For some in Japan, a room is their world
By Maggie Jones The New York Times
SUNDAY, JANUARY 15, 2006
TOKYO One morning when he was 15, Takeshi shut the door to his bedroom, and for the next four years he did not come out. He didn't go to school. He didn't have a job. He didn't have friends. Month after month, he spent 23 hours a day in a room no bigger than a king-size mattress, where he ate dumplings, rice and other leftovers that his mother had cooked, watched TV game shows and listened to Radiohead and Nirvana. "Anything," he said, "that was dark and sounded desperate."
Full article is here.
I have someone who is like this and I suspected one of main reason why he did it is because he cannot handle failure. Too proud? Too fragile in their idealism? I dunno. But this article is sobering account of growing problem in Asia, not just Japan but Asia. Perhaps it is our culture that emphasizes on face have turn this youngsters into failure-phobia people, fearing rejection and derision from society if in any chance they failed in their endeavours.
Should we Asians learn to be kinder and more compassionate, instead of using tough love concept here? Worth to think about.
This a movie on the subject matter, Tokyo Plastic
Not forgetting Welcome to NHK. The manga is quite depressing to read actually.
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