Japan's Hikikomori Men

[Quackers]

Hikikomori means to "pull in". Basically, a ton of Japanese people (mainly men) have retreated into their homes and have completely disengaged from life. No job, no social life, nothing.

This video is a great summariser of some of the pressures they feel:


Link to video.

These men share some overlap with the "herbivore" men. Another new type of man coming out of Japan, they do not want to find a sexual partner, nor are they interested in traditional masculine things. They are more concerned with their appearance, comics and video games.


Link to video.

So why is this happening? What is changing in the world to facilitate this? Will this come into being in the Western world at some point? Apparently there are cases of it in Italy. Does this kind of thing already exist in the West under a different name? Is feminism responsible?
Are these people just fooling themselves? I mean, every hetereosexual man is unhappy without a woman, right? For the vast majority of people, social interaction is crucial to lead a happy life. Staying in all day and living like a hermit can really harm you.

Thoughts?

 

[Farm Boy]

You have to ask if these gentlemen actually are socializing, just not in traditional formats. You also have to ask if they are achieving heterosexual satiation, also just not in traditional formats. World's always been full o'jerks. I don't know that I'm surprised that a segment of the population would attempt to write it off the moment they could while maintaining a degree of connectedness.

 

[Commodore]

For the vast majority of people, social interaction is crucial to lead a happy life. Staying in all day and living like a hermit can really harm you.

Thoughts?

Not necessarily. It depends on the person's personality. I am actually happier just being by myself and doing what I want rather than hanging around a bunch of people that I have no interest in. Some people are just natural shut-ins. That does not mean anything is wrong with them, or that they need to be "fixed" or helped. They are just different.

As long as someone is happy with how they are living and they are not harming themselves or others, then they should be left to their own devices.

 

[JollyRoger]

If the are not taking to the trains for frantic episodes of groping and masturbation, they are not living life to the fullest.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

The videos are not viewable in Canada.

What does being a "herbivore" have to do with staying home? I see no mention of their eating vegetables...

 

[plarq]

The videos are not viewable in Canada.

What does being a "herbivore" have to do with staying home? I see no mention of their eating vegetables...

Carnivore-->Carnal-->Sexual Desire

So herbivore is synonym for not pursuing sexual relationship between man and woman.

 

[CavLancer]

Typically most herbivore don't have sex with either men or women.

 

[Goodfella]

I think we should establish refugee camps in England for all of the Hikikomori men.

 

[FriendlyFire]

If the are not taking to the trains for frantic episodes of groping and masturbation, they are not living life to the fullest.

While these are problems with Japan at least there isnt mass shooting in Schools like in America.
Troubled youth, depression and bullying have been problems with modern society these days.

 

[gay_Aleks]

I think we should establish refugee camps in England for all of the Hikikomori men.

Perhaps they could try going to the California metro.

 

[Goodfella]

If the are not taking to the trains for frantic episodes of groping and masturbation, they are not living life to the fullest.

Trains in Japan are segregated by gender. All the men have to ride on separate but unequal trains where they're unable to masturbate and ask women where they're "from."

 

[Narz]

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=159582

 

[Commodore]

While these are problems with Japan at least there isnt mass shooting in Schools like in America.
Troubled youth, depression and bullying have been problems with modern society these days.

I don't know man, I put a morning commute on the local rape train on about the same level as a mass shooting in a school.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Typically most herbivore don't have sex with either men or women.

Ah. I guess I've just run up against yet another case of urban slang I was unfamiliar with... plus spending far too much time during the past month or so arguing with vegan zealots on Care2.

 

[CavLancer]

All I know or care to is an animal that eats plants.

 

[Verbose]

So why is this happening? What is changing in the world to facilitate this? Will this come into being in the Western world at some point? Apparently there are cases of it in Italy. Does this kind of thing already exist in the West under a different name? Is feminism responsible?

If it was feminism, Japan would be one of the less likely candidates for this happening.

Odds are MORE feminism might even help with the problem. The European places with low birth-rates and young people unwilling to start families tend to be in particular the traditional/relgious family-values, with or without a strong sideline of traditional machismo, places. In the parts with high gender equality, oodles of mandatory parental leave, municipal kindergarten etc., that's more often the parts of Europe where people keep having families and making babies these days.

Generally, people take the degrees of liberty those kinds of systems allows them, and then adapt them to their own satisfaction. The traditional-values-places, and Japan is still largely one of those, tends to give people, women in particular, relatively less leeway in putting their lives together like they want to, forcing them to either willy-nilly stick to the prescribed format, or en up entirely outside the pale — like these hikikomori.

 

[Pegasus_77]

Pussification of Japan.

 

[gay_Aleks]

Pussification of Japan.

They totally should go back in the times they ran planes into our Navy.

 

[Pegasus_77]

Carnivore-->Carnal-->Sexual Desire

So herbivore is synonym for not pursuing sexual relationship between man and woman.

what a genius' idea .lol. I am a hungry Carnivore,feed me some meat!!!or I will wreck havoc on the civilization...some angels have got to stop this tragedy from happening.

 

[Pegasus_77]

I think we should establish refugee camps in England for all of the Hikikomori men.

ply them with delicate inflatable dolls and the crime rate will drop down.