Hikikomori (引き子守り) - A form of severe social withdrawal.
Anyone heard of this term before?
I didn't know about this term till I chanced upon this video on NHK.
My after thoughts after watching this video?
Immense sadness and revelation.
Ego
Society norms.
Hesitance to ask for help.
Felt that it was a shame to ask for help from society.
Watching this documentary has gotten my heart so so so heavy.
In a country that has been presented as warm, friendly and pretty, how many other ugly sides of it do we not know about?
Japanese society has, for many decades, placed an emphasis on men to hold superior position in the workplace and at home. Men are often deemed as failures if they are unable to achieve something successful at work or become someone who's successful. And all these labels were given by none other than the society that they live in.
But who gave the right to this society to judge them based on this? And is society always right? Why should men be labeled in a way that there’s no room for failure and the only way to go is to succeed?
And what about these individuals? Is that what they wanted for themselves?
Why aren’t there any ways for them to decide what they want to do for themselves?
Is fitting into society that important? The idea of asking a circle to fit into a square is just so… suffocating.
This is the part of the culture that I can never understand.
That the success of a man is measured not by his own achievements but by how society sees them.
Wives questioning their husbands on why they were home early instead of working late in the office; rather than asking if the husband can spend more time at home with the kids.
Parents sending their children to cram school just because getting that top grade was so important; rather than understanding what their kids had been going through in school or understanding their academic struggles.
Finding a stable job after graduation is the only way to go because that’s what society expects of you; rather than allowing individuals to pursue what they want to do without judging them through tinted glasses.
Unless we are robots, there is no way that each and everyone of us can fit into the society uniformly and properly.
Which is why sometimes I find the art from @avogado6_jp an excellent representation of the society.
Here's sharing a few of my favourites:
Maybe that's really the reason why there's a saying that goes "A picture says a thousand words".
So many thoughts just by looking through these images and it's resonance.
And I guess at the end of the day, it all depends on how much each individual wants to help themselves get out of that stigma by the society.
Because this stigma doesn't help to pay their bills; some even costs lives.
So choose your battle wisely. Life is great and there are many other things that we can focus on other than the opinion of others.
“We all have that motivational switch in us, don't let anyone take control of it except you.”
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