Monday, August 30, 2010
According to the Japan and UK media, Hikikomori is added to the latest edition of Oxford Dictionary of English (not Oxford English Dictionary). Hikikomori is now a valid English word. But do you know the origin of the word Hikikomori is related to English?
Since early times Japanese people have used a verb Hikikomoru. But until recently the word didn't include the meaning of young people (especially male) 's abnormal social avoidance.
In 1998 Tamaki Saito, a psychiatrist, named such avoidance as Shakaiteki Hikikomori in his book. The term is a literal translation of a psychiatric term "social withdrawal."
Shakaiteki Hikikomori is a prototype of today's concept of Hikikomori. After Saito's book was published, the concept was become known. Moreover, Neomugicha incident (a 17-year-old Hikikmori youth hijacked a bus) increased the recognition of the concept in 2000.
But people didn't necessarily call Shakaiteki Hikikomori. Many said only Hikikomori, although what they said Hikikomori was a concept based on Saito's Shakaiteki Hikikomori. Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare was not an exception. MHLW created a new difinition of Hikikomori and distinguished it from Shakaiteki Hikikomori in Hikikomori guideline in 2003.
In this way, the concept Hikikomori spread among Japanese people. 12 years after Saito coined the term Shakaiteki Hikikomori, Oxford Dictionary of English added Hikikomori.
* Strictly speaking, Saito is not the first person to use the word (Shakaiteki) Hikikomori to mean young people (especially male) 's abnormal social avoidance. But the word did not known well before Saito's book was published.
Since early times Japanese people have used a verb Hikikomoru. But until recently the word didn't include the meaning of young people (especially male) 's abnormal social avoidance.
In 1998 Tamaki Saito, a psychiatrist, named such avoidance as Shakaiteki Hikikomori in his book. The term is a literal translation of a psychiatric term "social withdrawal."
Shakaiteki Hikikomori is a prototype of today's concept of Hikikomori. After Saito's book was published, the concept was become known. Moreover, Neomugicha incident (a 17-year-old Hikikmori youth hijacked a bus) increased the recognition of the concept in 2000.
But people didn't necessarily call Shakaiteki Hikikomori. Many said only Hikikomori, although what they said Hikikomori was a concept based on Saito's Shakaiteki Hikikomori. Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare was not an exception. MHLW created a new difinition of Hikikomori and distinguished it from Shakaiteki Hikikomori in Hikikomori guideline in 2003.
In this way, the concept Hikikomori spread among Japanese people. 12 years after Saito coined the term Shakaiteki Hikikomori, Oxford Dictionary of English added Hikikomori.
* Strictly speaking, Saito is not the first person to use the word (Shakaiteki) Hikikomori to mean young people (especially male) 's abnormal social avoidance. But the word did not known well before Saito's book was published.
