AABOUT A YEAR A few months ago, Mika Shibata’s youngest son returned to the family home and went upstairs without a word. He still has to leave his room. At 26, he sleeps during the day and stays awake at night. His mother feeds him and shelters him, hoping that he will get out of this state. But she worries that he will never do it. “The longer this situation continues, the more difficult it is for her to reintegrate into society,” she says.
The pain of the Shibata family is shared by many other people in Japan. Government says there is more than 1m hikikomori, or recluses, defined as people who have played no role in society for at least six months. Many have barely left their homes for decades. A handful of alarming crimes have made them visible to the public. In May, a 51-year-old recluse stabbed two people, including a child, to death in the city of Kawasaki before committing suicide. In June, a retired government official murdered his own son, a hikikomori, because he said he was afraid of hurting someone.
When the phenomenon was widely noticed more than a generation ago, few understood it. Recluses were considered lazy or strange. Mental health care was scarce and official support non-existent. Parents felt responsible and were too mortified to seek help. But even now, occasional crimes involving recluses have raised concerns about their dangerousness, says Morito Ishizaki, a hikikomori who runs a magazine for the sick. In fact, he explains, they are rarely criminal. Many have just wrapped up under pressure at school or at work and have retired to their children’s shelters.
Support groups are emerging across the country. Tokyo is one of several cities with help lines and websites that are trying to reach closings, which range from school dropouts from teenagers to workers who have been laid off. Aging parents often come for help, says Tokyo metropolitan government official Ichiro Miyazawa. He says they fear that after their death, their hikikomori children will not be able to survive.
More than half of Japan’s recluses are now over 40, according to a Cabinet Office survey this year. This shocked the government, which had assumed that the condition mainly affected young people. Tamaki Saito, a psychiatrist who popularized the term hikikomori, says the government is partly responsible for closing the eyes. Now the problem has increased. If not addressed seriously, many more could become recluses, he said.
However, attracting isolated people in their 40s and 50s to society is difficult, accepts Miyazawa. The city can only send home counselors upon request. But often families themselves cannot communicate with their reclusive children. Ms. Shibata assumes that her son has been bullied at work, but cannot be sure. He hasn’t said a word since his return. Her two brothers cannot speak to her. Someday, the bright, sensitive man she knew will bounce back, she hopes. But many may never come out of their shell.
This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the title “The rise of recluses”