Article du jour: French researchers seek raison d'etre of hikikomori

On peut lire dans le Japan Times d’aujourd’hui un intéressant article de TOMOKO OTAKE, French researchers seek raison d'etre of hikikomori.

Il s’agit d’un entretien avec Nancy Pionnie-Dax, Natacha Vellut, Maia Fansten, Cristina Figuereido (toutes de l’Université Paris Descartes) et Nicolas Tajan (Japan Foundation fellow à l’Université de Kyoto).

Voici le début de l'article:

Is the hikikomori phenomenon unique to Japan — or does it exist in other societies, too?

A multi-disciplinary team of researchers from Japan and France is currently trying to answer just that question, in a project that could change how the issue of those people who become social recluses (hikikomori) is understood by experts around the world.

The three-year project, funded by Japanese government grants, aims to study "commonalities and differences" as regards socially reclusive youths in Japan and France. Whereas the word "hikikomori" has been in use in Japan for some 20 years, a similar phenomenon in France has only recently begun to attract attention there, and isn't yet so clearly identified or defined.

To further understanding of the phenomenon in their native society, five French experts — including four affiliated with the Paris Descartes University and a Japan Foundation fellow at Kyoto University — made a study tour in Japan late last month, stopping off in Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka.

In addition to meeting ex-hikikomori youths and listening to their stories, they visited a rehabilitation center and exchanged views with Japanese researchers in the field. During the trip, they also found time to share their findings with The Japan Times in a group interview whose lingua franca was English.