In this innovative and insightful book, Teppei Sekimizu takes a multifaceted, sociological approach in exploring so-called 'hikikomori' (social withdrawal) in Japanese society by bringing together individual voices and shifting policy discourses and debates as well as sociological theories of selfhood and time. This book goes beyond a culturalist analysis common in existing literature on the subject and is a must read for anyone interested in the issue of social isolation and well-being in and beyond Japan.

Sachiko Horiguchi, Temple University, Japan Campus

“I would recommend this book to those who want to understand the problem of the hikikomori in Japan as a whole. Teppei Sekimizu carefully interprets the narratives of the hikikomori subjects and persuasively links them to the political and social structure of modern Japanese society. This is a fruit of the fine sociological imagination.”

Tatsushi Ogino, Shizuoka University

“A Sociology of the Hikikomori Experience sheds new light on current understandings and misunderstandings of hikikomori by providing a holistic approach that triangulates first-person subjective experiences and concerns, family experiences and concerns, Japanese government discourse, and the historical accounts of hikikomori since the 1980s. An important contribution.”

Chikako Ozawa-de Silva, author of The Anatomy of Loneliness: Suicide, Social Connection, and the Search for Relational Meaning in Contemporary Japan

In this book, you will discover a new social positioning of hikikomori that has never been seen in psychiatry or psychology. Through a viewpoint that freely moves back and forth between macro- and micro-perspectives, a completely unique narrative of hikikomori emerges.

Tamaki Saito, University of Tsukuba