What Japan’s hikikomori can teach the world about self-isolation during coronavirus pandemic

Japan’s health ministry defines hikikomori as people who have remained isolated at home for at least six consecutive months, not going to school or work and not interacting with people outside their family.

According to government studies, there are an estimated 1 million or more hikikomori in Japan. Although people have started to use the term more loosely to describe themselves hunkering down at home to aid in stemming the spread of Covid-19, most social recluses spend years, sometimes decades, in isolation.

Nito Souji, who has been a hikikomori for more than 10 years, stresses the importance of keeping focused on the big picture and taking each day as it comes.

“I became a hikikomori with the objective of living everyday doing only things that are worthwhile, so for me the past 10 years have been far more pleasant than working outside,” he said.

Unable to land a good job after graduating from university in Tokyo or realise his dream of becoming a novelist, Nito returned to his hometown to practice drawing in the hopes of becoming a creator of dojinshi, or self-published comics and other works. He had initially only planned to remain a hikikomori for three years, or until he could support himself.

“I had no friends in my hometown and felt rushed to become financially independent as soon as possible, feeling ashamed to go outside. So I became a hikikomori,” he said, now living alone in his aunt’s flat in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture.