 to ¡®hikikomori¡¯
The mental health issue is already poorly understood; now its role in the public imagination is shifting again.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 20, 2019
Behind the rise of Â鶹´«Ã½ recluses
A lack of economic ambition is increasing the trend of ¡®hikikomori.¡¯
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 15, 2019
Combating an unfounded fear of Â鶹´«Ã½ recluses
Although the term ¡°hikikomori,¡± which describes people who shun social contact and seek extreme degrees of isolation, has been in common use for several decades, it has taken on a more sinister cast recently as the media has come to view it as a social problem. In the wake of two incidents that have...
JAPAN / Society
Jun 10, 2019
Support groups deluged by inquiries after Kawasaki and Tokyo murders involving social recluses
Following recent stabbing incidents involving middle-aged hikikomori, or social recluses, and their parents, the number of inquiries received by support groups and similar organizations that support such individuals has surged.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jun 1, 2019
The prison inside: Â鶹´«Ã½ hikikomori lack relationships, not physical spaces
Fifty-three-year-old Kenji Yamase doesn¡¯t fit the traditional image of a hikikomori, but then perceptions of Â鶹´«Ã½ social recluses are changing.
EDITORIALS
Apr 5, 2019
Measures needed to address social recluse problem
The government should explore effective measures of support that suit the diverse circumstances and backgrounds of the hikikomori¡¯s problems.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Dec 9, 2017
Shut in by the past yet still unable to face the future
Mom, dad, two kids, nice house, nice suburb, good income ¡ª you just know this story is about to go smash.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Jun 1, 2017
OECD urges Japan to boost social services for young people, curb ranks of NEETs
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has urged Japan to improve social services for young people, in particular women, to enable and motivate more active participation?in the labor market.
Gut bacteria may be behind many of Â鶹´«Ã½ colorectal cancer cases
A Japanese research team found that a toxin produced by certain E. coli strains, colibactin, caused genetic mutations in nearly half of colorectal cancer cases studied
¡®Total whiplash¡¯: Foreign residents react to Â鶹´«Ã½ changing permanent residency rules
The entrance to the Tokyo Immigration Bureau in Minato Ward, Tokyo, in March. For some foreign residents of Japan, tightening measures for permanent residency have become one factor in a broader calculation over whether remaining in the country makes financial sense over the long term.
She is Russia¡¯s richest woman. Her business empire is going up in flames.
Tatyana Kim, the head and co-founder of Wildberries, speaks about Ukrainian drone attacks on the company's warehouses in the course of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, at an unidentified location, in this still image from a handout video released on July 31.
Severe tropical storm Chan-hom makes landfall near Tokyo
Severe Tropical Storm Chan-hom made landfall around Ibaraki Prefecture, near Tokyo, on Tuesday night.
What Â鶹´«Ã½ language rules for permanent residency should look like
Potential health care workers hoping to find work in Japan take Japanese language instruction in Jakarta. Not all applicants for permanent residency should be expected to reach this level of proficiency.
Where do foreign residents in Japan want to die?
The Yokohama Foreign General Cemetery is one of the few cemeteries in Japan that allows burials, albeit with conditions for the deceased, including foreign nationality and permanent residency in Kanagawa Prefecture.
¡®Total whiplash¡¯: Foreign residents react to Â鶹´«Ã½ changing permanent residency rules
The entrance to the Tokyo Immigration Bureau in Minato Ward, Tokyo, in March. For some foreign residents of Japan, tightening measures for permanent residency have become one factor in a broader calculation over whether remaining in the country makes financial sense over the long term.
As Â鶹´«Ã½ concrete jungles sizzle, urban forestry offers an all-natural fix
People and birds find relief from the sun in Tokyo's Nakano Ward earlier this month. While experts agree that urban greening is crucial to mitigating the impact of climate change, trees are becoming even more scarce in Japanese cities.
Â鶹´«Ã½ brewers experiment with a secret ingredient: music
At Smoke Craft, a craft beer brewery in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture, music isn't just a background to the brewing process ¡ª it's an ingredient.
As countries ban social media for children, Japan mulls a different approach
Data from NTT Docomo¡¯s Mobile Society Research Institute released in June found that 55% of respondents across all age groups said they fiddled with their phones when they had nothing to do, even when another person was in front of them.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo¡¯s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo¡¯s ¡®stadium of desire¡¯

Longform

Disaster relief workers Taichi Kato (left) and Seiji Yoshimura enter the collapsed living quarters at Kyuganji temple in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Prefecture.
What Kumamoto revealed about Â鶹´«Ã½ earthquake readiness
By Alex K.T. Martin

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