Cultural critics like to blame individuals for behavior like this, but in Japan's case it's mostly economic. Japan's economy was export dependent for a long ti

Cultural critics like to blame individuals for behavior like this, but in Japan's case it's mostly economic. Japan's economy was export dependent for a long time. The Japanese would manufacture more than they consumed and sell the surplus to the world. This ended when the Asian Tigers repeated the strategy at lower cost. Meanwhile asset prices inflated wildly because people thought the good times would never end. Which they did in the early 90s. With demand for Japan's surplus product less, and assets overpriced, Japan had to begin a painful process of deflation. I think house prices fell for over 20 years after the bubble burst. Japan's economy began to bifurcate after this, with the remaining good jobs going to the best students and the other students left with temporary jobs. The stakes are high for Japanese students. Fundamentally, the Japanese islands are crowded and not very resource rich. Exporting finished goods allowed the population to grow above the economic carrying capacity of the land, and now the population is falling to adjust to the new reality. If Japan still had a go-go economy like it did in the 70s and 80s, I doubt there would be as many recluses.