Book review request_Hikikomori by ...

17 downloads 0 Views 111KB Size Report
Hikikomori: Adolescence without End, is the English translation of a book that became a best seller when it was published in Japan in 1998, raising public ...
Book  Review    

Hikikomori: Adolescence Without End Saitō  Tamaki;  (translated  by  Jeffrey  Angles)    

Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry, September 2014, Volume 38, Issue 3, pp 512-513

Stephen Murphy-Shigematsu   Hikikomori:  Adolescence  without  End,  is  the  English  translation  of  a  book  that  became  a  best  seller  when   it  was  published  in  Japan  in  1998,  raising  public  awareness  of  the  social  problem  of  “withdrawal”  that  is   estimated  to  involve  hundreds  of  thousands  of  mostly  male  Japanese  adolescents  and  young  adults.  As   16  years  have  passed  since  its  publication,  the  translator’s  introduction  and  author’s  preface  to  this   English  edition  are  helpful  in  explaining  what  has  happened  since  then.  The  book  was  a  ground  breaking   work  that  launched  Saito  Tamaki  into  the  national  spotlight  as  the  expert  on  adolescent  problems.  It   also  led  to  hikikomori  becoming  so  popularized  that  it  became  an  English  word  that  the  Oxford  English   Dictionary  defines  as:  “In  Japan:  abnormal  avoidance  of  social  contact;  acute  social  withdrawal;  (also)  a   person,  typically  an  adolescent  male,  engaging  in  this;  a  recluse,  a  shut-­‐in.”       While  the  dictionary  definition  associates  it  with  Japan,  Saito  emphasizes  that  it  is  found  in  other   societies,  acknowledging  that  certain  conditions  make  it  especially  common,  and  increasingly  so,  in   Japan.  One  is  an  educational  system  that  appears  to  value  cooperation  but  actually  places  students  in   intense  competition  with  one  another.  The  main  focus  is  placed  on  the  family  system  that  allows,  and   even  encourages  children  to  continue  to  live  with  and  be  taken  care  of  by  parents  into  adulthood,  often   in  co-­‐dependent  relationships.  Saito  sees  this  combination  of  factors  as  working  to  allow  certain  children   to  remain  in  an  immature  position  of  emotional  and  economic  dependence,  an  artificially  prolonged   state  of  adolescence.       When  I  was  professor  at  the  University  of  Tokyo  and  a  practicing  clinical  psychologist  I  was  sometimes   asked  by  foreign  media  to  comment  on  certain  trends  in  Japanese  society,  which  they  clearly  wanted  to   paint  as  exotic.  While  acknowledging  the  particular  socioeconomic  conditions  that  produce  the  rise  of   this  condition  and  the  failure  of  Japanese  society  to  deal  successfully  with  it,  Saito  is  aware  of  this   tendency  to  exoticize  and  does  not  want  to  pathologize  Japanese  society.  He  claims  that  hikikomori  is  no   stranger  than  the  phenomenon  of  homeless  youth  that  plagues  other  societies,  seeing  each  as  particular   to  certain  societies.  In  one  type  of  society,  in  which  young  people  are  punished  by  “grounding”  them  in   the  house,  youth  are  trying  to  find  themselves  by  leaving  home;  in  the  other  type  of  society,  in  which   children  are  punished  by  locking  them  out  of  the  house,  they  are  finding  themselves  by  staying  home.     Like  others  before  him,  such  as  Morita  Shoma  (1998),  Doi  Takeo  (1981),  and  Takie  Sugiyama  Lebra   (1976),  Saito  attempts  to  describe  a  phenomenon  in  Japan  balancing  global  and  local  features.     In  considering  whether  hikikomori  is  a  mental  illness,  Saito  asks  us  to  exercise  caution  in  labeling  it  as   pathological,  emphasizing  that  it  is  not  an  illness  or  typology.  He  calls  it  a  particular  state  that  develops   in  conjunction  with  certain  environmental  factors  and  arises  in  response  to  perceived  setbacks  on  the   path  to  emotional  maturity  and  independence.  While  acknowledging  that  as  period  of  withdrawal   lengthens  the  likelihood  of  developing  various  pathologies  grows,  Saito  also  asserts  that  from  his  clinical  

experience,  many  individuals  can  benefit  from  improved  communication  with  family  and  the  outside   world.       This  is  a  translation  and  reads  well,  although  I  do  not  know  how  faithful  it  is  to  the  original  as  I  did  not   read  the  original  Japanese.    The  strength  of  the  book  is  its  basis  in  Saito’s  extensive  clinical  experience   with  this  population.  The  book  is  divided  into  two  parts:  One  is  on  theory,  which  Saito  introduces  with   case  studies  from  his  clinical  practice,  asking  various  questions  about  the  nature  of  the  problem.  The   second  part  is  about  practice,  outlining  concrete  methods  of  treatment,  family  members  and  clinicians   As  it  was  published  in  Japan  as  a  shinsho,  books  that  introduce  academic  topics  to  a  general  audience,  it   tries  to  appeal  to  various  readers.  Some  readers  may  find  that  the  theoretical  part  is  too  dense  and   others  may  find  that  the  practical  part  is  excessively  detailed  for  their  interests.    I  found  myself  wishing   to  hear  more  voices  of  the  subjects  to  bring  the  subject  more  to  life.   Hikikomori  served  an  important  social  function  in  Japan  of  giving  people  a  term  that  helped  them  to  talk   openly  about  this  issue  affects  their  lives,  families,  and  society.  The  English  edition  now  enables  non-­‐ Japanese  to  see  that  while  it  has  a  cultural  emphasis,  hikikomori  is  not  just  a  Japanese  phenomenon  but   is  a  human  dilemma  that  can  be  seen  in  most  societies.  Hopefully  it  will  bring  needed  attention  to   efforts  to  help  the  hidden  young  people  who  suffer  in  silence.     References     Doi,  Takeo  (1981).  The  Anatomy  of  Dependence:  The  Key  Analysis  of  Japanese  Behavior.  English  trans.   John  Bester  (2nd  ed.).  Tokyo:  Kodansha  International.   Lebra,  Takie  Sugiyama  (1976).  Japanese  Patterns  of  Behavior.  Honolulu,  HI:  University  of  Hawaii  Press.   Morita,  Shoma  (1998).  Morita  Therapy  and  the  True  Nature  of  Anxiety-­‐based  Disorder.  Albany,  NY:  State   University  of  New  York  Press