@Paul Keith:
Sorry, but I don't quite follow. I'm a bit confuzzled over this whole hikikomori thing.
What exactly are the criteria to be met before one can be said to be "hikikomori"? Are you suggesting that you meet all those criteria? Is race one of the criteria? Or ethnicity?
If there aren't any such criteria, then why the heck not?
If someone doesn't necessarily meet all the criteria (whatever those criteria might be), but yet identifies themselves as being hikikomori anyway, then who are we to deny them that self-identification? Or would they be officially deemed to be masquerading as hikikomori, or appropriating the hikikomori culture? If they were - in either case - then would that be an offence punishable under any state law in any country, or perceived as an unacceptable offence against social/moral virtue?
Should such pretenders be punished?
Is it possible for hikikomori-like characteristics to be scientifically assessed/measured with some kind of psychometric tests - e.g. (say), like Aspergers or IQ might be measured?
Is there an official hikikomori society that only hikikomori can be members of - sort of like Asperger support groups or Mensa - where to be a member one would need to score over so many hikikomori points to qualify for membership?
If there were a pukka hikikomori group, then should new members be admitted initially as equal members, or as Novices or Associates at first and then have to work their way up by degrees to Fellows, or something?
Should these hikikomori groups be open (e.g., like LBGTQXYZ, the German National Socialist Party, or whatever), or more closed/secretive (e.g. like the Masons or the Rosicrucians, or like those people who persist in stealing the food from my marked food containers in the office fridge)?
Is being a hikikomori something that one should feel socially fortunate about (e.g., like being given a winning ticket in the lottery of life), or the opposite (e.g., like contracting leprosy, or an STD)? Is being a hikikomori determined genetically - e.g., like gender X/Y chromosomes - or is it something that one develops into or feels oneself and one's self-identity to be intrinsically and inextricably drawn towards and part of (e.g., including various religio-political ideologies or belief systems, such as (say), 7th Day Adventists, Devil Worshippers, Klingon language speakers, LBGTetc, pedasty, God's Army, Nazi/fascism, or the KKK)?
Serious questions indeed. Enquiring minds need to know, and I think we should be told.
