“And there is thirty-four-year-old Kenji, who almost never leaves his tiny room in his mother’s modest apartment on Tokyo’s western fringe…. For most of the past twenty years, his daily rituals have seldom varied. He reads the newspapers each morning and watches Tokyo Giants baseball games on television every summer evening. He passes long afternoons with magazines and daydreams. Sometimes he speaks to his mother. Other days he sits silent, deep in thought. Anxious, trembling, and alone, Kenji is scared - too scared and too scarred to venture into the world beyond his front door.” - Michael Zielenziger, Shutting out the Sun
This describes one Japanese man out of an estimated 1,000,000 who are labeled as hikikomori. Hikikomori are people who have been bullied or pressured so much that they give up on society and choose to live a life of seclusion. Often, relatives who have a mix of pity, concern, and shame, provide food and necessities. Some known cases of seclusion have lasted decades. In contrast less than 400,000 Japanese people claim to live with the hope found in Jesus Christ.
During our time in Japan, we met a few former hikikomori who now participate in their social spheres, specifically at church. One lady, who would greet us with a beautiful smile, had not smiled in years, according to her mother. The lady was a hikikomori for decades, but eventually agreed to study the Bible. After trusting Jesus as her Savior, she began to change, take part at church, and smile.
Not only are there over double the number of hikikomori than Christians, but the church, as a whole, is statistically unable to support and multiply itself. While struggling for survival, how can the church give aid to the hurt and hopeless? This is one reason why we will be moving to Japan, to teach and love the Japanese people, including the Hikikomori. However, the question remains, “What part will you have in God’s ministry in Japan?”
This describes one Japanese man out of an estimated 1,000,000 who are labeled as hikikomori. Hikikomori are people who have been bullied or pressured so much that they give up on society and choose to live a life of seclusion. Often, relatives who have a mix of pity, concern, and shame, provide food and necessities. Some known cases of seclusion have lasted decades. In contrast less than 400,000 Japanese people claim to live with the hope found in Jesus Christ.
During our time in Japan, we met a few former hikikomori who now participate in their social spheres, specifically at church. One lady, who would greet us with a beautiful smile, had not smiled in years, according to her mother. The lady was a hikikomori for decades, but eventually agreed to study the Bible. After trusting Jesus as her Savior, she began to change, take part at church, and smile.
Not only are there over double the number of hikikomori than Christians, but the church, as a whole, is statistically unable to support and multiply itself. While struggling for survival, how can the church give aid to the hurt and hopeless? This is one reason why we will be moving to Japan, to teach and love the Japanese people, including the Hikikomori. However, the question remains, “What part will you have in God’s ministry in Japan?”
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