Shut-Ins in Japan

Akiko Abe has barely seen her 25-year-old son in six years, yet they live in the same small house. He leaves his room only when he's sure his parents are out or asleep, she said. She can tell when he has used the kitchen, and she knows he goes to the living room to watch television and use the computer at night.
阿部秋子尽管与儿子同住在一间小房子里，六年来，他只在父母外出或者睡觉的时候才出门。她只知道他什么时候用过厨房，还知道他在客厅看过电视，在晚上使用过电脑，可是她却没能和自己25岁的儿子见上几次面。

She has waited patiently for him to tire of his isolation¹, sometimes standing² outside his door and talking, to herself as much as to him. But, afraid that many more years would pass like this, she finally approached an organization that works with shut-ins by making home visits. "It will be difficult, because he won't open his door," she said quietly.
她耐心地等待着有一天儿子终于会厌烦这种自我封闭，有时她就站在他的门口说话，既是对他说也是对自己说。但是她很害怕再过上几年这样的日子，于是她终于向一家自闭症患者援助中心求助，这个组织可以提供家访服务。“这可能会很麻烦，因为他不愿意开门，”她小声地说道。

As many as a million Japanese -- most of them young men -- are considered shut-ins, either literally³ cloistered⁴ in their rooms or refusing to work and avoiding all social contact for periods ranging from six months to more than 10 years. Forty-one percent live reclusively for one to five years, according to a government survey. Some shut-ins suffer from such illnesses as depression, agoraphobia or schizophrenia. But experts say the vast majority shut themselves up at home for six months or more without showing any other signs of neurological or psychiatric disorder⁵. The seriousness of the problem has increased dramatically over the past decade as Japan's economy has slid into recession, bringing record unemployment rates and little job security as companies restructure or go bankrupt.
日本有将近一百万人患有自闭症，其中大多数是年轻人。他们把自己幽禁在房间里，不愿意去工作，把自己完全与外界隔离开来，少则半年，多的超过10年。根据一项政府调查表明，41%的患者把自己一人关禁起来一到五年不等。一些自闭者患有沮丧、旷野恐惧或者精神分裂等症状。但是专家们表示，大多数的自闭病人在呆在家里半年或更长的时间里，都没有出现任何神经或精神上的失调症状。随着日本的经济开始走下坡路，经济萧条导致了居高不下的失业率，而由于公司重组或者破产员工的饭碗也是朝不保夕，自闭现象在过去十年里也变得更加严重。

Psychologists and other mental health experts here say that Japan has the biggest problem of this type in the world, and that it is growing. They give a long list of reasons why young men are dropping out of society, including a declining birthrate, which means there are more families with only one son on whom they place all their hopes in this patrilineal society. Also, boys grow up without male role models because their fathers are working all the time. Psychologists also cite Japan's "culture of shame," which makes people fear how they're perceived if they have a problem fitting in. Japan's wealth makes it possible for people to cut themselves off from society. Young adults live at home much longer than they do in the United States, traditionally until marriage. Teens and adults who drop out of school or leave work are simply supported by their parents.
心理学家和心理健康专家们都一致认为自闭现象在日本尤其严重，并且有增长的趋势。他们列出了一大串的理由来解释为什么年轻人会幽居寡出，与世隔绝。这些理由包括低出生率，这表明在这个父系社会里，越来越多的家庭只有一个孩子，家长们把他们所有的希望都寄托在这个孩子身上。同时，由于父亲长时间在外工作，男孩在成长过程中缺乏可模仿的男性模范角色。心理学者同时指出日本文化中的羞耻感，在出现问题的时候，人们都害怕不能被社会所接纳而极力隐瞒。日本的富有也使日本国民可以脱离社会生存。日本的年轻成人呆在家里的时间远比美国人的长，传统上他们在结了婚以后才自立门户。对退学或失业的孩子，他们的父母完全有能力把他们养在家里。

"When I was young, there was no question that you would have to go to work," said Abe, 61, who asked that her son, who refused to talk to a visitor, not be named. "Now, families have enough money so that the children don't need to find jobs right away." In an attempt to get their son to communicate with them, Abe and her husband have decided⁶ that from now on, they are not going to slip an envelope under his door with his '400 monthly allowance. Shut-ins -- 70 to 80 percent of whom are men -- often sleep much of the day and are up all night, watching television, using the Internet and popping out to the 24-hour convenience stores that are located in most neighborhoods and sell all kinds of microwaveable packaged meals. Japan's convenience store culture caters⁷ to the solitary⁸ life -- providing everything for the person eating alone, living alone.
“在我年轻的时候，我必须要出去找工作谋生”，现年61岁的阿部秋子说。她的儿子拒绝和来访者交谈，她请求不要把她儿子的名字写出来，“现在，每家每户都有足够的钱，他们的子女也不必急着去找工作。”尝试着让他们的儿子以后和他们进行交流，阿部秋子夫妇俩决定停止儿子每月400美金的零用钱，那还是夫妇俩用信封装好从儿子的门缝里塞进去的。70%到80%的自闭症患者是男性，他们经常昼伏夜出，白天就蒙头大睡，晚上才出来活动，看电视、上网，或者跑到外面24小时营业的便利店。这些便利店在每个街区都有，可以提供各式各样的速食食品，只要放进微波炉烤一烤就可以吃。日本的便利店文化迎合了独居生活的需要——里面的东西可以满足一个人独吃独住的一切需求。

"In Japan, it's easy for anybody to live with walls around themselves," said Seiei Muto of the Tokyo Mental Health Academy. "And with the number of children declining, you play alone, eat alone, study alone."
“在日本，人们很容易生活在自己修筑的墙里面，孤独地生活着”，东京精神健康研究所的武藤清英说，“随着兄弟姐妹数量的减少，你就自然成了孤家寡人，你只好一个人玩，一个人吃，一个人学习。”武藤清英和一些精神康复的工作人员还谈到了自闭现象的其他成因，比如说交流能力的匮乏，日本城市里人们彼此距离的疏远，及集体合作精神的崩溃等。

Muto and other mental health workers talk about the decline of communication skills, the increasing anonymity⁹ of urban Japan and the collapse¹⁰ of a cooperative society. "If a child is walking down the street, it would be rare for someone to ask the child, 'Where are you going?' " Muto said. Others say the problem has deep historical and cultural roots. "Japan is a rich country, but we have no identity, no confidence, no ability to communicate with others," said Tadashi Yamazoe, a professor of clinical psychology¹¹ at Kyoto Gakuen University. "Japanese have a passive personality." But most people say it is a modern phenomenon, evidence of a great generation gap between those who built Japan's postwar economic success, and their children, who cannot expect lifetime employment in today's weak economy and say they do not want it anyway.
“如果一个小孩在街道上游荡，几乎没有路人会上去问他'你要去哪里呀？'”武藤清英说。但也有人认为这个问题有着深远的历史与文化根源。“日本是个富裕的国家，但是我们却有身份危机，我们缺乏自信，不懂与他人交流”，东京学园大学的临床心理学教授山添忠说，“日本人的性格都很消极被动。”但是大多数的人认为这只是个现代病，证明两代人之间已经有了一道无法逾越的鸿沟，与亲手缔造战后日本经济繁荣的父辈相比，他们的子女根本不指望能在经济疲软的今天找到铁饭碗，他们甚至不在乎有没有工作。

"In Japan there has been only one path, and today an increasing number of people are not on it," said Noki Futagami, who began the nonprofit New Start Foundation to work with shut-ins. "It's easy to say that academic background is not everything. But the parents cannot suggest another path because they don't know one." The existence of large numbers of shut-ins in many ways encapsulates the social problems of modern Japan and the wrenching¹² period it is now going through. The Japanese word for the phenomenon -- hikikomori -- translates as withdrawal¹³, and it is becoming increasingly familiar. It is the subject of television documentaries and newspaper and magazine articles.
“在日本只有一条路可以走，可现在越来越多的人都不在这条路上走，”二神轩这样说道，他创办了新生基金会，一个帮助自闭症患者的非赢利机构，“大家都说学历背景其实并不重要，说起来很容易，可是家长们又不能提出其他更好的出路。”自闭现象的流行其实浓缩了日本的很多社会问题，日本经济的不景气也使这个问题显得特别尖锐。日语把这现象称为闭居，翻译过来就是遁世。这个词现在在日本很流行，常在电视、报纸和杂志等媒体中报道。

Many adult shut-ins start as school dropouts. For a country obsessed¹⁴ with education, there is a surprisingly high number of dropouts. A record 134,000 elementary and junior high students were absent from school for at least 30 straight days during the 2000-01 school year, more than twice the number 10 years ago.
很多成年人的自闭首先从退学开始。对极端重视教育的日本来说，日本的辍学率也是相当惊人。日本中小学在2000年度就有134,000人次旷课一个月以上，这个数字是10年前的两倍多。

Abe said her son's school years were normal, but in high school he failed the university entrance exam. That is not unusual; most who fail study for another year and try again. Abe's son said he was going to study on his own instead of enrolling¹⁵ in a cram¹⁶ school, and that began his withdrawal.

The family has tried to keep the problem hidden, not even talking about it to relatives, much less neighbors.
阿部秋子说她儿子在学校的表现还算正常，但在高中升大学的考试中考砸了。这本来也不是很出奇的事情，大多数失败的考生都会复读一年再考一次。阿部秋子的儿子说他宁愿自习也不愿意参加备考班，从此他就开始了遁世。夫妇俩试图掩盖这件事情，从没跟亲戚们讲起，邻居们也自然无从得知。但是二神轩说，这就意味着这个家庭也把自己封闭起来，这只会使问题恶化。

But Futagami said this means the family is shutting itself in as well, making the problem worse. "There are things parents can and cannot do," he said. "They should be more open and get help from others, nurture¹⁷ social ties. I regard this as an illness stemming from society. Nobody helps these people, so they accumulate." In a few recent cases, socially withdrawn¹⁸ young men have committed shocking crimes, including a 27-year-old who kidnapped a 9-year-old girl in 1990 and kept her in his room for nine years. His mother, who lived downstairs, was never permitted to enter his room.
“处理这些问题有些是家长们可以做的，有些却是不能做的，”他说，“他们应该更加开放，从外界寻求帮助，培养社会关系。我认为这是由于社会弊端在作怪，没有人愿意帮助这些人，所以这些人的人数也随之增长。”近期的一些例子中，遁离社会的年轻人犯下了令人发指的罪行，其中有一个27岁的男子，于1990年绑架了个年仅9岁的小女孩，然后把她困在自己房间里长达9年之久。而住在楼下的母亲却从来不容许进入他的房间。

"In America, the child's room belongs to the parents and is seen as being rented out to the kid," noted¹⁹ one of the actors appearing in a new play on shut-ins. "The child can be displaced for guests." This is a remarkable²⁰ concept in Japan, where the norm is that teens or young adults can forbid their parents from entering their rooms.
“在美国，孩子的房间是父母的财产，他们就好像把房间租给孩子一般，”一位演员这样说到，他刚参加了一部反映自闭现象的戏剧演出，“当有客人来时，小孩的房间可以准做客房。”而在日本，青少年和年轻成年人完全可以把父母赶出他们的房间，这在日本已经是个深入人心的观念。

As the problem gets more national attention, parent support groups, counseling centers and mental health clinics have geared up to help families. Home visits over the course of months and sometimes years bring many people out of their rooms. But finding a job after having spent several years as a shut-in is extremely difficult. To provide work experience, Futagami's New Start organization runs a welfare center for the elderly, a restaurant and coffee shop.
这个问题越来越引起全国的关注，家长援助组织、咨询中心和心理健康医疗所等机构组织了各种活动援助那些家庭。几个月甚至几年的家访，他们终于使很多患者带出了他们的家门。但是，自闭症患者在闲置多年后再继续找工作会变得特别困难。为了给他们提供工作经历，二神轩的新生基金会开了一个老人福利中心、一家餐馆和咖啡店。

Takeshi Watanabe, a counselor²¹ with the Tokyo Mental Health Academy, and Yasutaka Masuko, 28, seem like brothers. For 10 years Watanabe visited Masuko once a week at the home Masuko refused to leave. Masuko said he doesn't remember anything specific causing him to drop out of school during his second year of junior high. "Maybe I was feeling pressure," he said. For a while he became physically²² ill when people came to see him.
渡边武是东京精神健康研究院的顾问，他与28岁的康隆雅子看上去象是兄弟一般。十年来，渡边武每周对康隆雅子进行一次家访，而康隆雅子却不肯离开自己的家门。康隆雅子回忆说，他其实记不清是哪件具体的事情让他在初二时退学。“也许是我感到压力吧，”他说。在一段时间里，只要有人来看他，他就会觉得浑身不舒服。

But Watanabe's steady visits, their shared interest in music and eventually Masuko's purchase of a computer slowly convinced Masuko that he could go out. The turning point was soccer. He wanted so badly to go to the games of his favorite team -- an interest encouraged by Watanabe -- that he bought a season ticket, and before the first game practiced going outside.
渡边武持之以恒的家访发现俩人在音乐方面有共同的爱好，最终康隆雅子买下了一台电脑，而康隆雅子也慢慢地被说服，他其实是可以出去面对的。转折点是一场足球比赛。康隆雅子非常想看一场他喜爱球队的比赛，渡边武也一直鼓励他喜欢足球运动，他还买下了整个赛季的球票，在赛季开始前他们练习一起走出家门。

"For night games I went early in the morning to get a good seat," he said. "I made friends because I was in the same place every game." Masuko has taken other big steps. He got his high school degree through a correspondence course and is now enrolled²³ at Nihon University, majoring in philosophy and education. He said there are many other former shut-ins there, and they often talk. He also found a part-time job at a loan collection company. An understanding society is critical to dealing²⁴ with the problem, Watanabe said. The mental health clinic in a Tokyo suburb where he works has cultivated about a dozen business establishments in the immediate²⁵ neighborhood, where they have introduced themselves and the young men who come by. "We wanted them to understand we are not a cult," Watanabe said. At the bike shop, coffee shop and 7-Eleven, people started to talk to them, started to say, "Hi, how's it going?" They got emotional support from the neighborhood and some shopkeepers hired them to work two to three hours per week, he explained. "Many people feel nostalgic about Japanese traditions and the warmth that is harder to find today," Watanabe said.
“比赛在晚上举行，我早上就去了，这样就能占个好位置，”他说，“由于我每次都坐在同一个位置上，我还结交了一些朋友。”康隆雅子在其他方面也取得了很大的进步，他通过函授课程获得了高中学历，现在已被日本大学录取，所学的专业是哲学与教育。他说在这里还有很多以前的自闭症患者，他们经常一起交流。他同时还在一家商账追收公司找到了一份兼职。渡边武说，一个理解宽容的社会对这个问题的处理是很重要的。他在东京郊外的那家精神健康诊所已经在周边地区开了十几家的店铺，他们向人们介绍自己和在店里工作的前自闭症患者。“我们要让他们明白我们并不是什么邪教组织，”渡边武说。在自行车店、咖啡店和7-11连锁店里，人们开始跟他们交谈，开始会问，“嘿，最近怎么样啊？”他们得到了邻居们的精神支持，一些店主还雇佣他们在店里每周工作2到3小时，他解释说。“大家都很怀念日本过去的传统，而过去人与人间的温情现在也很难找到了！”渡边武说道。