Hikikomori. Narrations From Behind A Closed Door

Hikikomori is a phenomenon peculiar to Japan that began in the 80s. Since then, it has grown to alarming proportions to the point of involving more than one million youths who, through the discourteous act of locking themselves in their rooms – even for years – carry out their unwitting act of defense toward the outside world. In Tokyo, the author has explored the secret and silent world of hikikomori, entering that dark shadow steeped in conflicts. This is how the Narrations came to be: stories of Japanese youths in hikikomori and of those who with hikikomori are closely linked. The goal is that of enabling each narration to go beyond its spatial boundary and let it return to us, like a boomerang, transformed into knowledge of diversity but also into the sharing of a feeling that, at least in part, belongs to all of us. Carla Ricci, cultural anthropologist, currently lives in Tokyo and carries out research at the Department of Clinical Psychology of the University of Tokyo. She has conducted studies on suicide and for the past few years has focused on hikikomori, already the subject of a book titled Hikikomori: adolescenti in volontaria reclusione (FrancoAngeli, Milano, 2008).