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Comment by jensen123 | Hacker News Reader

In Japan they have this phenomenom called hikikomori - young people shutting themselves off from the world, kinda like the person in the article did for a while, until his parents threatened to cut him off. I'm wondering why we don't have much of this hikikomori phenomenom in the West - is it simply because Western parents don't tolerate it?

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I would suggest that we do have it in the West. It's not unknown to know people who live at their family home well into their 20s, don't work, don't go out much, spend their time getting stoned, watching TV, surfing the web, and playing computer games.

The only major differences between the hikikomori and the equivalent Western stereotype is that food isn't brought to the room, and this leads to some limited social interactions with those around them.

I can understand the appeal of being a recluse, and I'd much rather someone became a recluse than topped themselves.

The equivalent Western stereotype is probably the neckbeard. It's prevalent enough to have shown up in mainstream media, e.g. South Park's Make Love, Not Warcraft.

What do you call a female neckbeard, then?

I believe that the most common term is legbeard[1], although its usage is quite rare.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=legbeard

a feminist

Generally some version of spinster, future crazy cat lady, etc;

I think it's mainly a jobs problem. People are going to freak out in a few years when they will find out how many people have become passive by the recession of 2008, especially in the periphery countries of the EU, where unemployment is high.

> "until his parents"

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like the author is a female. Not that it matters that much, the issues apply to both males and females.

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