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1(in Japan) the abnormal avoidance of social contact, typically by adolescent males.
‘Naoki Ogi, head of the private Centre for Clinical Research on School Development, in western Tokyo, estimates that as many as 800,000 people across Japan are victims of hikikomori.’
‘For now, Eastern and Western psychologists agree only that hikikomori is unique to Japan and has serious ramifications for both generations.’
‘Some 40 percent of hikikomori are below the age of 21.’
‘Yuichi Hattori, M.A., a psychologist currently treating 18 patients with the disorder, believes that hikikomori is caused by emotionally neglectful parenting.’
‘Western psychologists compare hikikomori with social anxiety and agoraphobia, a fear of open places.’
‘Visible in news reports and conjured in fans ' feverish minds, the hikikomori is now spectacle, exactly what he can't imagine.’
‘The film certainly treads familiar waters, adding horror thrills to that increasingly significant social problem of the hikikomori (acute social withdrawal), but the cast is good enough.’
‘There's another intriguing documentary in the BBC's Correspondent series on Sunday: Japan: The Missing Million about hikikomori: a million Japanese boys who won't come out of their rooms.’
‘Shutting Themselves In by Maggie Jones, about the agoraphobic Japanese hikikomori syndrome.’
‘He calls it hikikomori, a coined-term for ' social withdrawal ', and has painted a portrait of the hikikomori-youth which mirrors the term ' couch-potato '.’
‘Be sure to look at the viewer comments section where numerous respondents challenged the BBC claim that hikikomori was a peculiarly Japanese phenomenon.’
‘Teenagers labeled hikikomori, will sometimes hole themselves up in their rooms for months with no social contact.’
‘The decision is difficult, given that he the hikikomori is a profoundly circular and fantastic concept.’
‘A syndrome known as hikikomori, in which the outside world is shunned, is wreaking havoc on young people in Japan, a country known for its communal values.’
‘Susumu Ito is one of those who has to live with hikikomori on a daily basis.’
‘Most consider hikikomori a problem within the family, rather than a psychological illness.’
‘Tamaki Saito, the psychiatrist who coined the term hikikomori believes there are more than a million cases.’
‘The very idea of the hikikomori is profoundly circular.’
‘Japan's health ministry classifies hikikomori as a social phenomenon rather than a disease and victims also display symptoms of insomnia, obsessive-compulsive disorders, agoraphobia and persecution complexes.’
‘Known in Japan as ' hikikomori ', or social withdrawal, it is a problem that has confused and confounded a country in which family ties are the bed-rock of society.’
1.1count nounA person who avoids social contact.
‘A 17-year-old hikikomori sufferer killed a passenger after leaving his self-imposed exile and hijacking a bus.’
‘Indeed, it is both haven and trap for the client, who describes himself as a hikikomori (extreme recluse).’
‘Recounting his own experience, he said: "It's difficult to say when my son first began to be a hikikomori.’
‘While most hikikomori sufferers are merely anti-social, the condition has led to a number of violent crimes.’