Misused: Hikikomori

Hikikomori is a social problem unique to modern Japan and really does not apply outside of that context. It results from the extreme pressure placed on students to perform from extremely early ages, cracking from that social pressure when met with pressure, and retreating inward in shame. The family, sensing that they've done something wrong somewhere along the line but unable to actually help, contents themselves with ignoring the son's existence. The retreat inward is so extreme that the family's only reminder that they even have a son is that they can't use one of the rooms in their house and food and money sometimes goes missing. The hikikomori locks themselves away because they are crippled by extreme fear of interacting with other people and end up in a state akin to living death, gradually losing energy to do anything at all and fading away. It's basically the most soul-destroying thing imaginable, and it is seen as a serious social disease in Japan today. It's a far more specific phenomenon than merely being introverted or reclusive, and because it is intrinsically tied to modern Japanese society, applying that label to western characters really doesn't make sense.

The Examples section, sadly, sees fit to include entries like this:

• Goes all the way back to William Shakespeare - Romeo is briefly mentioned as frequently locking himself in his room and closing the curtains to create "an artificial night". It isn't touched upon that much after that, though.

Um, no. Romeo is not a hikikomori by any stretch of the imagination. And I'm not sure that's even the worst example on the page. Even the less blatantly misused examples often still don't fit the trope, such as:

• In The Guild, Codex starts off with no job, friends or life outside of the MMORPG she plays, and she stays indoors for weeks at a time. Part of the reason she gets the titular guild to meet in person is to try and meet people in real life.

This sounds like a better fit than Romeo, doesn't it? She lives in modern day and stays inside a lot playing video games; that's pretty much what a hikikomori is, isn't it? Except it isn't, and the example itself demonstrates that when it says that Codex is trying to meet people in real life. A hikikomori is terrified of social interaction; they would avoid meeting people in real life at all cost. Codex, though shy, is actively trying to be more outgoing, is usually the main force getting the group together, and throughout the series frequently interacts with people even outside of the guild and even goes to parties and conventions. She hasn't been broken by the Japanese pressure cooker; she isn't Japanese at all.

Misusing the label "hikikomori" isn't a recent phenomenon here, either. I remember back when Troper Tales was around, it was full of Americans claiming to be hikikomori on the grounds that they didn't really go outside except for school, work, meeting friends, going places with family, medical appointments, and so on - which misses the meaning of hikikomori entirely. It's more than just a fancy word for "introvert", and it's certainly not something that anyone should aspire to - in the real world it's seen as an illness and is really a terrible fate.

There are a lot of examples that do actually fit, especially in the Anime & Manga and Video Games sections (since that's where most of the actual Japanese examples are). Best solution might be to leave those real examples where they are and either transfer the rest over to The Hermit (which already contains copies of some of the incorrect examples like the Onceler) or split them off into a new article called The Recluse or something similar (which seems to be how the trope is often used here, as demonstrated by examples like Boo Radley). The particularly worthless ones like the Romeo example can just be deleted entirely.

Never build a character piecemeal out of tropes.

I agree that there seems to be at least some misuse on the page. A cleanup is one step we should take. The question is where to place the examples, or just delete them.

Related tropes/indexes for Hikikomori:

• Solitary Tropes: Index.
• Introversion Tropes: Index.
• NEET: Not necessarily reclusive, but a Hikikomori is often a NEET.
• Basement-Dweller: Probably as close to a western stereotype equivalent as there is.
• The Hermit: Can be very similar, but lives away from people rather than locked in.
• Reclusive Artist: Related, but really more invisible to media than reclusive.
• Shrinking Violet: This is probably a more accurate trope for some of the erroneous examples.
• Loners Are Freaks: An outside view of Hikikomories and other loners.

I didn't find one that would act as a supertrope for a reclusive person. The Recluse would probably be a good idea to YKTTW as a supertrope with examples that don't fit into one of the subtropes.

And generally speaking, if it's not a side character, the reclusive personality tends to ease off later in the story, so it's not that often a permanent state.

edited 20th Apr '12 9:37:17 AM by Feather7603

The Internet misuses, abuses, and overuses everything.

Clean up the misuse, and try creating some alterante tropes to put the misuse in, assuming there are examples that aren't already covered by existing tropes.

edited 23rd Apr '12 9:52:11 AM by Catbert

Make a Social Recluse trope. Make Hikikomori a subtrope of that.

edited 10th May '12 11:30:25 PM by Mazz

Seconded! For greater justi structure in the wiki!

edited 11th May '12 12:00:27 AM by peccantis

Yeah, a social recluse supertrope should help.

something

Given the fact that it is Japanese specific, I would agree that a supertrope is needed.

Anyway, it sounds like Hikikomori-ism*

is a Japanese specific form of Agoraphobia, which — unfortunately enough — exists worldwide. (There's also a couple of other DSM-IV diagnoses which this would fall under, avoidant personality disorder and social anxiety disorder).

FWIW, I had an uncle who was agoraphobic, and probably would have been defined as hikikomori if he were Japanese and we lived in Japan. But we are Scots-Irish and live in the mountains of Kentucky...

edited 12th May '12 5:55:00 PM by OscarWildecat

Please spay/neuter your pets. Also, defang your copperheads.

In that case, it would be worth mentioning Agoraphobia and the others as possible reasons in the supertrope, in a Useful Notes or in Analysis, wherever it would fit best.

As I understand from the page description, the main distinction between a Hikki and another agoraphobic or social anxiety sufferer is that Japanese would more likely be enabled by those around them. As a result, the conditions are treated differently when depicted in media, which makes them different tropes.

Very true. Which feeds back into the need to separate Hikikomori from other forms of social seclusion as a trope. I like the idea of a Useful Notes page on the subject. Given that there are many variations on the theme that appear in media, a guide on how to properly list an entry would be handy.

BTW, in looking up some info on this, I came across the term "Taijin kyofusho", another Japanese specific term referring to a Hikiomori like fear of social interaction. The difference in this case, is that a person suffering from Taijin kyofusho isn't afraid of being hurt themselves, but of hurting or offending others. (That there is a specific diagnosis for this borders on Nightmare Fuel.)

Please spay/neuter your pets. Also, defang your copperheads.

Why? There's plenty of interesting culture bound disorders. Koro for example is the fear of one's penis receding inside the body.

Ah. I'm extremely socially anxious, due to my lack of social skill.

edited 12th May '12 7:39:48 PM by animeg3282

I suffer from a form of social anxiety that shares characteristics with Taijin kyofusho. (Of course, not being immersed in Japanese society, my illness is not Taijin kyofusho.) Thus, the thought of it is a personal "panic button".

Please spay/neuter your pets. Also, defang your copperheads.

I've removed many of the offending examples discussed.

I think I can see part of the problem — "Shut In" redirects here, and it really shouldn't. A hikikomori is a very specific TYPE of shut-in, but with no broader trope to refer to people shove their examples in here.

I think part of the problem may also be a knee-jerk attempt to shoehorn in non-Japanese examples even if they don't quite fit ... as with a lot of Japanese terms the definition is getting badly stretched by tropers specifically trying to find Western examples. Taking the "this is not a synonym for any kind of recluse" line and moving it to the end of the trope description ... in bold italics ... with a link to The Hermit ... would be a good start.

This has happened before. Missing Supertrope Syndrome. Yamato Nadeshiko was our only Proper Lady trope for a very long time, despite the fact that it literally translates to "Japanese Flower," making the culture in question clear.

I think we do need to hammer out a solid definition before we do anything serious, though. The laconic is a place to start: "A lonely person closes themselves away from society and their loved ones." Now, is that accurate, or do we need to change that and move from there?

That is not accurate to the description given by the OP, which is about a person becoming isolated/ignored as a direct result of cracking under extreme whatever societal pressure.

edited 6th Jun '12 9:14:37 PM by Stratadrake

An Ear Worm is like a Rickroll: It is never going to give you up.

My only problem with the OP is that it approaches the trope from a real life perspective, rather than how it's used in fiction. Off the top of my head, I can only think of one hikikomori (and that was a parody), so I'm not exactly an expert on this subject.

I'm just trying to figure out if the OP's definition is how the trope is actually used.

Switched all too broad Laconic for

Extreme shut-in lifestyle enabled by the peculiarities of Japanese society and culture.

The thing is, based on my experience the usage of this in fiction is fairly broad and generally resembles the real-life disorder at least in aggregate. That's why a real-life perspective may be more useful as a broad description than attempting to describe something specific to its usage in fiction.

As in something like, it's better to have a looser definition based on the Real Life definition than a strict one, so that the examples that are aiming for it, from the same culture the phenomenon is from, wouldn't get sorted out just because they're as loose and artistic as most stories that use Real Life psychological conditions? If that makes sense...

The Internet misuses, abuses, and overuses everything.

Yes, something like that. Also so that someone who sees a few examples and notices major differences between them can make more sense of them and their similarities by understanding something about the 'baseline'.

I think I feel like we should simply rename Hikkomori to a more general term (supertrope) and just put in a paragraph in the description that hikkomori is a specifically japanese version of it. A link to The Other Wiki can be added for people who want more details about the specific real life disorder. I don't think hikkomori is used in media often enough to be a trope; the only ones I can think of are the guy in Welcome To The NHK and Yume Nikki.

edited 8th Jun '12 12:02:58 PM by Escher

The first one that comes to mind for me is Kiri Komori, what with being a highly obvious parody and all. Other examples I'm familiar with include the one-panel gag (and current page image) from Hetalia, and the similar gag with Benny from that one High School AU Omake. In any event, a wick check should be more informative than comparing our anecdotal memories.

edited 8th Jun '12 8:12:54 PM by EnragedFilia

We had a thread on this before.

I thought it was decided we needed a bunch of tropes:

A suppertrope about living alone.

A trope about Hermits

A trope Shut Ins midway between Hikkimori and living alone

Clocking due to lack of activity.

Waiting on a TRS slot? Finishing off one of these cleaning efforts will usually open one up.

Locking.

Waiting on a TRS slot? Finishing off one of these cleaning efforts will usually open one up.