A Sociology of Hikikomori

Teppei Sekimizu is associate professor of sociology in the Faculty of Social Welfare at Rissho University, Japan, author of Sociology of Hikikomori Experience in Japanese, and coauthor of Sociology of Hikikomori and Their Family and the Hikikomori White Paper in Japanese.

Acknowledgments Glossary of Japanese Terms Preface Chapter 1 The Hikikomori Experience and Ambivalence Chapter 2 Self-Categorization as Hikikomori: Becoming a Hikikomori Subject Chapter 3 Hikikomori as a Japanese Social Problem: Focusing on Families with Hikikomori Children Chapter 4 Discourses on the Hikikomori Problem from the 1980s to the 2010s Chapter 5 On the Difficulty of Participation: From Theoretical and Empirical Considerations of the Situated Self Chapter 6 Time Perspective in the Hikikomori Experience Conclusion Japanese Society in the Light of the Hikikomori Experience References About the Author

"In this innovative and insightful book, Teppei Sekimizu takes a multifaceted, sociological approach in exploring so-called 'hikikomori' (social withdrawal) in Japanese society by bringing together individual voices and shifting policy discourses and debates as well as sociological theories of selfhood and time. This book goes beyond a culturalist analysis common in existing literature on the subject and instead significantly brings to light how the inadequate welfare provisions from the state, placing the welfare responsibilities on corporate and family sectors, have forced hikikomori individuals to remain family dependent and isolated in post-bubble Japan. This book is a must read for anyone interested in the issue of social isolation and well-being in and beyond Japan." -- Sachiko Horiguchi, Temple University, Japan Campus