Shutting Out the Sun: How Japan Created Its Own Lost Generation (Vintage Departures)

The author accuses Japan of being the only nation in the world with the "hikikomori problem" and then sweeping the "hikikomori problem" under the rug. As a matter of fact, the reason why the "hikikomori problem" does not exist as a demographically-significant problem in the USA is that most US adult-children who end up with this problem wind up either in institutional hellholes or simply wind up dead (from either suicide or from being kicked out of the house and having to then be faced with the perils of subsequent homelessness, when these kids in their current condition are completely unable to deal with the outside world let alone the outside world as a homeless person in the USA).Yes, Japan is admittedly largely failing to address root causes. US society is equally failing in that regard. Addressing root causes is clearly the better way to go than merely treating symptoms after the fact. But at the same time it is completely inaccurate to state that Japanese society is doing nothing about the problem. The fact that these kids who are clearly suffering with severe PTSD-style trauma are in loving homes with rooves over their heads is proof positive in and of itself that *something* in Japan, however partial it may be, is being done about the problem. Because the same kids here are largely either in institutional hellholes, homeless, and/or dead. So which society is really the one that is sweeping the problem under the rug? It's not the Japanese.

I found the book very informative, but it should go without saying that no one should form their overall view on a subject because of one book. I do think there is a lot of lessons to be drawn from the observations therein, and what's impressive is the overall breadth of the book, as opposed to its depth, which I don't think goes quite deep enough. That said, for a mere cent I can't complain. (In an also chilling moment of prescience, the author touches on issues with the Fukushima reactor, regarding an employee who tried to raise red flags on problems there.) A wide variety of topics are discussed: from economy, to the sex district, to the population issues, to work life, family life, the dating scene and the difficulty women have (and his interviews with single women were especially appreciated), the culture surrounding alcoholism and health services -- while this is a book about hikkikomori, be ready to learn a lot about ancillary subjects which at first glance, might not seem relevant, but all tie back to the subject at hand.I'm looking to widen my understanding of Japanese culture, so I bought this book at .01 cent on the used market. I feel it's just as important to examine the darker aspects of a culture (as unpalatable to the eternallly-optimistic-brightsided crowd as that may be), as well as its best aspects. So while quite a few found this book lacking or inaccurate, I still think there's great benefit to weighing Zielenziger's "negative" portrait. It was especially his very wide view of the greater Japanese economy that was much appreciated. This book being published in 2005 during the height of the boom in the US, it's somewhat ironic that at the time of this review, the bank of Japan has instituted negative interest rates.Quite frankly, I can't imagine painting a happy picture of a country whose economic predicament limits the choices and the futures of its citizens. If the book comes off as pessimistic, it's because the reality is quite stark, which makes it realism, not pessimism, and that's a critical difference. Had Zielenziger chosen to focus on what he found great about Japan, very little is going to obscure the real statistic of a declining population.If anything, the phenomenon of hikkikomori brings to mind the haunting mouse experiments in overpopulation conducted by Calhoun (which in part inspired O'Brien to write The Secret of Nimh, for those who like useless trivia.) I mention it only because in Calhoun's experiments, mice who chose to no longer participate in the overcrowded mouse utopia withdrew in similar style to the hikkikomori, and the mice who withdrew were dubbed "the beautiful ones". Coincidence? But I digress.In the end, an easily readable book on the subject, and I would read more from this author.

So few research books available on hikikomori and modern social trends in English generally so this is a good starter for any non-Japanese interested in the countries horrendous silent epidemic of shut-ins and so called parasites and how a whole new culture has been born out of truancy and social withdrawal here. I gave it 3 stars because I felt the writer had only been able to interview and talk with semi-EX hikikomori people and there was not enough written on the effect that sheltering hikikomori had on parental and sibling dynamics. I've lived in Japan 25 years and married to a Japanese man for most of those years with a son who was hikikomori so i have a very personal curiosity in how hikikomori is presented. While the writer has lived here a decade or so and has knowledge, he has no personal insight from a subjective perspective, he is "looking on" and as such there is, to me a cold objectivity to the book.

The author has lived in Japan for seven years and seemed to have understood its culture and economy sufficiently enough. I traveled Japan and thought this book helped have a bit more of an insight into the Japanese culture.First three chapters of the book are on hikikomori, which are also used to describe the book as a whole, but these chapters have absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the book. It is like two separate books in one.This is an economic and cultural analysis of the declining Japanese economy supported by statistics and the author's own views. It also draws stark comparison with South Korea. I had no idea there were such fundamental differences in their economies and people.

A critique of contemporary Japanese society which, the author opines, suffers in large measure for not having come to terms with its defeat in WWII. Moving stolidly on in traditional ways, in denial of defeat, buttressed against the emerging global economy, Japan has alienated hundreds of thousands of its young men, who have literally "shut out the sun," retreating each to his own room to drop out of a highly prescriptive world in which he cannot function.

A sporadically interesting book that unfortunately, I feel, fails due to its lack of focus. I bought this due to an interest in the situation of Japanese 'hikikomori', and the chapters in which the author visits and interviews these young men and women, their parents, counselors and psychologists are why I gave it three stars. The rest of the book, however, rambles somewhat aimlessly across time and east Asia, dropping in on topics economic, social, political and historical with no obvious connection to Japan or the 'Lost Generation' of the book's title. I also found some of the author's uncited generalizations to be rather too sweeping in their scope and when he did use statistics to back himself up, I found they were deliberately dressed up to deceive (for example: comparing the cost of something to Japan's defence budget sounds impressive at first and draws an instinctive eyebrow raise - until you realise Japan's defense spending is massively restricted compared to other western nations). There are definitely parts of interest in here, but they were too few and far between to really hold the attention.

From a Japanese's view, the author's viewpoint is obsevant. Perhaps no Japanese can describe the Princess's health problem like this. We Japanese shouldn't look the other way or ignore these facts. To improve the current stagnation, we must consider what Japan is like to other countries. In the tidal wave of GLOBALIZATION, this book is quite suggestive for those who hope to get a chance for prosperity.

There is almost nothing in this book that is factually correct. Hikikomori is largely the creation of one self-promoting psychiatrist with a dubious reputation. Hikikomori has largely disappeared from the Japanese media and popular consciousness because there was essentially nothing to it in the first place that was not covered by conventional psychiatric and psychological categories found in all advanced societies.