引きこもり
ひきこもり
hikikomori
= severe social withdrawal; a person who has retreated from social life and rarely or never leaves their home
Hikikomori (引きこもり) describes one of modern Japan’s most discussed social phenomena — a state of extreme withdrawal in which a person severs contact with the outside world, sometimes for months or years, rarely or never leaving home.
The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare defines hikikomori as a condition in which a person has not participated in society for six months or more, confining themselves to their home or a single room and not maintaining social relationships outside the family. The word comes from 引く (hiku, to pull) and 篭る (komoru, to shut oneself away) — literally ‘to pull oneself inside.’ It can refer to both the condition and the person experiencing it (「彼はひきこもりだ」 = he is a hikikomori). Hikikomori is not a clinical diagnosis in itself, but often co-occurs with social anxiety, depression, or other conditions. Japan’s Cabinet Office estimated in 2023 that approximately 2.05 million people in Japan are in some form of hikikomori.
Hikikomori should be used carefully and non-judgmentally in conversation — it describes a genuine psychological struggle, not laziness or reclusiveness by choice. The condition disproportionately affects men (estimated 75-80% of cases) and often begins with a specific trigger: school bullying (いじめ, ijime), exam failure, workplace conflict, or illness. Support organizations in Japan (such as KHJ National Hikikomori Family Association) frame recovery as a long, gradual process requiring family patience. Using hikikomori as a casual insult for anyone who stays home a lot misrepresents the severity of the condition.
引きこもり is written with 引 (hiki, pull/draw — the same character in 引っ越し, hikkoshi, moving house), き (connecting particle in the verb 引く), and 籠り from 籠る (komoru, to shut oneself in; 籠 is a cage or basket). The compound is also written 引き籠もり in some texts. The kanji image — pulling oneself into a cage — is grimly apt.
EXAMPLE 1
息子が高校を中退してから三年間、ひきこもりの状態が続いている。
Musuko ga koukou wo chutai shite kara sannenkan, hikikomori no joutai ga tsuzuite iru.
Since my son dropped out of high school, he has been in a hikikomori state for three years.
EXAMPLE 2
ひきこもりの当事者が自分の経験を語る本が、最近注目を集めている。
Hikikomori no touji-sha ga jibun no keiken wo kataru hon ga, saikin chuumoku wo atsumete iru.
Books in which hikikomori individuals tell their own stories have been attracting attention recently.
EXAMPLE 3
政府の調査によると、日本には推定200万人以上のひきこもりがいると言われている。
Seifu no chousa ni yoru to, Nihon ni wa suitei nihyakuman-nin ijou no hikikomori ga iru to iwarete iru.
According to government surveys, it is said that there are an estimated 2 million or more hikikomori in Japan.
Hikikomori emerged as a recognized social phenomenon in Japan in the 1990s, during the economic stagnation following the burst of the asset bubble — a period called the Lost Decade (失われた10年, ushinawareta juu-nen). The competitive pressure of Japanese education and corporate culture, combined with intense social expectations around fitting in (空気を読む, kuuki wo yomu — reading the atmosphere), created conditions where failure or social rejection could trigger a cascade into withdrawal. The extreme version — a young man locked in his room for years while parents slide food under the door — became a social archetype covered extensively in Japanese media.
Internationally, hikikomori has been documented outside Japan — in South Korea, Spain, the United States, and elsewhere — though Japan’s prevalence remains notably high relative to population. Researchers debate whether hikikomori is a distinctly Japanese phenomenon tied to specific cultural pressures, or a universal response to certain social conditions that Japan was simply the first to name and study. The word itself has entered English-language psychology literature as a technical term, one of the rare cases where a Japanese social concept becomes adopted into clinical discourse globally.
Disclosure: This site may contain affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.