“Japan Has 3,600,000 Hikikomori”
- Categories: Japan, News
- Date: Feb 6, 2010 23:37 JST
- Tags: 2ch, Bizarre, Hikikomori, Internet, Otaku, Politics, Statistics
Japan’s Minister of Internal Affairs has announced that the government finds there to be a total of 3,600,000 hikikomori in the country, and stressed the need to tackle the supposed problem.
The precise methodology the ministry used to come to this figure, and what it defines a hikikomori as, are however not clear – it would be far from the first time a government has manufactured dubious statistics in order to support its desired legislation.
It should also be noted that nobody has yet presented evidence (except perhaps the mass media and politicians) that the population of “hikikomori” in Japan is any higher than in other countries – socially isolated people exist in large numbers in any society.
2ch seems a fitting place to draw comment from:
Japan’s finished.
There’s no way there are that many!
You guys are probably included in the figure.
Last time it was 1 million. Now it’s 3. It’ll exceed Japan’s population soon won’t it?
We could launch a coup d’etat with that many.
We’ll be in the majority, it’s only a matter of time.
One person in 40 is a hikikomori?
We can make our own country!
We never see hikikomori so we have no idea how many there are…
That’s more than Moldova.
How the hell did they count a bunch of shut-ins?
They must at least go to the convenience store. It’s unbelievable that there are so many “ultimate hikki” who never so much as set foot outside.
Shouldn’t we start a party? Japan Hikikomori Party.
Hikikomori, NEETs, dispatch workers, suicides… there are too many in this country, what the hell is wrong with Japan, is it crazy or something?
Parents are at fault. Why don’t they just throw them out?
In a few decades the Japanese will all be indoors and outside will be nothing but Chinese.
Force all those damn hiki into the army, that’ll sort them out.
That’s 2.77% of the population. It’s a lie.
On the other hand, it would be pretty amazing for 97% of the population to be active members of society.
If 2ch were closed their population would plummet…
3.6 million votes are sleeping.
It’s an estimate. A pro-hikikomori can’t be detected by such means. The government’s 3.6 million are just the amateurs.
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Imagine the second rape of nan king.
A chinese official reported on 500 renegade JSSDF officers overrunning the city, robbing pornography stores and bukakkeing all over chinese made figurines in the streets.
The JSDF can't even fight their way out of a paper bag, never mind finding their way to China.
They are so useless that their naval warship equipped with missile-defense radar rammed a fishing boat by accident. What the hell? All that military hardware and snazzy technology, and they can't see a bloody fishing boat in front of them?
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL1810263520080219
Some NEET religion for reunion of hikimori powers
Needed!
The hikikomori could start a party, and include enabling electronic voting over the internet in their program. Too bad that they'd fail because their base won't come out to vote...
i am hikikomori...
The economy is a pyramid scheme. People don't want to a cog in a giant machine. They want to do things because they are passionate about them, not a daily grind towards a paycheck to paycheck lifestyle.
These guys produce valuable things for our society for free, even if they don't make money and spend it. The internet has started to help this movement of people sharing ideas and passion for no gain. They want more from life. They aren't lazy because they are jobless. A person's worth is not based on how much money they make or their social status.
I for one hope we can eventually see a society that is free of money. Where people do things because they want to, and not because they can make a quick buck.
Capitalism, at least in its current form has failed Japan. The flame is burning out, and as much as we try to forcefully fuel it, it is inevitable it will burn out.
Hey that line of thinking won't keep lazy high ranking politicians in the lap of luxury with taxpayer funded parachutes and lapdog rewards.
Yah, capitalism failed. But the thing is that nobody has come with something better.
You're sort of on the right track but this is what our world should be in the future:
http://www.thevenusproject.com/
We need to discard the monetary system entirely in favor of a resource based economy. But sadly the powers that be have done an excellent job in conditioning nearly everyone into believing that a monetary system is the only way that humanity can survive so that they can continue to stay in power and it really is quite sad. The monetary system may have been needed in the past when resources were scarce but today technology is advanced enough that we can provide the basic necessities of life to everyone without a price tag. The problem is that the world bank and the governments and corporations they work with aren't going to give up the thing that keeps them in control which is the monetary system.
Sounds like an excuse for not doing any work and getting everything for free.
Yeah, I'll just hop on a free plane ride to the Carribeans, run by someone who has a passion for flying people in business class. Then I'll check in at a five star hotel and ask for a free presidential suite, which is run by this other passionate guy. Then I'll take this free yacht from yet another passionate guy and go sail around the beach. When the sun has set, I'll go back ashore and to thank the passionate chef for providing a free steak dinner and a bottle of 1986 Château Lafite Rothschild.
What a wonderful life.
People like flying and cooking. Other people just enjoy working for the sake of working.
I didn't say a system of barter was out, simply money. I also didn't say there wouldn't be a system of capitalism, simple that the current incarnation is fatally flawed.
You are also bending my words. There would be less if no high luxury. Lots of fat would be cut. We could get back to basics. There are so many unneeded things in our world just because some faggot has 50 billion dollars to spend.
You could be thinking positively and outside the box instead of just accepting things the way they are. No, there are no easy answers, but one thing is for sure. Our lifestyles and economy can not last this way for much longer. Exponential growth on a planet with limited resources is a fallacy.
Replacing the system of money with barter trading only demonstrates how little you even understand economics.
Take a moment to think how idiotic it is to bring a bunch of chickens around to trade for a haircut, a pair of shoes and a cell phone. Then slap yourself as you realise those chickens are basically a form of currency exchange.
Sounds like you would like the whole world to be like Africa.
I'm a high school girl hikkikomori :3
I am a Hikikomori.
so?
I have Work, Money, a arpatment,...
i have no friends, no outside activities,
i spend my free time with chattin, gaming, watchin animes, buying stuff...
but its okay.
Nimm es leicht!
i think it is just unemployed rather than hikkimori
all civilized societies are in decline due to the proliferation of verdampt untermensch und verminscum...
japan has simply reacted in a more obvious manner to the untermensh than the west has...
the solution is obvious and always has been, but the politicians are too gutless...
Heil Hit- *erm* Anonymous!
/sarcasm
Politician Mass Suicide? No matter the problem, thats is always a great solution.
it's nice to finally know what my condition is. But to anyone who can't get thier head around the reasoning for why someone might do this maybe you can see at least my logic what little there is, and trolls can get back under thier bridges.
I was attacked by a gang when I was a kid, and avoided being murdered by a nasty set of thugs who broke my jaw and nose. My blood was everywhere and then they held a kitchen knife to my stomach, and threatened to kill me. I was somewhat shocked to say the least, but in hindsight I know I would of gotten past it, but once I was taken out of school by my father, he found them and was forcing me to confront them less than an hour after. At which point the flight side of my fight or flight reactions was doing laps at 100,000 feet around the globe in my mind.
So I stayed indoors fearful of the threat and you feel... safe. I know I'm the one who put myself in this open prison, but the bars are in the mind.
I'm aware of the low possibility of it even happening now a decade later (yes a decade.), but on the rare occasions I do go outside, I have to go through thier neighbourhood to go anywhere, and have crossed pathes again to fresh tirades of verbal abuse and threats. I kid myself I can ignore them because if such an incident does occur I get a sensory overload.
However I did have a job til it went into administration but was a night security job where your ironically isolated in areas your taken too are extremely remote and never got anything to bother you besides the local wildlife.
~~~~~~~~~
And yes it is extremely laughable that any group or government based scheme could count hikikomori's
~N~
"We could launch a coup d’etat with that many."
...but how? They won't leave their own home ?.?
Those 2ch comments are legendary. Those guys are quite funny.
Bear in mind there were 1,000 or so posts in the thread - those were selected not to be representative but to be interesting.
I would like to see the source of comments by post their web address and I'll google translate them and see it myself please
I wish i could be one, and a rich one if possible but sadly i have to work and go to university =/
If China copy this way of living, it'll be its doom... hope they do.
NO U
*Bro fist!*
"They must at least go to the convenience store. It’s unbelievable that there are so many “ultimate hikki” who never so much as set foot outside."
There's this little thing called the "Internet"... it's not impossible.
There's still hope...
Nihon Hikkikomori Kyoukai
It looks like im some kind of hikikomori - I can spend whole month without living my room except toilet and meals. And I dont care to see my friends - just description in web communicator is enought to know how they are. :D
Okawari please!
lol. 2ch's comments always amuse me.
I am a Hikikomori.
If they pay their bills and keep the economy running, that's fine. We don't need them walking at the streets. Useless.
And I have Schizophrenia too to boot.
Perhaps now would be a good time for the Japanese government to employ Takizawa Akira's method of massive NEET exile in the middle east....
USODA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Stats like this naturally make you ask what the cutoff line is for when they consider someone a NEET or Hikikomori, and why they are grouping them together.
wait, for China and North korea take over....
There are more NEETs in Japan than people in my country.
what is the source for the number 3,600,000 ??
it is being cited on wikipedia and other places, but I think you have just made it up.
So wonderful to discover another person with original thoughts on this subject.
http://anamoltobene.tumblr.com/
One thing that they could do, is offering the knowledge of how to lucid dream to the hikikomoris. A lucid dream is a dream, in which you're aware of that you're dreaming, while you're still in the dream, therefore, you can have control over your dream, and can do whatever you want, without real danger and consequences. But only with practice ofcourse. And, to practice it, they would not have to leave their homes, or their rooms, and they don't need anyone who would personally teach it to them. There are sources on the internet about lucid dreaming. Lucidipedia.com for example.
Lucid dreaming is proven by science, so it's a fact that it exists.
Lucid dreams can be very exciting and/or ecstatic, that is one of the reasons you have to practice, feeling excited, can wake you up.
What hikikomoris could do with lucid dreaming is, that they could set themselves free, forget about their problems at least for awhile, they could wander in their subconscious, and could interpret their dream contents, to understand theirselves better, and face with their fears, without real danger. It sounds like a therapy, but they wouldn't need anybody to talk with, or report to, they can do it alone, in their homes, just for themselves.
If this "hikikomori" would be social phobia, it is more common than most people think.
I and my wife have it as well. You would be surprised seeing how much people has social phobia and would pass as normal people. Not our case I say :-D.
Case in point. The answer is YES! Japan is hyper-fucked up.
I dunno, I've only attained Tier 3+ of Otaku-ness. Two more ranks and I'll be Hiki..It's scary to think about, but strangely entertaining.
Damn....glad I'm not one of the extremities. Its fun seeing all the reports.
The biggest problem with hikkikomoris is that they take up resources (food, shelter, clothing, parents' income) without contributing to society. It's a welfare state, no wonder Japan has been in decline since the 1990s.
You're making the assumption that the average Japanese salaryman actually contributes something to society themselves...
Most of the time they do nothing of consequence as inefficiently as possible, and they have the added consumption of using the public transportation system unlike the hikkikomori.
Seems they are to Japan what the Chav is to Great Britain.
What's a 'Chav'?
A Cockface