Hikikomori

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Here is an interesting phenomenon. Has anyone heard of it before?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikikomori

Excerpt:

... the hikikomori phenomenon is similar to the symptoms exhibited by people with Pervasive Developmental Disorders in western cultures. Japan has the highest incidence of Pervasive Developmental Disorders, a group of disorders including autism and Asperger’s syndrome, in the developed world. In Japan, PDDs are some 2.95 times more common than in western countries. Some 3.3% of Japanese males have PDD compared with approximately 1% in Europe and the US. This has led some western commentators to suggest that people with hikikomori are affected by PDDs or disorders that affect social competence, but that their disorders are altered from their typical western presentation by the social and cultural pressures unique to Japan.

Cheers,

Mark

Sorry can't tell you which part of WP it was discussed, but yeah, not terribly long ago. I didn't follow it very carefully so I can't give you a break down of thought.

Perhaps someone can recall.

Thank you. I will do a search.

Cheers,

Mark

YEP, I googled it the other day. I really think that Japan has a concentration of aspies who are similar to me in certain ways and I wish there was research about them in English. It's really weird.

Does anyone else have their curiosity tickled feeling like antennae atop your head perking up?

I've always believed that the Japanese acted like Aspies, and I guess this is a bit more proof of that. Woot.

Some hikikomori are undoubtedly aspies. Others may simply be NTs who collapse under the societal pressure of their culture.

Some of them even isolate themselves within online games. I don't a percentage or anything for that, though.

The experts say "Just leave them alone". Which sounds awfully odd coming from an expert. Experts usually act like gods.

This was actually the phenomenon that I referred to on the "Gluten-free Diets" thread when I said that countries which previously ate mainly or exclusively non-glutenous grains/cereals like rice ( or corn/maize, or manioc) may experience sudden and huge increase in Autistic spectrum disorders when introduce wheat .! !
I actually chose Japan as an example of a modern diet change ( to american wheatburger style foods etc) possibly producing their "boom" in ASDs!!

And I am serious!!

The culture does kinda look that way from this side of the ocean. It's not that they're more accepting - more that people isolate their families more than we do here.

Most north americans would freak out being so isolated from social groups.

I have always tried to remain isolated, which seems weird to a lot of my students (since I am a sociologist). I have lived alone since I was 20 (31 years).

Cheers,

Mark

Last edited by ouinon on 14 Oct 2007, 6:40 am, edited 1 time in total.

I'm the one responsible for that wiki entry, I have improved it with several references - recent respected and accurate epidemiological studies etc.

Yes, it does seem that ASDs (=PDDs) are much more common in Japan then in the west. Also, it should be noted that a diagnosis of autism carries a great stigma in Japan - they don't associate autism with potential high intelligence unlike the US where Asperger's is more often associated with a intellectually gifted nerd/geek. Thus, there is likely to be under diagnosis not over diagnosis in Japan, due to stigma. Despite this factor - PDDs on Japan are 1.2 to 2.2% v's 0.6% in the UK for example.

Also, I was amazed by the odd sleeping patterns exhibited by those with Hikikomori i.e. the delayed Sleep/Wake cycle. There is allot of research into the poor sleeping patterns in AS - yes Aspies commonly suffer from the same form of insomnia. Melatonin may help.

Hi, Dave:

Thanks for your response. After you discussed the possible relationship between hikikomori and AS, you wrote:

"According to Michael Zielenziger's book, Shutting out the Sun: How Japan Created its Own Lost Generation, the syndrome is more closely related to PTSD. The hikikomori studied and interviewed for Zielenziger's book were not autistic, but bright intelligent people who have discovered independent thinking and a sense of self that the current Japanese environment cannot accommodate. For the most part they have no one to talk to. They are victims of the social and cultural pressures of Japan."

What is your take on it? Do you believe that hikikomori is more closedly related to AS or to PTSD?

Cheers,

Mark

I didn't write that bit. My take is that it was written by a Japanese person who thinks people with autism are ret*d and therefore took offense to the association made between hikikomori and ASDs...that I wrote.

Actually, I see parallels with hikikomori culture and Aspie culture. Aspies are independently minded people who are developing their own culture, system of interaction and expression. I agree that there are pressures that are unique and different in Japan - where there is allot more shame, guilt and stigma. It is far more difficult to develop a positive Aspie culture in Japan under those circumstances. So Japanese Aspies withdraw more.

I believe that hikikomori is more closely associated with AS and other similar socially disabling conditions - and that ASDs are more common in Japan, evinced by Japan's technological revolution after the WWII. Aspie engineers, scientist and industrialists turned Japan into a 21th century success. Also, I do not think that ASDs have increased recently - but have been consistently high in Japan. Just look at their houses and gardens. Angular, minimalist, simple, repetitive, accurate...


A Rock Garden in Kyoto, Japan

Japanese house interior

Cool, thanks.

All this stuff is very new to me, and I am trying to absorb as much of it as I can.

Cheers,

Mark

At night nobody tries to interact with you, there's less pressure to do so and there's a smaller chance of being 'interrupted'. Additionally, by getting up late one can avoid social morning rituals.