International Journal of Japanese Sociology

2004, Number 13

ORIGINAL
Managing
Categorization
ARTICLE
Blackwell
Publishing,
Ltd.and Social Withdrawal

Tatsushi Ogino

Managing Categorization and Social

Withdrawal in Japan: Rehabilitation Process
in a Private Support Group for Hikikomorians
TATSUSHI OGINO

Abstract: Social withdrawal among Japanese youth has been noticed since the latterhalf of the 1990s. It is called Hikikomori in Japan. Though some clinicians in the mental
health field have referred to social backgrounds of this problem, only a few sociological
studies have been conducted. I have conducted participant observation in a private support group and recorded the rehabilitation processes of people with Hikikomori for two
years. My study has two aspects. First, it is a short ethnography concerning the features
of the group efforts. Second, it is intended to interpret relations between the features
and rehabilitation processes. The first feature is the group dynamics arising from friendly
and competitive relationships among the people with Hikikomoricalled Hikikomorians.
The second feature is managing categorization. It is a tendency to be vague about
categories that indicate their social status accompanied with some roles. This tendency
could be observed in various aspects of the group activities, for example, concerning diseases names, schedules, definition of space and so on. Managing categorization allows
Hikikomorians to easily participate in and experience social activities. They are people
who do not have social categories to explain themselves easily in social settings and do
not have the self-confidence to perform some roles. Under social pressures, however,
they tend to maintain a behavioral principle that is based on categories. Managing categorization therefore functions to provisionally release their attitudes and allow them to
attempt trial and error based situations more easily. Finally, I also indicate some difficulties of managing categorization.
Keywords: Hikikomori (social withdrawal), participant observation, social category

Introduction
In Japan, a social phenomenon that is observed
among youth has come to attract attention
since the 1990s. It is called Hikikomori.
The word usually refers to people who typically withdraw from most social activities
and retreat into their living spaces or rooms
for a long time, though their family cannot
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understand the reasons. Hikikomori in Japan

is defined as a state that is not caused by
some mentally illness. It should, then, be distinguished from social withdrawal, which
usually indicates a state caused by schizophrenia in English.1 So I call it Hikikomori
and people with Hikikomori Hikikomorians.
There are few sociological studies about
Hikikomori. These studies are based on

Managing Categorization and Social Withdrawal

individual interviews of former Hikikomorians or Hikikomorians who came to be able

to have contact with other people a little and
documentation. My study is mainly based on
participant observation in a private support
group. The group is famous among professionals and families suffering from Hikikomori because of its effectiveness. Concerning
private support groups, there are some reports
that introduce the kinds of activities and
staff methods of contact with Hikikomorians
at best, but enumerating the activities is not
sufficient to explain why these activities are
possible. I believe that it is more important
to analyze conditions in which Hikikomorians come to be able to participate in various
activities.
I therefore intend to describe more fundamental features of the group. In this sense,
my study is a short ethnography. Furthermore, I intend to interpret the relationship
between the features and rehabilitation processes. In the beginning, I will refer to public
discourses and reactions as backgrounds of
my study.

Method and data

There is space here for explaining only
my participant observation. I have been
intensively researching one support group. Its
name is Free Space Wood (assumed name),
FSW. Free space or free school is Japanese
English. It means a kind of alternative
school. Children and adolescents who cannot
attend or reject regular schools, participate.
According to recent research, there are at
least 300 private free spaces and schools
(Alternative Kyouiku Kenkyuu Kai, 2003).
There are not, however, so many free spaces
dealing with Hikikomorians.
I have interviewed and recorded the
leader and the staff for more than 20 h. I
have conducted ethnographic interviews
with the leader, staff and members (Hikokomorians). I have interviewed these people

121

for many hours in various settings, for example: dinner; potluck parties; in cars while
traveling; breaks in soccer games; and so on.2
Then, I have conducted participant observation in their environment around which the
members gather in the daytime and in the
houses in which they live together. I stayed
with them for a total of 42 days. The longest
observation was two weeks. I was recognized
by staff and members first as a guest and
a researcher, and came to be recognized
gradually as a guest, researcher, roommate
and supporter. I have been called Sensei
(teacher). I wrote memos when I was alone
and I wrote more exact field-notes when
I returned to my office.3

Hikikomori in discourses and

public reactions
In the middle and late 1990s, two major
newspapers reported the phenomenon as a
social problem by three running stories.4
Between 1999 and 2000, they were linked
with serious crimes. Some criminals who
committed murder or abduction reported
that they had been withdrawing from social
life. On one hand, those news stories caused
a negative impression of Hikikomori. The
Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare
organized a research group in June 2000
immediately after a murder case. Except for
this period, they have been usually described
as being mild, serious, shy and so on.
Professional definitions of Hikikomori
share some points. First, the definition is not
about causes, but merely a state in which
people are retreating into their living spaces
and withdrawing from social activities, for
example school or work. The research group
said in the guidelines that, Hikikomori is
not a name of a disease (Itou, 2003). Second,
the period of withdrawal is six months or
more. Finally, psychiatrists diagnose those
with Hikikomori as those who are not suffering from mental illness or mental retardation.
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Tatsushi Ogino

The research group distributed a questionnaire among health centers throughout

prefectures and communities in Japan in
2003. Their definition was the one mentioned
above. This research discovered that there
were 14 069 cases. The average age was 26.7
and 32% of them were over the age of 25.
About 50% had been suffering for over five
years, and about 23% for 10 or more years.
Regarding gender, 76.4% were men. Another
41% were extreme night people, 18% committed violence against their parents and
40% rejected their family members through
non-violence.
Remarkably, only 27% cannot leave their
living spaces. In fact, it is often said that
some of them go to general stores and so
on, where they do not have to talk so much
with others. It is, however, very difficult to
conduct sufficient surveys, because we cannot
recognize those who do not ask governmental agencies or hospitals to help them
and we cannot define Hikikomori strictly.5
The research group held courses in which
mainly psychiatrists taught local agents
from 2001 to 2002. However, public support
networks have not been working effectively
up to the present time. The research in
2003 reported only 1.2% of health centers
answered, We can deal with Hikikomori
well, and 65% said, It is very difficult for
us to deal with Hikikomori. In fact, psychiatrists or other staff in public centers and
hospitals usually cannot meet the patients
themselves, but only their relatives.
There have not been any established theories about the causes that many clinicians
accept. However, there is a relatively distinguished argument about Hikikomrians
personality, that is to say, it is a kind of narcissism. A central psychiatrist said that the
pathology of narcissism was a fundamental
factor that underlies some personality disorders (Kanou, 2000). That is to say, Hikikomorians pride is too high to endure damage
to dignity or self-image in ordinary human
relations. Tamaki Saitou, an authority of
this phenomenon, empathized negation of
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castration (Saitou, 1998). According to him,

Hikikomorians who were in the latter half of
their 20s or 30s and have withdrawn from
social life for many years, often say, I want
to be a scientist or I want to be a writer.
Saitou said that they still had an omnipotent
sense such as infants have, so they could not
function in the real world.

Overview of a private
support group
The support groups that have been regarded
as being effective in Hikikomorians recovery,
often have three kinds of activities: visiting
to Hikikomorians houses; managing Free
Space and houses; and training Hikikomorians with job-related skills and qualifications.
I will refer to these elements when illustrating FSW.
Short history and constitution
The FSW has been operating in the Tohoku
district since April 1997. It was set up by two
women in their forties. They intended to
prepare a comfortable space for people with
physical handicaps; older people; younger
people, mainly, who did not go school;
and more general people. It had gradually
increased so that they were asked about
younger people who were over 18 and did
not go school or work. In the first three
years, FSW was managed by the two women.
Since 2001, young staff members have
joined.
Its leader, Ms. Miyagi, was requested to
participate in the Ministry research group
in 2000. She appeared on national TV a few
times in 2002. Through this, FSW has become
very famous. I have been researching FSW
since August 2001. Presently there are 10
staff members. They can be separated into
five regular staff and five sub-staff members.
Sub-staff are former users of FSW. They are
recognized as staff and members by others in
the group.

Managing Categorization and Social Withdrawal

The kinds of activities have been gradually

increasing. Volunteering in nursing homes
has been happening since 1999. Paid volunteer activities started in 2001, for example,
weeding, assisting handicapped persons, and
so on. There have been some courses to gain
a qualifications or learn subjects since 2001.
They started posting leaflets, installing computer programs and so on, as training jobs in
2003. Soccer games have been played since
2002, so that the members can act as a group
and experience competitive relations. The
first house was prepared in Spring 2002. Currently, there are seven houses.
From 2001 to 2002, the number of members has been rapidly increasing. In summer
2001 about 15 members came to the space,
but in the following year the number had
increased to forty. It presently stands at
more than sixty. The ratio of men to women
has been eight to two. About 25% of the
members are in their teens, 50% in their
twenties and 25% in their thirties. The members in their thirties have increased. There
have been only a few men who had entered
university. Most of them dropped out of
high school. Some teens only graduated
from junior high school. The period of withdrawing is related to their age. The men in
their thirties had often withdrawn for over
10 years.
Typical example of the rehabilitation
process
A typical, and fictional, example of the
progress average withdrawers, usually men
in their mid-twenties, would make. The
leader, Miyagi, would start by visiting the
male withdrawers home, after complying
with his mothers request. After six months,
he would come out of his room to see Miyagi
and after another three months he would
decide independently to attend FSW. At
first, he would not like to be with the other
members, so he would sit in a room beside
the office or the hallways. If he came into
the main room, he would tend to be in the
corner and sitting up straight. If he had a

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magazine, he would pretend to read it. In

fact, Miyagi tells them that they do not have
to talk to the others, they should only listen
to others conversation.
Gradually he would come to talk with
some of the staff about things, for example,
his favorite music, books, comics, or video
games. Then he would talk with other members and participate in some activities, for
example, card games, soccer or other activities. In the next stage, he would try to take
part in weeding and volunteering in a nursing home. Through these activities, he would
begin to socialize with more members and
staff and become acquainted with various
people living in society. At the same time,
due to observing other members who were
trying to acquire their helpers license, or
work part-time, he would follow suit. During
these periods, he has sometimes had counseling from Miyagi. As he made friends, the
frequency of counseling decreased.
I have described a very simple and easy
example, but in reality it is often more complex and difficult. For example, when I visited
FSW for the first time, I met a girl. I was
surprised at her ability. She introduced other
members to me and talked about many
topics. However, after a few months, she
could not go to FSW and retreated into her
room. After about one year, she came again.
She told Miyagi in those days that she had
wanted to think of herself not as a Hkikomorian and had thought she had been different
from other members. She also said that she
had tried to show herself as a normal person
outside her home, but in coming back
home, she was terribly tired. When I met
her again, she greeted me very politely and
looked tense.
This kind of thing is quite common in
FSW. There are various reasons. It often
occurs that parents, in haste, propose that
their children should go to school or work
somewhere, when Hikikomorians begin to
attend FSW. They are still unable to do
these things, so they are hounded and often
retreat into their rooms.
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Tatsushi Ogino

Aspects of group dynamics

Outsiders may think their topics of conversation, for example, music or game, as trivial
ones. A man, in his 20s and living in one of
the houses, said to me;
I wanted to make a friends, but I was undesirable to be spoken to at dinner in the
beginning days. I hated my answers to be
heard by others. But I came to talk with
others. We came to gradually talk about our
favorite music or books. The experience of
not being denied was very important for me.
I often observed scenes in which one member who had once said that he/she would
go somewhere with others was, however,
unwilling to go at the last moment. Staff or
other members talk him/her patiently into
going with them. This attempt sometimes
results in failure, but this effort is a very
important aspect. They sympathize with their
weak-mindedness and understand each other
in that they regret not participating. So, they
choose words very carefully, for example,
Something good may happen. Their mutual
consideration is certainly an essential condition for their rehabilitation. Also, they converse with each other about their difficulties
or anxieties and by doing so they come to
feel more at ease about their condition.
There is, however, a kind of competitive
relationship. It is sometimes obvious that
they recognize other members as rivals in
the sense that they participate in outside
activities and do well. For example, two
young men who come into the houses at the
same time are usually conscious of each
other, what the other is doing, or which of
them is more active. If one goes to volunteer,
the other who has not had an experience
of volunteering often feels anxious that he
would fall behind the other. This sort of
feeling can have a positive or negative effect
on their rehabilitation.
In a successful case, they would dare to
attempt new things and would feel selfconfident. In contrast, the feeling could just
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become an inferiority complex. In fact,

some of them sometimes suffer from this
feeling. Then, the effect of this relationship is
limited to motivating them within FSW. I
think, however, that their experiences of defeat
and recovery particularly strengthen their
frustration tolerance, which allows them to
work or learn outside.

Managing categorization
Managing categorization is my idea to
express the most fundamental feature that
has been commonly underlying various
aspects of the lives in FSW. This concept
indicates a tendency not to define who they
are and so what they definitely have to do.
Miyagi often said that she had been opposed
to separating people into respective categories by which people are restricted in their
action, and in their social relations.6 Miyagi
and the staff mostly manage categorization
by keeping members categories vague. The
members tend to conform to the efforts and
sometimes demand it more than the staff,
but they also sometimes resist it.
Avoiding the use of disease names
This tendency is especially found in Miyagis
activities. For example, when Hikikomorians, who have not been to FSW before, see
her for the first time she does not ask them
about their past, for example, where they
have gone to ask for help or to be treated.
Most of the newcomers are surprised by her
reception. I want to focus on the meaning
behind this method. Through this, she sends
a message, that is to say, their disease names
or categories deriving from their past behavior are not important, at least in FSW.
One episode relating to this feature is
when a house in this group was to be set up
in the year 2001, in order to receive a subsidy, Miyagi requested the local government
to recognize it as a group home for mentally
handicapped people. At that time, under the

Managing Categorization and Social Withdrawal

current Mentally Disabled Welfare Law (1996),

Hikikomori was not able to be subsidized.
Therefore, the government demanded the
name of each residents disease and disorder which had to be effective under the
current law.
Then it required her to make the members
see a doctor in each health center or clinic. The
members usually have to go to the centers
specific to their region. Miyagi asked the
official to accept diagnoses by one regional
health center doctor. Next she invited one
conferring doctor into her office in FSW and
asked him to diagnose the members in turn.
In connection to this, it is also important to
note that FSW used a very old wooden
house, which did not look like a hospital or a
health center. She intended to cushion the
impact caused by their disease names. She
intended to make the members think that
their disease names were not important, but
just expedients.
Miyagi has recognized that there are
members who are helped and feel rather
better by accepting their diseases names, for
example, schizophrenia, but she thought
that whether people adopt the names as one
feature of their identity or not, is dependent
on their own will.
Potential criterion for outsiders entering
Free Space Wood
During the inside and outside activities, the
members make contact with various people:
aged people; handicapped people; staff of
other institutions; office workers; company
executives; journalists; students; researchers;
and so on. I think that this situation, especially in the free space, is not constructed
indiscriminately, but carefully.
For example, when certain people offer
help and support for withdrawers in FSW,
Miyagi sometimes rejects these offers. These
people say, I was a teacher in school, or I
have learned psychology. They would think
that they rate this role, supporting Hikikomorians, because of their careers. Miyagi
thinks that they will behave like teachers or

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psychologists, and then the members will be

forced to be a kind of student or patient. She
thinks that the members might feel pain in
this kind of interaction and would stop
coming to the Free Space.
Miyagi often used a word nioi (bad
smell in English) in my interviews. She said,
Professionals who smell like professionals
such as psychiatrists, therapists, certified clinical psychologists, health visitors and school
teachers, are not suitable to contact the
members. For, according to her, Hikikomorians have been worried, I am an abnormal
person. When visited and observed by
smelly professionals, they are convinced of
their own abnormality and often retreat into
their room again.
Behaving like non-staff
The staff of FSW are required to behave
so that they can not be discerned from the
members. I heard of one episode from an
employee. One time, an outsider came to
FSW and the insiders introduced themselves
using only one name. Each member said in
order, Yamada, Suzuki, Satou and so
on. As one employee said, Staff Katou,
the members got a nasty look in their eyes.
The members might have though that the
employees words statement meant that he
disliked being recognized as a member. I
want to acknowledge, however, that this
episode suggests how vague and invisible the
difference between the members and staff is
in FSW. Therefore the members are sensitive and especially dislike it when the staff
represent themselves as staff . In fact, if a
member does not look like a social phobic, it
is difficult for outsiders to discern correctly
who are the staff and who are the members.
The staffs clothing is not different from the
members at all. The ages of most of the staff
overlaps with the ones of the members.
At present, all the staff are non-professional
in terms of licenses. They are in very difficult
positions in FSW. If they cannot develop a
friendship or build personal trust with the
members, they cannot be accepted as staff.
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Tatsushi Ogino

One staff member had not been popular in

FSW. Perhaps his way of talking causes
anger among the members. He often talked
like a staff member, for example, You have
to do , or You will surely participate
in , wont you?. Of course I know that
staff-patients relations are generally tense in
hospital and medical institutions.7 In FSW,
however, the members are sensitive and
especially dislike the staff to represent themselves as staff.
As I mentioned, I was usually called
Sensei (teacher). This is exceptional in
FSW. I think that there were two reasons for
this name. Firstly, Miyagi dared to introduce
me to them as Sensei. She told me, You
didnt looked like a teacher, when I first met
you. So, I introduced you as a teacher. She
often said that it is good that there is a gap
between an image of the title and an actual
image of the person. Because, she said, the
gap allows them to think that titles are not
necessarily significant for communication. So
she was very pleased at finding that I had
made a stupid mistake in front of the members in a voluntary activity.
Second, I have not made such friendships with most of members as some staff
members have done successfully. Certainly
I chum in with them. I think, however, that
they recognize me not as a friend, but as a
person who answers their questions. Perhaps
this kind of role was partly caused by
Sensei. As a result, in my interviews with
the members, I could think of many questions
after their questions to me. It had a positive
effect, but I think there is also a negative
effect. On request, I had to recollect my personal experiences in detail. In all cases, their
responses might have been influenced by my
story. I took care to make my talk short and
my thoughts vague, and increase the number
of questions that asked about their concerns,
experiences and thoughts.
Not framing the spaces
In FSW, there are not spaces that have been
defined as being used by the members who
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are recognized as being on a specific step in

terms of progress. Under these conditions, it
is sometimes difficult for new members to
find a space they can sit down in. New members often feel uncomfortable to be with old
ones who have become relatively communicative and active. Miyagi understands this
problem well, but she thinks that labeling
some names and demanding them to be in a
specific space according to this label, is not
good for them. She said, Because where
they want to be depends on their mood.
There are no spaces, except Miyagis office,
which are rigidly defined as being used for a
specific purpose. What they do in one room
is usually dependent on circumstances at that
time. Then they have to interpret an atmosphere in each room and decide their own
place. They sometimes said, for example,
They are talking about something difficult
over there. I dont want to participate with
them now.
The tendency can also be found in the
combination of ages in the houses. Men in
their thirties and boys in their teens have
lived together. I have often observed that
the teenagers were friendly and played with
older members. This combination of ages
and friendly scenes is rarely observed among
Japanese youth.
Not making schedules
Usually, there are only loose schedules both
at individual and collective levels. Even in
the houses, the members are not told what
time to get up, to go to free spacea 10minute walk from the housesto have a
dinner, to take a bath, or to go to bed. Also
in the free space, one of staff members give
others a simple schedule of the day in the
morning, for example, Uh, today, lets play
soccer at 2 p.m. Staff actually have some
plans of the day beforehand, but they often
announce these plans on the day or suddenly. This is an intentional method, as I will
explain afterwards.
This schedule-free situation is comfortable
for some members, but is not necessarily

Managing Categorization and Social Withdrawal

comfortable for others. One member told

me, There isnt a schedule here, is there?
Im somewhat puzzled. I have to choose
what to do by myself. As he said, each
member is required to decide whether he/
she takes part in each small event each time.
I often observed that some members hesitated to participate in some events.
I think that loose schedules are important.
Generally speaking, schedules are premised
on clear roles that are categories prescribing
who I am/you are in the society. The notion
about what to do relates to these categories.
The absence of schedules means that there
are few role-categories in FSW.
Insofar as I have observed, though there
are only loose schedules, most of members
gradually get into a habit, for example, of
waking up between seven and nine oclock in
the morning. Considering that most of them
woke up in the afternoon and went to bed in
the early hours of the morning, this change
may be seen as making progress.

Interpretations
Why is the managing categorization
effective?
I observed 45 members over the last two
years. I have observed 11 members for two
years, but five members for only one week.
I was supplied additional information,
particularly about members whom I have
observed in a short time, by interviewing the
members and staff. From the viewpoint of
method and frequency of communication
with others and participation in various
events (please refer to typical example), six
of them have not shown a great change. I
have to take account of the rise and fall of
their conditions in a given period. Other
members, however, have changed considerably, insofar as I have been able to observe.8
It is difficult to state the final goal of FSW.
Miyagi sometimes carefully said in my interviews that the final goal of each member had

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to be, respectively, defined, because their

conditions were different. However, observing Miyagi speaking to other audiences and
her efforts to construct job or learning programs, the principle, final goal would be that
the members find and live in social places
outside FSW and to work or learn, at least
on a behavioral level.
Of the former members, there have been
several who returned to high school and four
who entered university. Eleven of them have
experience in outside jobs and most of their
jobs are part-time. Five of them continue to
work, but the other six have quit their jobs.
Five of the six have returned to FSW and
four of them have become sub-staff. They
intend to increase their outside work experience sometime in the future.
If we regard therefore only continuing a
full-time job as a significant outcome, the
effectiveness of FSW, that is to say, managing
categorization comes to be very questionable.
In fact, the staff do not think that managing
categorization (they do not call it this) is
sufficient for the members rehabilitation. So
they have increased programs in which the
members take some clear roles in working or
learning. As I explain hereinafter, however,
the members cannot necessarily participate
in these programs without prior preparation,
that is to say, that managing categorization
makes this possible. Then therefore the
method has limitations in the process of
rehabilitation, but is an essential condition.
I cannot, of course, control other factors,
therefore I have to be prudent in the argument
about causal relationships. It may permit me,
however, to interpret the relationship between
the features of the group and the members
recovery of perspective. I think that managing categorization positively influences their
possibilities to try and experience something
social. Furthermore, it may also function as a
condition of the friendship among them.
Two functions of category
According to the theories of symbolic interactionism, assigning categories that indicate
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Tatsushi Ogino

social positions and attributes, make people

interact easily with others, because categories function as indicator of role relationships
and proper behaviors. Stryker said, Position
serves to cue behavior and so act as predictors of the behavior of persons who are
placed into a category (Stryker, 1980). Katagiri said, role (category) was a cognitive
map of relations between self and others.
This map is needed to actually interact with
others (Katagiri, 2000).
Shibutani divided human interactions into
two types. First, it is personal contact that is
based on symbols reflecting biographical
backgrounds. Second, it is categorical contact that is based on symbols defined by
anonymous categories. In the latter type of
contact, people interact well without knowledge about the others personal information.
It is the others ability to perform his/her
roles that people know (Shibutani, 1986;
Katagiri, 1987). Shibutani also suggested that
the others categories, especially concerning
occupations, determinate the degree of
which people have to pay their respect to
others (Shibutani, 1986). He illustrated,
Most Americans, for example, are inclined
to act with courtesy toward all doctors
(Shibutani, 1961).
We can draw two functions of categories
especially from Shibutanis arguments. First,
categories function as symbols of status.
They indicate positions in social stratification and reference points for the degree of
respect to pay to others. Second, categories
function as symbols of abilities to perform
roles. For example, a computer salesperson
is expected that he/she have sufficient
knowledge about computers and can answer
customers questions effectively. Categories
determine expectations of others that are
concerned with ability of the self. Then, they
also function as pressures on the self.
The first function determines the possibilities of explaining oneself and then appearing
in social settings, because categories allow
people to anticipate quantity of the paid
respect to the self. The second function
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determines possibility of participating in social

settings, because categories demand people
have a measure of self-confidence and endure
the strains to perform each role.
Categories therefore can operate against
people. First, some people who do not have
categories to explain themselves easily in
social settings and, second, some people who
do not have the self-confidence to perform
roles connected with their categories. We
can also think about the following. The more
those people dwell on their categories that
they fall into or want, the harder it is for
them to live in society. I think that Hikikomorians are often apt to be kept under these
negative functions of categories. One of the
reasons can be their thought-patterns that
are maintained by social pressures.
Difficulties of explaining themselves
Hikikomorians, of course, usually have no
categories to explain themselves easily.
Ishikawa suggested, based on her interview
data, that they were most afraid of being
asked, What are you doing? So, the behavior
of withdrawing was a strategy employed to
defend their dignity or self-esteem (Ishikawa,
2003).
I also heard similar stories from a clinician. She had been conducting Social Skill
Training (SST) for Hikikomorians. She said
in a workshop for staff of health centers in
June 2001, When I asked them about what
social setting they most wished to learn, all
of them chose a setting in which they met
classmates on the road by accident.
I met with an accident that highlighted this
problem. One day I participated in volunteering in a nursing home. The group constituted 10 men and two women who were
participating in the activity. When they
finished their task, they seemed to be in a
light mood in the rest room. The nursing
home manager who thought of FSW as just
a volunteer group entered the room and
acknowledged them. In the next moment, I
witnessed that they were knocked flat by the
mans question, By the way, what do you

Managing Categorization and Social Withdrawal

do? Where do you work? Uh. Are you students or shakaijins?, which mainly means
economically independent men/women in
Japanese. A heavy silence filled the room.
All of them bowed their heads. Afterwards
one of them told me,
At that time, the air in the room was frozen
into ice, wasnt it? At that moment, I understood what had made me tired. I had not
understood why I was tired and my body
was as petrified as a rock after I went out. I
have been afraid of the very question.
The members who participated in that
volunteering were in their twenties and
thirties, and they seemed not to have any
physical disorder or mental retardation. Generally speaking, these people are presumed to
belong to either of these categories, namely,
student or shakaijin in Japan.
Recently there is one more category,
freeter. It is a shortening of free
Arbeiter in Japanese English (Arbeiter is
a Japanese word meaning part-time worker).
Certainly some freeters are economically
independent, but shakaijin has meant not
people who only occupy part-time jobs, but
mainly people who have full-time jobs. So,
freeters tend to be distinguished from shakaijin. Then there are only two or three categories that define healthy young people.
If a person therefore does not belong to
these one of categories, he/she cannot explain
themselves by using simple words. Some
Hikikomorians said in interviews, mine or
others, that the word of Hikikomori was
useful to relieve them from the anxieties that
there are no other people similar to themselves and to explain their situation (Iwata,
2000). However, in natural social settings,
not interviews or some kind of event, it is
very difficult for Hikikomorians or the
parents to use the word of Hikikomori.
One father said in a parents meeting in
September 2002, When my colleague asked
me what my son does, I said that he was a
freeter. I told a lie. I would give my right arm

129

to be able to really answer freeter. There

were about 15 parents. All of them nodded
deeply and told of their similar experiences.
In these Japanese social conditions, Hikikomorians would want such a category, making
it possible to explain themselves, but this
attitude serves to worsen their conditions.
Lack of self-confidence in performing
roles
Hikikomorians do not also have the selfconfidence to perform certain roles. The
members of FSW are often terribly afraid of
failure. Miyagi once asked them, If there
were to be another you, what do you want to
do? All of them replied, I want another
one to try various things while I observe
what happens. One night I talked with them
about a serious problems for them and how
they shift to a defiant attitude. These episodes implied that they felt bound in their
actions because they were afraid of their
inabilities to do anything that, they thought,
they would have to be able to do in terms of
their age, gender and so on.
It is often said that Hikikomorians tend
to internalize strict norms or social values
paradoxically.9 The norms or values are
concerned with age, gender, educational
background, occupational status, labor, lifecourse and so on. In fact, the members in
FSW, especially older ones often said, I can
never play with younger members. I have
many things to do immediately, but they
could not do anything and just troubled
themselves over what to do. They thought,
Now I have to work and earn money, but
if an offer to work for a company come up,
they would reject it. This is not just an imaginary story. It is a real story repeated many
times. Facing up to the challenge of working,
most of those who said they have something to do, refuse the proposals at the last
moment because of their anxiety.
Miyagi often asks the members to do
something, for example, Please copy these
documents at the store, now!, or How hot
today is! Why dont you go to the beach! I
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Tatsushi Ogino

call this sudden task method. She knows, if

she asked or advised beforehand, they would
become anxious about whether they would
do well or not, and eventually refuse just
before performing. Some members said in
my interviews, In FSW, it is frequent to do
something suddenly. Im always surprised.
But it may be better, because I would worry
about various things.
Taking the Sick Role?
It is often said that a certain vicious cycle
forces Hikikomorians to withdraw from
human relationships for a long time. Most of
them have strong inferiority complexes, guilt,
and despair (Saitou, 1998; Kondou, 2001).
Because of these feelings, they cannot enter
into relationships. As a result, these emotions
are strengthened. In my words, they cannot
act outside, because they do not have categories to identify themselves with and selfconfidence, because they cannot conduct and
experience anything social. I think that this
cycle operates in their thought-patterns, which
they think in and try to act based on categories.
There can be one way to release their
adherence to these categories. It is to accept
disease names and take the sick role.
Parsons defined a sick role that consisted of
two rights and two duties. The first right is
exemption from the ordinary roles that the
person plays in everyday life, and the second
is exemption from recovery by oneself. The
first duty is to have a will to recover and the
second is to cooperate with professionals who
treat or support the person (Parsons, 1951).
If Hikikomorians take the sick role, they can
explain themselves and avoid expectations
accompanied with other categories.
Miyagi said that her manipulations concerning the diseases names and, entering
outsiders were aimed to save members
thoughts that they are normal. I think, however, that avoiding psychiatric diagnosis
and an obedient position functioned as the
devices that made the members not take the
sick role. Certainly, Miyagi strongly suggests
that Hikikomorians, first of all, must be
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exempted from ordinary roles, but she often

says that it is essentially important for them
to prepare to solve their difficult situations
by themselves.10 Therefore, to foster and
save their will to recover by themselves, it
must be more expedient to detach the
members from the position of the sick.
Managing categorization as an
alternative way
There is one more way to loosen the thoughtpatterns based on categories. It is the feature
of managing categorization. I think that under
these social and individual conditions, keeping
members status and roles vague make it easier
for the members to take part in and experience some activities with others. I will introduce
some corroborations of this interpretation.
The sudden task method is one of them.
I mainly observed them as a group, so it is
difficult to verify members changes at their
cognitive levels, but I sometimes noticed
these changes. One 35 year old man hesitated
to play with younger members in the beginning, because he worried about his age. One
year later, when we played soccer, he told
me (I was 34 years old at that time), I get
tired just running a short distance. Lets make
an over 30 team, not U-21 (under the age of
21), but O-30 team. I was surprised that he
talked about age easily. An other man, 21
years old, said, When we go to play somewhere, for example, the beach, I have recently
become happy at seeing the others doing
something individually. Their existence makes
me happy. Each of them is interesting to me.
Certainly, what they said was merely concerned with play, but it would be considerable that their attitudes were obviously far
from the more normative attitudes based on
social categories or abilities of role performance. These kinds of attitudes would make
them easily participate in other events.
Limitation and difficulty
There are some limitations and difficulties
concerning the effort of managing categorization. First, as long as the social operation is

Managing Categorization and Social Withdrawal

usually dependent on categorization, managing categorization in FSW cannot help having

a limitation in the effectiveness of their rehabilitation. Second, the members sometimes
persist in categorizing themselves on an individual and collective level. Finally there is
one problem: whether FSW give the members an alternative category or not?
The leader and staff, as we have seen, do
not recognize that managing categorization
is sufficient. I will add one more example.
Young staff members deliberately prepare
two types of soccer game activity. The first
game I call pure play. This style is much
more relaxed and there is not so much
emphasis on this team and that team.
The second is played like a club activity in
school. This second style is seen to be more
competitive. Some members complained to
me about being separated into regular or
other teams. The staff, however, intended
to form competitive relationships that the
members have to endure.
I will illustrate the second problem using
some examples. When there were only two
houses, the members, by accident, were
separated into two age groups, younger
and older. It has been a rule that all dwellers
have dinner together, but the older members
pleaded with Miyagi that they did not want
to have dinner with the younger members,
because they did not speak the same
language.11 On the individual level, some
members who have relative long-term job
experience often want to distinguish themselves from the others.
On the more collective level, I heard an
episode from some members. One night, they
had discussed whether they are katawa or
not. Katawa is a discriminatory term that
describes handicapped people. The term is
now prohibited from use in public discourses. At that time, most of them had
said, no, but one boy had said, people in
here are katawa. One man told me, I was
shocked at his saying. The boy in question
has not progressed in his rehabilitation.
Managing categorization is therefore not

131

always successful. In recognizing their

categorization, it can negatively influence
their recovery, however, this problem is not
a limitation, but an inevitable difficulty.
The example of katawa suggests one
more substantial problem. Through avoiding
disease names and increasing their social
experiences, managing categorization certainly helps them to categorize themselves as
not being abnormal or not living a hopeless existence. Is it, however, necessary that
FSW create any kinds of alternative categories? Is it necessary to provide the members
with some positive logic and categories
symbolizing it, which can act as their guide to
live in outside society? The staff have never
referred to this problem.
The problem reminds us about identity
politics. For example, some free schools in
Japan have reversed the negative significance of their situation into positive one.12
However, I have not heard the leader and
staff say, for example, The very people
with experience of Hikikomori are normal
and valuable in helping reform society. The
leader said that she wanted the members to
think that they could not experience various
things unless they came to FSW, but is
reversed categorization, which more actively
signifies the members difficulties, needed?
To answer this point sufficiently, we would
have to reexamine the arguments about
identity in modern society and trace the
members lives in the future above all.

Conclusion
I have studied the efforts of a private support
group for Hikikomorians mainly through
participant observation. First, I described the
most fundamental feature of the group as
managing categorization. Second, I proposed the interpretations that the feature
allows Hikikomorians to easily participate in
and experience social activities with others.
To interpret the relationships between this
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Tatsushi Ogino

feature and their recovery, I focused on

functions of social categories in society.
Categories function in two ways, as status
and ability symbols. The former determines
possibilities of explaining the self and then
appearing in social settings. The latter determines expectations of others in the ability of
the self to perform the roles corresponding
to the selfs category. Then it can be a pressure on the self that determines the possibility of participating in social settings. In both
aspects, Hikikomorians are very disadvantaged. They therefore tend to be discouraged
in acting outside, if they worry about which
categories they fall into or want. Their attitudes have been often interpreted as the
pathology of narcissism, but I think that,
under the categorical constraints in Japanese
society that I partly described, it is natural
for Hikikomorians to think and try to act
based on categories. Their thought-patterns,
however, worsen the vicious cycle.
There can be two ways to loosen their
thought-patterns. One way is taking the sick
role, but this would negatively influence their
will to recover by themselves. Then, managing categorization can positively function in
attempting trial and error based situations.
I gave some examples in the corroboration
of this interpretation.
The present suggests that the pressure that
has arisen from categorization in Japanese
society, is one of causes of Hikikomori. Of
course, there are other important conditions
causing Hikikomori that relate to global
trends, for example, the extension of adolescence and conditions specific to Japan. The
latter may connect the culture of Amae,
tolerance of dependency. Regrettably I cannot examine these problems at present. It
will be necessary to plan a rigid comparative
study as soon as possible.

Notes
1

Hanaoka and Kondou (2002) examined these

conceptual problems.

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5
6
7
8

10

11

12

Ethnographic interview means that the observer

leads natural conversation to the form of interview (Flick, 1995).
Lichterman (2002) divided participant observation into two types, the field-driven one and the
theory-driven one. I adopted field-driven type,
because there have not even been sufficient
ethnographies of this kind of group.
The Mainichi Newspaper reported the problem during June 1994. The Asahi Newspaper
reported it during February 1997 and February
1998.
Kudou (2004) explained this point in detail
from a constructionist perspective.
For example, she said this in my interview in
September 2001.
I, for example, referred to Goffman (1961) and
Yamada (2000).
I defined the recovery as following: I constructed
eight steps, noting members positioning in the
free space, their method of communication and
the kinds of activities in which they participated.
If a member advanced three steps from the
beginning point and stayed at that point for
three months, I thought that he/she had advanced. For, I think that their social experiences
increased for three months.
For example, Shiokura suggested that Hikikomorians and people who criticize Hikiko morians shared a norm, for example, about
labor (Shiokura, 2000).
Concerning pathological phenomena, Melucci
said, It is very important to work on individual
levels and arouse responsibilities of the indi viduals. For, only through this process, people can
finally escape from their pains. (Melucci, 1995).
Their thoughts might be complex. One older
member said to me, We cant do difficult things,
so we cant become role models for the young.
Its understandable that they dont respect us.
For example, in a famous free school, Tokyo
Shure, there is a tendency for the staff and
members to explain themselves and their space
by opposing regular schools. They identify
themselves or their space as not being
schoolish, and the outside people and society
as being schoolish (Asakura, 1995).

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Tatsushi Ogino
Department of Sociology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, SHIZUOKA
UNIVERSITY, 836 Ohya, Shizuoka-Shi, Shizuoka 422-8529, JAPAN, email:
jtogino@ipc.shizuoka.ac.jp

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