Why Are Japanese Men Refusing To Leave Their Rooms? 770
fantomas writes "The BBC reports on the Japanese phenomenon of Hikikomori: young people, mainly men, who are holed up in rooms in their parents' houses, refusing to go out and engage with society. 'A conservative estimate of the number of people now affected is 200,000, but a 2010 survey for the Japanese Cabinet Office came back with a much higher figure - 700,000. Since sufferers are by definition hidden away, Saito himself places the figure higher still, at around one million. The average age of hikikomori also seems to have risen over the last two decades. Before it was 21 — now it is 32.' Why is this happening? And is it a global phenomenon or something purely due to Japanese culture? (We're all familiar with the standing slashdot joke of the geek in their mom's basement, for example.)"
Because Japanese homes rarely have basements (Score:5, Funny)
Duh.
Averages (Score:5, Funny)
So in 20 years, the average age went up by 11 years. That probably simply means that living in your mom's basement is not immediately dangerous to your health.
Re:Mammonis all over again. (Score:5, Funny)
I got mugged by a New York housecat once.
Re:Want to meet a Japanese woman? (Score:5, Funny)
So what you're saying is that once they go Caucasian, they never go Asian?
Re:Mammonis all over again. (Score:5, Funny)
"It's similar to why adult domestic house cats are pretty much adult kittens who would die in the wild."
Nonsense. I've seen far too many of them go feral and survive long enough to have offspring afterwards (in the case they weren't neutered before going feral). And it's not just because someone is feeding them.
Some of them have trouble as they weren't taught effective hunting by their mothers, but lots of them can and do fend for themselves just fine. Yes, they get picked off by coyotes (or coy-dogs) and such, but so do a lot of wild small predators.
Basement-dwellers? Survive outside mommy's care? I call bullshit.
FWIW, you had me until you said "survive long enough to have offspring afterwards".
Re:LOL (Score:5, Funny)
Time to get me a Tommy Gun, change my name to Gatsby, and fill a warehouse up with a stack of USB drives with porn.
Soon, Daisy will love me for who I am!
Re:Want to meet a Japanese woman? (Score:3, Funny)
Interesting. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Well... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Internet (Score:4, Funny)
You were living the dream and you discarded it for normalcy. How sad.