On 14 January 2006, Hong Kong Christian Service released a survey report on Hong Kong urban hermits. It was estimated that about 18,500 young adults and 540 students are socially withdrawn. A previous survey by the service put the number at 6,000 in early 2005.
This extreme form of social withdrawal is more common in Japan, where it is called “hikikomori”. In Japan, it is believed that more than one million young adults shut themselves in their rooms for years as a time.
The hikikomori, withdraw from societies for months or years at a time, not going to class, not working, not even leaving their homes, and often not even abandoning their rooms, is believed to be a result from the social trends such as “parasite singles” and “NEET” (Not currently engaged in Employment, Education or Training).
Back in October 2002, BBC discussed the Hikikomori phenomenon in Japan on its programme, The Correspondent. Visit the following sites to find out more:
- Japan: The Missing Million
- Hikikomori Violence
- Transcript of the Correspondent documentary
While some suggested that hikikomori is a global social problem, I am interested to explore what kind of effect Hong Kong’s pop-culture (which had been much influenced by Japan) had on the hikikomori trend.
Some reference materials include Michael Zielenziger’s Shutting Out the Sun and Zhengxing Riben (整形日本, lit. translation: Shaping Japan) by Tang Zhenzhao (湯禎兆).
1 Comment
March 9, 2007 at 4:38 pm
[...] had a couple of relevant entries on hikikomori in Hong Kong which is similar to my earlier post on 9 Feb 2007. Perhaps it is a chance for some cross-campus [...]