Withdrawal and Belonging
Ethnographic Insights from a Hikikomori Rehabilitation Center in Japan
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7514667 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Alain Julian (0009-0004-5882-2338, Film Independent, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 24 |
| Publication date | 2026-01-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Japan focus (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1557-4660 • E-ISSN: 1557-4660 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/apj.2026.10036 |
| OpenAlex | W7134073213 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 10 |
This research note examines how people labeled as hikikomori —prolonged social withdrawal—navigate isolation, moral judgment, and attempts at rehabilitation. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in a rural rehabilitation center, it situates their experiences within broader social transformations in post-industrial Japan. Departing from accounts that frame hikikomori primarily through diagnosis or individual pathology, this note foregrounds lived experience and the moral dimensions of rehabilitation. It argues that hikikomori are not anomalies at society’s edges, but rather windows into how contemporary Japan organizes value, recognition, and social connection, and that further ethnographic work is needed to illuminate these dynamics
Center (category theory · Ethnography · Frame (networking · Participant observation · Work (physics · Financial Crisis of the 21st Century · Japanese History and Culture · Rehabilitation · Youth Substance Use and School Attendance
Hikikomori, a Japanese Culture-Bound Syndrome of Social Withdrawal?
Does the ‘hikikomori’ syndrome of social withdrawal exist outside Japan? A preliminary international investigation
Precarious Japan
For ethnography
Japan’s urban singles
Ordinary Refugees
To Discipline or Accommodate? On the Rehabilitation of Japanese 'Problem Youth
| Highly cited | No |
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