A hikikomori who concluded the only way to end his shut-in status was to burn his home to the ground is currently battling arson charges, on the grounds that he was insane at the time.
The 22-year-old unemployed hikikomori stands accused of dousing the ground floor of his abode in kerosene, stuffing his oven with newspaper as kindling, and then setting the whole place ablaze.
The 2 storey 70 square metre dwelling subsequently burned to the ground. Nobody was injured in the fire.
He has been charged with arson involving an inhabited building, charges he admits but denies responsibility for with the defence that he was afflicted with a mental illness.
In the opening hearing of his trial, prosecutors insisted he was culpable:
“The accused pursued a hikikomori lifestyle and himself said ‘I’ll continue being a hikkimori as long as I have my home,’ so there is no scope for denying the crime or his motives.”
On the other hand, his defence contends he was not culpable due to his crazed hikikomori status:
“He was in no way in a state to control his own actions.”
The trial continues, although online at least his resolve in seeking to leave his hikikomori lifestyle behind – without stabbing to death his family, at least – has won him admirers.
Teach hikikomoris how to lucid/conscious dream! 😀
A lucid dream is a dream, in which, you know that you’re dreaming, while you’re still in the dream. The existence of lucid dreaming is a fact, it was proven by science, by Stephen LaBerge.
Lucid dreaming is total freedom, but you can achieve it, and control dreams, only with some practice. But hikikomoris have enough time, I think. The time needed, to have the first lucid dream, after the beginning of the practice, is variable from person to person, it can take 1 week, a month, or 3 months. In a lucid dream, you can do anything that you can imagine – with the realness of waking reality – without real consequences. Many people are using it, to have fun, and to experience awsomeness.
What you can also do with lucid dreaming, is getting in touch with your subconscious. Everything in your dreams – the environment, dream characters, situations – are representing you. You can analyse these, and ask questions from the dream characters, or from the dream itself. It can lead to beneficial realizations about yourself.
Facing with challenges, nightmares, fears, or undesired situations, while you’re “lucid”, can be beneficial too, you can overcome your fears that way, without real danger.
The favourable points for hikikomoris about lucid dreaming are: it is more real than any of the mmo’s or other games; you can learn how to do it, by reading the internet; you don’t need to buy anything; you don’t need to go anywhere, to practice it; you can learn it alone; you don’t need to go out, to “go out”.
Check Lucidipedia.com for more information!
Was his name Edward Elric?
I can follow his reasoning. It’s not sane, and I really think this guy should get help rather then jail. Jail will likely only fuel the anxiety. One of the largest obstacles with severe social anxiety can often be actually asking for help. Putting one’s own home on fire/hurting others/doing irrational things one know is wrong can sometimes still be easier to do then putting trust in someone and asking for help.
Hikikomori essentially translates to severe social anxiety disorder in English for those that don’t know, and is often linked with Asperger’s as well if I’m not mistaken.
You don’t ”pursue” a mental disorder.
The sad fact that people take serious issues so lightly is why those suffering go without treatments in the first place.
Japan should develope hikikomori help system.
I’m slightly disappointed that no one died.
i somehow find it disturbing that in japan they want to blame it on him as a crime and not approve of his mental illness.
Guess mental illness is something japan doesn’t want to hear about
Hikikomori logic
Burn house, become homeless, die.
Profit???
It doesn’t help him. Instead of being locked up in the house he’ll be locked up in a cell, w/o his overclocked computers and mmo’s
It’s not too late to change your hikikomori ways! 😀
Iinbou da!
There are people with mental disorder that views one of their own limb as undesirable and they have it amputated.
The room is a part of hikkikomori and he went to remove it from himself.
this man has balls, going out in a blaze of glory!
ok I need to be shot sorry ;_;
god dammit sancom always signs me out at random times…
Well at least this guy decides to move forward……..something I can’t yet.
Same here.
Burning my house would probably force my hikikomori lifestyle behind…..but no.
but now he is just going to become a bum
Things are really looking up for him now.
He ended his hikikomori lifestyle like a boss.
And so, the Hikikomori went off and got his state alchemist license.
Now he can live under a bridge or in the park, with all the other crazies.
Or he could live in a van down by the river.
He should live under the bridge with the kappa and the gunner-nun and etc.
of course there won’t be any cute foxgirls waiting there, for him.
No no. He must live under the bridge.
There are aliens under bridges, they will scare him to death.
“pursued a hikikomori lifestyle”
In other words, he will be that for life… now he only needs a knife!
NHK ni Youkoso! is one of the best animes i have ever seen.
What are you trying to imply with that little image Artefact, EH?!
Irrefutable logic. No house = no hikikomori.
But wait. Does that turn him from a shut-in into a shut-out? Apart from him being yet again shut-in in prison or a psychiatric ward.
Somebody will try to get him out of his home. So he burned it, and after that he got 2 ways- to prision or to coffin, both pretty comfortable.
Doesn’t sound insane to me.
if you understand his reasoning then you must be insane too! the japanese police will be coming after you.
So when is this how to self destruct book going to be a top number 1 seller in Japan to be written? Sounds better than the hanging forest of death Japan has.
Want… to burn… my house!!
Want… to burn… your house… too!
One would assume it takes more courage to burn down your own house than walk out the front door.
He probably hoped to win some money on insurance,
80% is too late to stop being hikikomori!
Unfortunately living at home is expensive,imagine even arranging a girlfriend?!
Jap whores are cheap, best to rent them by the hour than date one.
haha, some butthurt downvoted it. Butthurts can’t handle the truth. In Japan 30 bucks gets you schoolgirl jap pussy. That’s significantly less than the cost of a love hotel & a meal for two. And you don’t have to “take responsibility” 9 months later.
He thought he will get free when he will destroy his house, good luck now whole world will be his closed house.
Poor guy. He needed help and wasn’t getting any or couldn’t, and it was the only way for him to get out of the situation.
It’s hard to understand being trapped like that, unless you’re in their position. You can’t possibly understand the mental anguish and problems these people are suffering. Calling people idiots and brats isn’t going to solve the social issues they face.
Mental anguish? Suffering? Nah…
I pursue a hikikomori lifestyle, and I have no problems at all. Except for money, you never have enough of that stuff.
But surely, I am not suffering. (w/e you mean by that)
I wouldn’t confuse your “shut-in” status with that of a Japanese hikikomori. Regardless of what you do now, hikikomori are usually pushed into their lifestyle because they are afraid in the first place. They are failures in life and they don’t want to (or rather, they can’t) bring other people down if they go out because people will judge them for it. That turns into paranoia that they don’t know whether or not to believe and… well… it’s all downhill from there. Many of them know it’s not the “right” thing to do, but when it’s so possible to live like that when they’ve got parents to help them and/or a way to gather income easily without going out far (some work really really late at night)… well, why not indulge? And it goes further downhill until the day when they either freak out and do something rash because they’re afraid of their lifestyle’s future money prospects, their future social status, and/or of themselves… or they actually seek help and, in addition to seeking it, they actually get it properly.
They feel trapped and helpless. They get stuck in the lifestyle, full of anxiety of the outside world. They get paranoid they are being judged.
They can’t function normally, and become stuck. They want out, but they don’t know how to get out of the lifestyle. This guy decided his only way to get out of the house was to burn it down. It was tearing him apart to the point where he snapped and made the best decision he could in his mental state.
I can only I respect him in some ways….
Yeah I guess, for being so determined, and not hurting anyone in the process.
Well, good luck to him…
so, from being a hikki at home, he will turn into a hikki in prison. Good job, idiot.
If he loses the trial its a jail cell, if he wins the trial its a padded white room. Either way he’s going backed to being stuffed in a little room with no chance to escape.
I’m not sure if thats ironic or just sad.
No one said it couldn’t be both.
probably should have sold it if he really wanted rid of the place.
You should be able to talk to people to do that…
aye, but a spoiled brat wouldn’t know how it goes..
Someone’s been watching Full Metal Alchemist.
Could be his split personality that did it like Fight Club.
Loved that comment.
Also Record of Lodoss Wars.
Only way to start fresh right? Kappa
The only reason the Elric brothers burned down their because they failed to bring back their mother from the dead with Alchemy.
The only question left…Is his father a good-guy or an Asshole?
oh, I didnt watched FMA, so maybe I dont understand the reference… can you tell me why? plz?
Then you should,its fuckin’ awesome Ã’_Ó
the main characters burn their house down so they can leave it behind.
And Kenshin in Rurouni Kenshin… and… pretty much a ton of all kinds of characters
and Tao in the Mysterious Cities of Gold
Pahn does the same thing in Record of Lodoss War
So they wouldn’t have a place to go back to, tempting them from moving forward in their lives.
Elric brothers did burn their house down as they did leave from their village.
lol
so what are arson charges?
I never heard of it.
The criminal charge for burning shit.
Just google it.
What’s with the motivational pic at the end?
What pic? I don’t see any pic.
and so it begins…..
Attempt of brainwashing by the NHK.
Only if nippon hikikomori kyoukai really exists.
Ok, that was a little too extreme in my opinion, to burn down your own house. That’s like just burning five million dollars because you needed a camp fire.
Actually it sounds very therapeutic.
They better start putting those Hikkimori’s in jail soon .
They already are in a chain, one made by own mind the difference is that the government does not banking all expenses as a convict.
Panic syndrome has a similar effect and only those who experienced this know the hell that is.
could have found himself a girlfriend and that would make him leave the house (or at least not living alone).
Loled. As if they don’t have bread they should eat cakes…
christmas cake
Considering that non-hikikkomori people already have problems getting a girlfriend the chances of someone that was afraid of facing ANYONE get a girlfriend are null.
Unless you live in some old anime where a cute magical loli from future comes to be your slave.
There’s always world or warcraft… oops, only americans & koreans play that.
it’s guild wars 2 now sorry, already clocked 150 hours AND NOT ASHAMED OF IT!
You forgot chineese and russians.
Finding a grilfriend in his Hikikomori state?
Online dating is an option, but would a girl even go out with him?