Working While Being a Hikikomori

...In Japan, choosing projects/companies wisely is arguably half of the battle (or even more)

Last 5 years.. I have arguably underperformed in 70-80 percent of all of my projects... but my pay kept increasing at around 1 million Yen per year
OTOH, in 2017-2018,, I overperformed, but my pay didn't increase at all

Hope they will be accommodated to work in their way of life

wish remote working was more accessible in the western world..

Bet a few great mongaka are Hikikumori. Because they can submit everything online and never leave their house.

WHATEVER YOU DO, DONT IMPORT FORIEGNERS TO YOUR COUNTRY!!! NO FUCKING GAIJIN! ONCE IT STARTS, THE GLOBALISTS WILL CONSUME YOUR CULTURE

From another standpoint, the problem starts elsewhere. Human beings have 2 fundamental needs that are non negotiable.

1. Need for authenticity. Simply being just as we are are, perfectly imperfect.

2. The need for attachment which we all rely on for survival from birth up to a certain age.

During our early childhood (starting at 6 months) we trade our authenticity for attachment. We begin to view ourselves as what we do rather than what we are and that creates a void from which we whole panel of psychological problems arise. (Addiction, deep solitude, feeling unworthy…)

Add to that a culture of shaming which I believe is very strong in Japan. Once the shaming begins and it’s being repeated enough, it is being internalised. The consequences is that shame, worthlessness, anger … are no longer feelings and emotions. They become an identity. Once it’s taken root, it becomes very difficult to undo. (But it’s possible)

From there, several path are taken. I’ll focus on two.

1. The overachiever. That person jumps both feet into work and « accomplishments » they keep on going and going, often to the point of neglecting children and loved ones. They forget the spiritual nature of what it is to be human and often end up having a burn out or very solitary lives. Once take out of that constant drive and success providing them with external validation, these people come crashing down.

2. The underachiever. The ones who will procrastinate, and validate their feelings of worthlessness through their non action and way of life. They heard all the time that they were not good. Probably from parents whose behaviour, body language and and wording made them feel that way. Growing up that type of person won’t consider the parents being flawed because his or her own survival would be at risk. Instead that child will internalise it as him or her being the problem.

Instead a nutshell, all I see are symptoms and patterns of a society in which appearances are valued over a state of being.

This is a consequence of it. You see it less in underdeveloped or developing countries because they are robbed of their time to think and feel. But in our societies that are so called developed, we still behave poorly with ourselves.

You can offer them as many training as you want. As long as their sense of self worth isn’t being worked on simultaneously, the problem will just shift elsewhere. And what I mean by that is integrating basic psychology in a curriculum to create a society more aware about the psychology as a way of life.

(I’m a life coach and trauma recovery provider)

How could an older generation from a conservative country fix the future of their country? when they are not in younger generation social position ? Only people who's understanding the younger generation pain and have the will to change themself, that able to change others.

I'm a hikikomori with a job and I find that it's very hard to get people to understand the lifestyle. America doesn't have a lot of job opportunities for people like me and American news doesn't cover shut-ins unless it's part of a bigger problem. Like if they're talking about hoarders where it all began when they became a shut-in. I think it's important to allow for all types of people to live how they want. I believe hikikomori would be motivated to work harder if they knew that they could support their lifestyle by working from home. Social people should work outside the home because they feel better after socializing. Antisocial people should be allowed to work at home because they feel better if they don't socialize. Happy people stay in jobs longer and the longer an employee stays the more useful they can become.

is hikkomori the same as agoraphobia ??

These interviews shine a light on the fact that more people are starting to reject the Japanese corrosion of conformity to gain their happiness and live their own life. Although the solutions still are far to reach more little points of light are appearing. It´s not long ago that hikikomori were totally shunned and rejected as misfits and anti-social delinquents mooching on the surroundings.. With such a stuffy and slow conservative political establishment it´s refreshing to hear some of them waking up to smell the fish.

In the US we have Hikikkomori as well. My son is one. Remote work from home, online relationships and gaming from the same desk. I cannot relate. This can all be done from a prison cell.

this will make it worst

We have people like this in the USA. The parents are largely to blame. Hikikomori is a crutch for these lazy slobs that want to sit on their butts in front of a computer day and night to play games and live a weird on-line life. If they want to have a computer and an internet connection, they can work like everyone else and earn their own money to eat and support their own way of life. Parents should be enforcing rules on their lazy kids, so they don't grow up to be an unmanageable misfit in society.

Can't you hikikomori be hikikomori in the countryside? It's beautiful out there with trees and wildlife. Whole villages are empty and you can go out for walks in the mountains.

😥 being one myself... it's scary to think that I'm almost 40, only ever worked full time for less than 2 year, then didn't work for 10+ years... as you can imagine that put me in a terrible financial situation. Now I just scratch by though online commission works. It can feel dreadful sometime though, often feels unproductive & unmotivated. Maybe it's time to take anti-depressant, but I heard it have bad side effects....
yea, the dreadful commute, I really don't know how the normal people can put up to those dreadful traffic jam - there basically no public transit where I live. Even if there is, I don't think I can put up with a fixed schedule without going insane...

Such a great, eloquent testimony from Shuichi Okada. Coming from a japanese family in Brazil, and as someone who almost slip into the hikikomori lifestyle, I can relate to him so much, and I'm happy for him.

To be honest their lives are not that different to the avarage salary man living behind their cubicle most of the day. Both live very isolating lives.

theres probably a whole lot of american otaku who would love to be flown out and given a job

We have hikikomoris in Italy too, numbers and awareness around this word and what it means keep rising.

Japan needs to drop the working hierarchy and do 6 working hours a day like Norway or one of those countries.

" I have no stamina to work all day". Heads to his computer to stay up 24 hours to play online games. True story

It's almost like the general attitude of the ruling elite are still stuck in the booming 60s,70s and 80s. Are they trying to hold on to the good times and not actually come up with real world solutions. Among many other things, Hikikkomori are part of a national crisis.

I'm not really optimistic about how Japan's gonna look circa 2040💀

What's the percentage of employees versus those who are not working but are at the physical age to work?

Its a good time to live being able to work without meeting anyone or leave the house. Tech sure has gone a good ways haha.

Nothing wrong with hikikomori!! Leave them be. If I had the finances I would absolutely shut out society. Wanting to be alone isn't a mental issue

This isn't hikikomori look up the definition of the word they do not work.

TIL I'm a hikikomori and I'm not even Japanese

🧙‍♂️🪄💨 Why are feral humans considered mentally ill and hikikomori not?

From what I observed, the biggest problem is that the average male in the 20-40 age group is still required to be a successful corporate white collar professional or its equivalent in the same way his granduncle has been during the 1960s & 1970s.

However, those days are long gone.

Regarding the labor shortage, it is not just a matter of not finding workers. Many organizations still think home-grown locals should have no problem finding cushy well-paid white collar positions and therefore will not want to take up positions that have lower social status.

Meanwhile, a sizable number of men in the able bodied age are increasingly less interested in the corporate ladder and just want jobs which they can get by and provide enough $$$ for old age.

Unfortunately, they are not socially allowed to say it out because if they do they will be ridiculed as weak-minded.

END FEODALISM !

Change the system and maybe people will want to be part of it.

The guy saying we need to change japan's ways fundementally had me going "No, no, NO!"

I don't think this is anything new with people, particularly with men, it just stands out in modern Japan or the urban parts of the US because of the yuppie mentality. I live in the rural South (USA) and realised that i had become sort of an "outdoorsman hikikomori" with spending a lot of time hiking and being in the forest, which made me realize why so many men in my culture are so obsessed with hunting and fishing. I'm pretty sure that a lot of the samurai or guys like Miyamoto Musashi would have been considered hikikomori by todays stabdards.

I'm getting sick of this Japanese toxic work culture and I feel out of breath.

most of the population over there is like that.

Good changes, but first change that MUST occur in Japan is the change in work culture. Work culture changed in USA and Europe in the last 150 years. Now, Japan, Korea, and China will have to adopt. This would be a good and strong first step

I'm a secret hikka. I go to office everyday, have no problems with communications, have a girlfriend, travel a lot, am pretty active and shit, but deep in my soul, all I want to do is sit home and play videogames all day. Damn ambitions are ruining my life.

Sell leads to anything...some places actually have systems or remote work where you do simple stuff.

Another great informative video Nobita.

取材いたしてありがとうございます。日本のひきこもりの問題が情報知った。日本のひきこもりが長時間の聞いている通りに面白いかったほどで初めて聞いていた６年間ぐらい通った、でも、そのとき児童のままだから(私はタイ人です18歳)

You can't work and be a hikikomori because that defeats the entire purpose of being one.

Nobita-kun, my best friend, (an American), is hikikomori. He is always in his dark room laying on his bed. I also call him "hikikomori" in Japanese to his face. It's frustrating because this is a recent development, about 3-4 years ago and he's 49. 🇺🇸🤝🇯🇵 P.S. Teaching kids is my "Ibago." 👨🏻‍🏫

Hey, whatever happened to Kato Rei's channel? 前は登録してたんですが検索しても本人のチャンネルが出てきませんので、ちょっと心配してましたね。

They literally have the best life right now.

I'm a hikki but not in Japan. I wish i had some of these opportunities.

The pandemic caused by Covid was the best thing that could have happened to hikikomori worldwide. These people adapting to being at home might have been ahead of their time.

Japan needs to do more with their Hikikomori problem

What AMAZING opportunities there are for former hikkomoris to genuinely give others some help like that man is. The amount of lives that can be restored and helped!

Duddde!!!! We have to find more industries to create businesses with! We have the internet at our fingertips. I've made money with it, anybody can make money with it if they really want to. What an amazing idea, a business run by former hikis, that understands and helps others to come up out of the same situation. How beautiful, be the change you want to see

Fantastic video