Commentary
From Osaka to Ontario, Houston to Hong Kong, an increasing number of young people are retreating from society. The reasons for the mass withdrawal are as varied as they are disturbing.
In Japan, the issue of social withdrawal among young individuals has become so severe that the Japanese have coined a term for it: hikikomori (hiki, “to withdraw,” and komori, “to remain inside”). This sociocultural phenomenon is having a drastic impact on Japanese society; at the time of writing, an estimated 1.5 million citizens have completely withdrawn from society. Many of these individuals are young people, in their 20s and 30s. They have essentially walled themselves off from the outside world….