Hiki­ko­m­ori — depres­si­on as rebellion?

What can Europe learn from Japan's experience dealing with NEET youth, those who are neither in employment nor training?

The term NEET (Not in Education, Employ­ment, or Training) is used to describe young people aged between 16 and 24 who are not in employ­ment or training. In 2015, these were an estimated 6.5 million people in Europe. And worryin­gly, depending on the EU country, this could make up 10–20% of young people (Eurofound 2016). Data for 2021 are similar (Eurostat 2022).

NEET is firstly a sta­tis­ti­cal concept that says little about the alarming nature of this hete­ro­ge­ne­ous group and its situation. Far from sta­tis­tics, one could dis­tin­guish three main groups: those who are somewhat dis­ori­en­ted; those who are tem­pora­ri­ly out of touch; and finally, those who are deeply alienated (Williamson2010).

Hiki­ko­m­ori also belong to this deeply alienated last group. These are mainly young men in Japan who have no social contact outside their immediate family, often turning night into day and binging on vast amounts of manga, anime and e‑games. Although reco­gni­zed as a social phe­no­me­non, the border to the patho­lo­gi­cal becomes blurred. Depres­si­on and other mental illnesses are both cause and effect. “I can go out if I want to”, they say, “but I don’t want to” […] They are the hermits of modernity (Igort 2018, p. 128).

Some socio­lo­gists see the behaviour of the Hiki­ko­m­ori as a form of rebellion against the pressures of adult society to which they have been exposed since childhood (Furlong 2008). As estab­lis­hed forms of youth sub­cul­tu­re survive in ’Peter Pan’ adults and new forms are difficult to assert in anti-aut­ho­ri­ta­ri­an societies, the only coun­ter­cul­tu­re seems to be total with­dra­wal. Para­do­xi­cal­ly, young people perceive (self-)exclusion from society as an assertion of freedom. Going into jihad maybe the only other alter­na­ti­ve to leaving adults in western cultures gobsmacked.

In recent years, Hiki­ko­m­ori have also received growing attention in Europe, espe­cial­ly in France, Italy and Great Britain. Both feature films (e.g. by Sophie Attelann) or docu­men­ta­ry (e.g. by David Beautru and Dorothée Lorang) are a testament to this. In Japan, of the new concept of“Rental Sisters”, social com­pa­n­ions for hire, is showing its first success in dealing with Hiki­ko­m­ori and is creating a fasci­na­ting new pro­fes­sio­nal group that focuses entirely on social and emotional intel­li­gence as its core competence.

In the political and sci­en­ti­fic debate about NEET, however, Japanese Hiki­ko­m­ori have hardly played a role so far. Unjustly so. On the one hand, one has to assume that a signi­fi­cant part of NEET youth exists in Europe in a similar, often identical situation, in addition there is probably a detec­ta­ble amount of Hiki­ko­m­ori in all of us, not only in times of Covid-19.

Refe­ren­ces:
Eurofound. (2016). Exploring the diversity of NEETs. Luxem­bourg: Publi­ca­ti­ons Office of the European Union.
Eurostat (2022). Sta­tis­tics explained. Sta­tis­tics on young people neither in employ­ment nor in education or training.
Furlong, A. (2008). The Japanese hiki­ko­m­ori phe­no­me­non: acute social with­dra­wal among young people. The socio­lo­gi­cal review, 56(2), 309–325.
Igort. (2018). Reports from Japan. An illus­tra­tor on the move. Berlin: Reproduct.
Wil­liam­son, H. (2010). Deli­vering a ‘NEET’ solution: an essay on an appar­ent­ly intrac­ta­ble problem. In S. Upton (Ed.), Engaging Wales’ dis­en­ga­ged youth: (pp. 7–20). Cardiff: Institute of Welsh Affairs.