The Lost Ones

Hikikomori.

There are over 100,000 Hikikomori, or young recluses estimated to be living in Japan. Coined in the early 2000's, Hikikomori refers to someone, especially a young person who retreats from society and social interaction, rarely leaving the house and not working productively for at least six months, sometimes years.  Their lives are largely lived online and in their parents houses.  Rather than a mental illness or phobia, it is thought that the Hikikomori suffer from a maladjustment to modernity, there is some relevance to generational attributes of laziness and entitlement, but also some kind of hard wiring gone awry in terms of reality and the online world.    It is a growing and world-wide phenomenon and something that we should take notice of as technology continues to evolve faster than ourselves.

Photograph Courtesy of:

http://towakudai.blogs.com/my_weblog/2009/08/sayonara-zetsubo-sensei-aversion-and-hikikomori-at-anime-edit-part-1.html