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Japanese game developer hasn't left the house in 10 years

159 points by user_235711 5y ago

kingcharles 5y ago
I can feel for this guy. I just spent 8 years without seeing the sun or breathing fresh air. (Jail) I hope he's taking some vitamins. I'm assuming he's doing no exercise?
- pkrotich 5y ago
  Welcome back! Weird question- anything you found enjoyable in jail? I sometimes think I’ll thrive in isolationism of sort. Obviously jail is not voluntary but curious how you manage to stay sane.
  - michaelt 5y ago
    > I sometimes think I’ll thrive in isolationism of sort. How did you find the Covid-19 lockdowns?
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - wruza 5y ago
      I’m not in US (and neither the person you asked), but I felt very nostalgic when covid situation only began in my city. It wasn’t a lockdown, only an advisory statement and a common fear of unknown. Empty streets, almost no cars passing by, which I could count on my fingers from a balcony back then. I wanted to just walk the city and feel it. Now that it got back to normal, it pushed me back to my apartment. Because when it’s “normal” I rather feel like a bug in an engine full of whirring cogs.
      - pkrotich 5y ago
        >I’m not in US (and neither the person you asked) I'm actually in the US, wasn't born here but I've been for 24 years now.
        wruza 5y ago
        Pardon my english please, I only meant that you != me.
    - pkrotich 5y ago
      Didn’t mind at all. Moved to rural / country side 15 years ago - so it wasn’t a radical change for me.
    - kingcharles 5y ago
      I was in the Cook County Jail for the last three years and that was stated to be the epicenter of the entire pandemic at one point. I think it was the end of March 2020 when a guy on my cellblock said that he couldn't smell anything. When my cellmate and I got back to our cell my cellmate started opening any packets of food he had and shoving them under my nose "SNIFF THIS!" Neither of us could smell anything. We all got it bad. I was on an "old man's" deck, so everyone was vulnerable and everyone got sick. The guard from our deck went home and died it from it. They weren't doing proper tests. They would do very occasional temperature checks, but everyone wanted to avoid being moved to the COVID wing that had been set up as the conditions there were atrocious, so if you had a temperature you would drink a cold drink just before you put the thermometer in your mouth, and that seemed to get you through. A thousand of us got sick in that one building alone, and ten of us died. They took all the soap away from the facility shortly before things blew up. Someone had beaten their cellmate to death with a soap-filled sock, which is a standard method, and they decided to stop that by removing socks and soap. So we didn't have soap for washing our hands for weeks, and then only a bar the size of your finger to last you for showering and washing your hands for a whole week. Plus, the workers were supposed to sanitize everything, but if you're paying people $1 to work 16 hours a day you can imagine how good a job you get. I think it was about 9 months into the pandemic when I got my first COVID test. I didn't go to court for a whole year. They keep you in a county jail "to ensure your appearance at court", but I could not go to court because I was in jail. Basically everyone was quarantined, so jail detainees were not allowed in court. We weren't even allowed to use the laptops for Zoom appearances lest we infect the laptops. So, if I had been out of jail I could have gone to court by Zoom, but because I was held in jail I could not go. So COVID took a year of my life that way. They eventually decided to move to single-man cells and get rid of all the double-bunking, but this requires twice as many cells. They didn't have working cell blocks to house everyone. Doesn't matter. They just opened up all the cell blocks that had been shuttered for years. Oh - none of the electrics, plumbing and heating works? Well, I'm sure someone will fix that eventually. I remember at one point my cell being 3C (35F) for three days. That was really cold. They did move some people when their cell dropped to 19*F. We went for weeks at a time with no hot water, so I was the only one brave enough to take a shower. [I was working on my Wim Hof method] Basically, it was a fuck-up from beginning to end. Everything in jail is a fuck-up because there is no real oversight of anything. There's no conspiracy, it's just that is institutional laziness, and in jails the "customers" (detainees) can't complain about anything being fucked-up or you'll be punished for it. So as a jail employee you can easily get away with not doing anything that your job requires. LOL. I've not even scratched the surface with all the things that went on during COVID in the jail. We were also locked in our cells for over 23 hours a day most days. Sometimes we didn't come out for days at a time. "The jail in Chicago is now the nation’s largest-known source of coronavirus infections, according to data compiled by The New York Times, with more confirmed cases than the U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt, a nursing home in Kirkland, Wash., or the cluster centered on New Rochelle, N.Y." https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/08/us/coronavirus-cook-county-jail-chicago.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/08/us/coronavirus-cook-count... (and bear in mind that the NYT had to work with inaccurate data supplied by the Sheriff) Also: https://patch.com/illinois/oaklawn/burbank-gang-member-accused-fatal-soap-sock-jail-beating https://patch.com/illinois/oaklawn/burbank-gang-member-accus...
  - kingcharles 5y ago
    Interesting question. You could also ask - is there anything positive about jail? It gives you a lot of time to think about your life, that's for sure. I finally had time to think that while I believed myself to be a good husband, I realized I'd actually been a pretty shitty one. It gave me a chance to finally understand and self-diagnose my mental health issues. I lost 90lbs in the first six months of jail. I went from an overweight 260lbs to a sane 170lbs. That was from being able to strictly control my diet and do a bit of exercise in my cell each day. If you love reading, like I do, then you can do a lot of that. The biggest problem was access to books. In some jails, e.g. Cook County Jail, you might have almost no access to books unless someone sends them to you from the outside. And if you read a book in three days like I do, then your friends and family might get exasperated at constantly sending you $20 books for eight years. Also, the guards are going to take all your books off you as fast as they can and throw them away. I read over 800 books in jail. I went to the Hole three times for 10 days a piece, once for telling my wife in a letter that I'd traded a packet of coffee for a stamped envelope, second time for taking too long trading my rice with someone for a chicken nugget, and third time because the jail had a secret intelligence operation running against me (I got all the documents under FOIA eventually) and so the guards threw contraband into my room, right in front of me, and then arrested me for it. For 10 days at a time, the Hole isn't so bad. I don't know if I would hate it more if it was longer. My first trip there I wasn't prepared and didn't know how anything worked. They had a great selection of books in the Hole if you could get to them. The next two times I went I distracted the guards and managed to grab books before I got locked into the cell, so my time went a lot better. The first time I went they had a policy of putting you in there naked for the first day, but I sued over it, so the next two times I didn't have to suffer that indignity. You can usually get some peace in the Hole. Jail isn't good for people like me who don't mind isolationism because 99% of the time you will have a cellmate to start with. If your cellmate cannot or does not want to read, then they will try to talk to you for the 16 hours a day you are in the cell awake together. And when you are out of the cell you are likely in a room the size of a standard living room, but with 50 other guys, so you will get no peace there either. Going to the Hole might be your only chance to get a few minutes of quiet.
    - nitoso 5y ago
      Thank you for sharing your unique experience! What are best books you read in jail and/or in your life?
chki 5y ago
> Per ITK, Nito only leaves his apartment to get a haircut and take out the trash, as well as any other activity that absolutely requires him to step outside of the comfort of his room. So actually: "Japanese Game Developer rarely leaves his house." I can see why they went with their own headline, though.
- aspenmayer 5y ago
  I’d say it still fits the NEET/hikkikomori definition.
  - pyuser583 5y ago
    Doesn’t “NEET” mean “Not in education, employment, or training?”
    - boomboomsubban 5y ago
      It does, he'd still borderline fit that definition. He raised an average one year's salary for a game after ten years of self training.
      - Biganon 5y ago
        So he was in training for 10 years and now he's self employed.
        Hamuko 5y ago
        I don't think that self-study really fits the definition of "training". Selling your own stuff is definitely self-employment though.
      - ratww 5y ago
        Run-of-the-mill unemployed people that are outgoing fit the "NEET" definition better than him. Also in Japan it seems the definition is a bit more broad than the acronym (otherwise even housewives would be NEETs): "In Japan, the classification comprises people aged between 15 and 34 who are not employed, not engaged in housework, not enrolled in school or work-related training, and not seeking work." Self-training is definitely "work-related training". And he was doing housework.
TheDudeMan 5y ago
Has anyone told this guy that it's really easy to cut your own hair? Especially if you don't need to impress anyone.
- netizen-936824 5y ago
  If you don't need to impress anyone, why cut it at all?
  - andrewljohnson 5y ago
    I find longer hair harder to manage than shorter. Easier to cut it very short every 6 months than wear it super long.
  - gadflyinyoureye 5y ago
    When I first started my own consultancy, I grew my hair out. I never had long hair before and thought, "why not?" At the same time, our newly purchase house had a cockroach infestation (which the prior owners did not disclose). One morning I decided to blow-dry my hair. The dryer had a hard time starting. Then a chunk, chunk noise occurred. Finally, a stream of brown paste shot out from the dryer. I threw it away and never used one again. My coarse, gray hair was always wet morning, noon, and night. It was awful. That is the reason I get haircuts even if I'm not trying to impress anyone.
    - opan 5y ago
      A microfiber towel works pretty well to get the bulk of the water out of your hair (you basically squeeze your hair between the towel, like juicing a lemon), and then it can air-dry over the next hour or two just fine.
      - ratww 5y ago
        Long hair dude here. A barber taught me another technique with a normal towel. It's hard to explain and counter intuitive, but you just have to "lightly pat" in different areas instead of shaking or squeezing. The technique is mostly to avoid damage and to avoid frizz, but it is also surprisingly faster than the "shake" method. Maybe with a microfiber towel like you said it's even better.
greesil 5y ago
This guy probably didn't even notice the pandemic.
joemazerino 5y ago
It is a shame that the hikkomori is a trend and becoming popular with COVID.
- dustintrex 5y ago
  Eh, I doubt many people become hikikomoris because it's trendy. In Japan, it's usually understood to be a reaction to social pressures, basically dropping out of all the various societal rat races (work, dating, "adulting") simultaneously.
  - brnt 5y ago
    > adulting Is there a word for the opposite? A desire to escape the pressure of being a child/younh adult? The pressure to be a child and do childlike things always annoyed me so...
    - watwut 5y ago
      "Wishing to grow" or "thinking he is already adult" or "being mature for his age" depending on how you want to spin it.
  - smcl 5y ago
    I don't think this was meant as "trendy" as in, people see it as an attractive lifestyle. But rather "it is becoming more of a thing".
- pkrotich 5y ago
  I'm actually attracted to it - the more I get older the more I think it's a lifestyle for me.
  - systematical 5y ago
    I am generally fine only interacting with people face-to-face once or twice a month. All my close friends live states away, so we text or talk. I have my dog who I take on walks. And if I absolutely get tired of being alone (about once or twice a month) I go to a bar and strike up conversation. Sure I do vacations and concerts and the like, but in general I prefer being solo. I've been this way my whole life. I like it, I definitely don't like doing stuff with people more than once a week, too draining on me. Amazingly I even have a girlfriend. She lives two hours away and we switch off who drives to stay the weekend each month.
gexla 5y ago
> The upcoming Pull Stay is, as you would expect, modeled around his principles and requires players to protect their hikikomori master by basically beating people who try entering his house for whatever reason. I detect anger issues. And apparently he's looking for a following so that he can upgrade his status to "hikikomori master." What else do you have to do to hit the rank of master, if 10 years dedicated to the lifestyle doesn't get you there? I guess in Japan, the answer is to develop a video game. > Since then, he's learned English, started up a YouTube channel and learned game development en route to launching his first game with the help of a Kickstarter. Note to self. Creating a game from zero knowledge is a really long process. Maybe he should have skipped learning English. ETA: Here's his Kickstarter link for quick reference. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1363912222/pull-stay https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1363912222/pull-stay
- iratewizard 5y ago
  Full game development mastery is mastery of software development, graphic design, and storytelling.
  - ehnto 5y ago
    Game design, 3D modelling, 3D texturing, general art direction, sound design, audio mixing... the list goes on. There's so much to a modern game and that's just implementation. You also have to market and sell the thing.
- unobatbayar 5y ago
  > Maybe he should have skipped learning English. There are probably many resources available in Japanese to learn programming/game development. But, English is the foundation of almost everything in the information age.
  - JetAlone 5y ago
    Yeah, it's very important for reading the bulk of documentation. He's not making any mistakes to learn english for sure.
driverdan 5y ago
- owlbynight 5y ago
  What mental illness?
  - jhgb 5y ago
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - meepmorp 5y ago
      He could also be 3 kids in a trenchcoat, since we're letting our imaginations run free based on little to no evidence.
      - jhgb 5y ago
        Not quite sure how pointing out that similar symptoms are non-specific is "letting our imaginations run free". You can't really tell for sure.
  - dspillett 5y ago
    Some assume that someone who doesn't want the life they want, is defective rather than just different. I get the impression there are some under-managed issues/anxieties here, but no more so than a lot of society, particularly myself and most of my circles at various times in our lives. He just displays his in a way that is currently getting some attention.
- slmjkdbtl 5y ago
  The guy looks happier than some of my extroverted friends, prefer to stay at home is not illness, being sad and depressed might be! And this games looks like it'll definitely bring more laughter than depression
jabej 5y ago
bredren 5y ago
I first read about this lifestyle in World War Z, a decent book for zombie lore with no connection to what ultimately became the movie. There is a character in the book named Kondo Tatsumi who is described as an “otaku” which I presume has some approximation to hikkikomori.
- JetAlone 5y ago
  Yeah, there's a "dark triad" of Japanese-bred terms for given behaviours that usually occur together. -Hikikomori is a shut-in. -NEET is someone who is "Not in Employment, Education or Training". -Otaku means basically a "super-geek", an enthusiast about something. They happen a lot in Japanese society and the terms got recognized and coined here, but they are not exclusive to Japan. I believe, as a foreign resident, that the more "Tokyo-like" the conditions of life in a place get, the greater the pressure is to embrace this dark triad. Going out to spend time in a crowded noisy polluted modern city space full of judging eyes is unsettling, so living as a hikikomori offers some shelter from that. Long work hours and demanding extra expectations, and things like academic anxiety are exhausting so NEET life gives an expensive way out. We are all wired to love to learn about and play with something. In a world where people don't communicate positively with each other much passing by in the streets, and you have to sit in institutions all day with other people suffering these pressures and not communicating positively with us, it's not so strange to lean harder on a fascination with something to cope.
  - marcan_42 5y ago
    > Going out to spend time in a crowded noisy polluted modern city space full of judging eyes is unsettling Tokyo really isn't that, though. Of big cities it's probably one of the most comfortable to live in. I live walking distance to Shinjuku station, which is the most transited train station in the world, and rarely does a car pass by my apartment. Other than the occasional ambulance there's basically no audible noise from indoors. Sure, you can walk towards the center and end up in the middle of a big crowd - or you can just not do that and spend most of your time in smaller neighborhoods. Convenience stores provide all basic necessities a minute or two's walk away, you have supermarkets within walking distance without having to delve into any dense crowds. You can take main streets to travel around the city and pass by a bunch of people, or you can step 20 meters into a side street and rarely cross paths with anyone. There's parks to relax in all over the city. And if you don't mind taking a few detours and avoiding rush hour, you can get anywhere in Tokyo via the train network (or even buses!) while getting to sit down the whole way, never ending up in an uncomfortably full car. That said - yes, people don't talk to each other in Tokyo by default, and that takes a toll. I've had more random people talk to me on the street in my visits to Osaka than in 7 years living in Tokyo. To socialize here, you need to find groups with similar interests. It took me a while to figure out how this all worked, but for three or so years now I've been going to anime music and jazz jam sessions and related events, and I even play in a couple amateur bands (modulo COVID). If you don't put in the effort to find these kinds of groups, you can certainly end up quite lonely in Tokyo.
jurassic 5y ago
Whenever I hear a bit about the hikikomori phenomenon in western news I'm always left wondering how they support themselves. Are these trust fund kids or something? If they're just living in mom's basement or whatever, that seems pretty selfish and pathetic. I guess this happens in the US also, but it's not something people talk about and we don't have a specific term for it.
- ehnto 5y ago
  We do, they're NEETs. "Not in Education, Employment, or Training".
- howstheweather 5y ago
  It may seem selfish from the outside perspective, but there's always more than meets the eye: inability to cope with societal demands?, perhaps the internet has simply just given certain individuals greater capability to connect with ones own "special" interests/people?, hence the disinterest in the outside world: why bother with the "real-world", when all the things that you love about life itself are virtual? Again, it's a peculiar mode of thinking if you aren't conditioned to it. If you've been the popular kid, smart, social, you've been handed most things to you, or people were always quick to help you, in whichever way. Some never had that. And well, some just really like their alone time. And aren't we happy for the time that we live in, that such behavior is empowered for those people? If we disregard an active interest in the contribution of others to something, if X is happy, let's be happy for X.
- wickoff 5y ago
  It's parents supporting them most of the time and the only expense is food. I think there is an implicit (and sometimes explicit) understanding that if pushed those people would just commit suicide, so the family is stuck in limbo forever. There is also a lot of shame involved on all sides, so getting outside help is problematic.
Markoff 5y ago
> Per ITK, Nito only leaves his apartment to get a haircut and take out the trash, as well as any other activity that absolutely requires him to step outside of the comfort of his room. He gets all of his groceries and whatever else he needs delivered, eliminating the need to go shopping. Huh, I thought Japan is more developed, in China delivery companies offer taking out the trash service for years, they deliver you groceries and on the way out they take out your trash. Also what's up with out of home haircuts? That's pretty standard even in poor European countries for hairdresser to come to your own place, it's actually often cheaper than having rented place, because it saves them tons of money plus it's very difficult to tax it. So as European who lived in China I say meh at taking out the trash and doing haircuts as absolutely required activities to leave the house.
- konart 5y ago
  >Huh, I thought Japan is more developed, in China delivery companies offer taking out the trash service for years, they deliver you groceries and on the way out they take out your trash. You mean a guy comes into your apartment, puts groceries in the fridge or puts them on the table and then proceeds with collecting your trash for you?
  - Markoff 5y ago
    they deliver you groceries to your apartment door, where they will also pick up your trash and throw it outside in the bin, they don't enter apartment years ago when living there used this to deliver groceries to my air purified apartment I didn't leave sometimes for days, it was always nice punch in the nose after opening door and smelling the burning (smoggy) air
- quantum_magpie 5y ago
  In Japan you need to sort all of your trash and then put it in bins before the truck comes. In my apartment complex it was forbidden to put out trash before 22 the night before, and the truck would show up at 8:15~ everyday for different stuff. As for home haircuts - it's not a thing there as you would rarely invite even friends into your home. It's a space for you and your family.
holografix 5y ago
That’s a very nice aunt he’s got there.
- unnouinceput 5y ago
  Yeah! That or he has delivered to his door more than just groceries.
MrDresden 5y ago
As I can't see it having been shared before, here[0] is an interesting look into his daily routine that was posted on Youtube roughly a year ago. It is a nice calm interview and video footage taken by him self on why he lives the way he does. It got recommended to me after watching a video on the hikikomori phenomenon. [0] https://youtu.be/pu9Ty9fxTHE https://youtu.be/pu9Ty9fxTHE
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
spqqgza103 5y ago
My father doesn't shower (hasn't showered to my knowledge for the last 10 years). He doesn't leave his property, although he does a lot of outside activity within the property itself. His last medical checkup was in 2001 (to my knowledge). Growing up, he would shower every six months to a year. I lived with him growing up and was ashamed to be seen with him in public. I would try to walk a couple of meters behind him at the grocery store so people wouldn't think we're related. Nowadays he lives alone, I visit every couple of months due to COVID. I would still be embarrassed to be seen with him in public. When I got married, he I managed to get him to wear a suit but not to shower. What goes through his mind to do this to himself I don't know. He says he doesn't sweat much (false) doesn't have body odor (false). Right now he's over 80 years old, but all this started in his forties. I feel bad for him and know I've probably never felt happy being with him in public.
- akudha 5y ago
  Wait, hasn’t showered in 10 years?? Does he clean some other way? Like a wet towel or something like that? Does he swim? This is super weird. How has he not developed any skin condition, especially if he is working outside and sweating? I can understand not going to the doctor though. There are lots of people who go to the doctor only if absolutely needed. It is even more understandable if he lives in the U.S and doesn’t want to deal with insurance companies
  - layer8 5y ago
    You do realize that not showering/bathing was the norm for most of history? There’s no reason to develop skin conditions because of it.
mrkramer 5y ago
This awfully sounds like me during my high school and college years. Go to school or college, get back home, do stuff for school or college and go to my computer to research software topics that interest me. My health suffered but I learned so much. I wouldn't recommend anyone doing it because essentially you are trading your health for knowledge. Go out for a walk everyday.
0xmarcin 5y ago
From what I heard, the problems with Hikikomori often start in late teenage years. At first the person closes the room doors and refuses to leave. I guess this is the diverge point between Japan and western societies. I in the west no sane parent would allow child to stay in their room without leaving for a week. Be it breaking the doors but no way, I would allow my children's to do that. In Japan looks like the parents allow it, and what's worse it can continue for years. One thing that I learned is that the faster psychological problem is addressed the better. Otherwise something quite small can snowball into life damaging persistent disorder. The other thing that I heard is prevalence of bullying in Japan, not only in school but in work live too. I was never in Japan so I cannot verify these claims. But in one book I read that this is the cause for most of the hikikomori cases, bullying either by their classmates or by their coworkers in early 20s. As for this guy, he get a free marketing from this article, so I hope his game will sell well for the time being. But I hope he will try therapy, as I don't see how this could work in the long term...

159 points by user_235711 5y ago

I can feel for this guy. I just spent 8 years without seeing the sun or breathing fresh air. (Jail) I hope he's taking some vitamins. I'm assuming he's doing no exercise?

pkrotich 5y ago
Welcome back! Weird question- anything you found enjoyable in jail? I sometimes think I’ll thrive in isolationism of sort. Obviously jail is not voluntary but curious how you manage to stay sane.
- michaelt 5y ago
  > I sometimes think I’ll thrive in isolationism of sort. How did you find the Covid-19 lockdowns?
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - wruza 5y ago
    I’m not in US (and neither the person you asked), but I felt very nostalgic when covid situation only began in my city. It wasn’t a lockdown, only an advisory statement and a common fear of unknown. Empty streets, almost no cars passing by, which I could count on my fingers from a balcony back then. I wanted to just walk the city and feel it. Now that it got back to normal, it pushed me back to my apartment. Because when it’s “normal” I rather feel like a bug in an engine full of whirring cogs.
    - pkrotich 5y ago
      >I’m not in US (and neither the person you asked) I'm actually in the US, wasn't born here but I've been for 24 years now.
      - wruza 5y ago
        Pardon my english please, I only meant that you != me.
  - pkrotich 5y ago
    Didn’t mind at all. Moved to rural / country side 15 years ago - so it wasn’t a radical change for me.
  - kingcharles 5y ago
    I was in the Cook County Jail for the last three years and that was stated to be the epicenter of the entire pandemic at one point. I think it was the end of March 2020 when a guy on my cellblock said that he couldn't smell anything. When my cellmate and I got back to our cell my cellmate started opening any packets of food he had and shoving them under my nose "SNIFF THIS!" Neither of us could smell anything. We all got it bad. I was on an "old man's" deck, so everyone was vulnerable and everyone got sick. The guard from our deck went home and died it from it. They weren't doing proper tests. They would do very occasional temperature checks, but everyone wanted to avoid being moved to the COVID wing that had been set up as the conditions there were atrocious, so if you had a temperature you would drink a cold drink just before you put the thermometer in your mouth, and that seemed to get you through. A thousand of us got sick in that one building alone, and ten of us died. They took all the soap away from the facility shortly before things blew up. Someone had beaten their cellmate to death with a soap-filled sock, which is a standard method, and they decided to stop that by removing socks and soap. So we didn't have soap for washing our hands for weeks, and then only a bar the size of your finger to last you for showering and washing your hands for a whole week. Plus, the workers were supposed to sanitize everything, but if you're paying people $1 to work 16 hours a day you can imagine how good a job you get. I think it was about 9 months into the pandemic when I got my first COVID test. I didn't go to court for a whole year. They keep you in a county jail "to ensure your appearance at court", but I could not go to court because I was in jail. Basically everyone was quarantined, so jail detainees were not allowed in court. We weren't even allowed to use the laptops for Zoom appearances lest we infect the laptops. So, if I had been out of jail I could have gone to court by Zoom, but because I was held in jail I could not go. So COVID took a year of my life that way. They eventually decided to move to single-man cells and get rid of all the double-bunking, but this requires twice as many cells. They didn't have working cell blocks to house everyone. Doesn't matter. They just opened up all the cell blocks that had been shuttered for years. Oh - none of the electrics, plumbing and heating works? Well, I'm sure someone will fix that eventually. I remember at one point my cell being 3C (35F) for three days. That was really cold. They did move some people when their cell dropped to 19*F. We went for weeks at a time with no hot water, so I was the only one brave enough to take a shower. [I was working on my Wim Hof method] Basically, it was a fuck-up from beginning to end. Everything in jail is a fuck-up because there is no real oversight of anything. There's no conspiracy, it's just that is institutional laziness, and in jails the "customers" (detainees) can't complain about anything being fucked-up or you'll be punished for it. So as a jail employee you can easily get away with not doing anything that your job requires. LOL. I've not even scratched the surface with all the things that went on during COVID in the jail. We were also locked in our cells for over 23 hours a day most days. Sometimes we didn't come out for days at a time. "The jail in Chicago is now the nation’s largest-known source of coronavirus infections, according to data compiled by The New York Times, with more confirmed cases than the U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt, a nursing home in Kirkland, Wash., or the cluster centered on New Rochelle, N.Y." https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/08/us/coronavirus-cook-county-jail-chicago.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/08/us/coronavirus-cook-count... (and bear in mind that the NYT had to work with inaccurate data supplied by the Sheriff) Also: https://patch.com/illinois/oaklawn/burbank-gang-member-accused-fatal-soap-sock-jail-beating https://patch.com/illinois/oaklawn/burbank-gang-member-accus...
- kingcharles 5y ago
  Interesting question. You could also ask - is there anything positive about jail? It gives you a lot of time to think about your life, that's for sure. I finally had time to think that while I believed myself to be a good husband, I realized I'd actually been a pretty shitty one. It gave me a chance to finally understand and self-diagnose my mental health issues. I lost 90lbs in the first six months of jail. I went from an overweight 260lbs to a sane 170lbs. That was from being able to strictly control my diet and do a bit of exercise in my cell each day. If you love reading, like I do, then you can do a lot of that. The biggest problem was access to books. In some jails, e.g. Cook County Jail, you might have almost no access to books unless someone sends them to you from the outside. And if you read a book in three days like I do, then your friends and family might get exasperated at constantly sending you $20 books for eight years. Also, the guards are going to take all your books off you as fast as they can and throw them away. I read over 800 books in jail. I went to the Hole three times for 10 days a piece, once for telling my wife in a letter that I'd traded a packet of coffee for a stamped envelope, second time for taking too long trading my rice with someone for a chicken nugget, and third time because the jail had a secret intelligence operation running against me (I got all the documents under FOIA eventually) and so the guards threw contraband into my room, right in front of me, and then arrested me for it. For 10 days at a time, the Hole isn't so bad. I don't know if I would hate it more if it was longer. My first trip there I wasn't prepared and didn't know how anything worked. They had a great selection of books in the Hole if you could get to them. The next two times I went I distracted the guards and managed to grab books before I got locked into the cell, so my time went a lot better. The first time I went they had a policy of putting you in there naked for the first day, but I sued over it, so the next two times I didn't have to suffer that indignity. You can usually get some peace in the Hole. Jail isn't good for people like me who don't mind isolationism because 99% of the time you will have a cellmate to start with. If your cellmate cannot or does not want to read, then they will try to talk to you for the 16 hours a day you are in the cell awake together. And when you are out of the cell you are likely in a room the size of a standard living room, but with 50 other guys, so you will get no peace there either. Going to the Hole might be your only chance to get a few minutes of quiet.
  - nitoso 5y ago
    Thank you for sharing your unique experience! What are best books you read in jail and/or in your life?

chki 5y ago

aspenmayer 5y ago
I’d say it still fits the NEET/hikkikomori definition.
- pyuser583 5y ago
  Doesn’t “NEET” mean “Not in education, employment, or training?”
  - boomboomsubban 5y ago
    It does, he'd still borderline fit that definition. He raised an average one year's salary for a game after ten years of self training.
    - Biganon 5y ago
      So he was in training for 10 years and now he's self employed.
      - Hamuko 5y ago
        I don't think that self-study really fits the definition of "training". Selling your own stuff is definitely self-employment though.
    - ratww 5y ago
      Run-of-the-mill unemployed people that are outgoing fit the "NEET" definition better than him. Also in Japan it seems the definition is a bit more broad than the acronym (otherwise even housewives would be NEETs): "In Japan, the classification comprises people aged between 15 and 34 who are not employed, not engaged in housework, not enrolled in school or work-related training, and not seeking work." Self-training is definitely "work-related training". And he was doing housework.

TheDudeMan 5y ago

Has anyone told this guy that it's really easy to cut your own hair? Especially if you don't need to impress anyone.

netizen-936824 5y ago
If you don't need to impress anyone, why cut it at all?
- andrewljohnson 5y ago
  I find longer hair harder to manage than shorter. Easier to cut it very short every 6 months than wear it super long.
- gadflyinyoureye 5y ago
  When I first started my own consultancy, I grew my hair out. I never had long hair before and thought, "why not?" At the same time, our newly purchase house had a cockroach infestation (which the prior owners did not disclose). One morning I decided to blow-dry my hair. The dryer had a hard time starting. Then a chunk, chunk noise occurred. Finally, a stream of brown paste shot out from the dryer. I threw it away and never used one again. My coarse, gray hair was always wet morning, noon, and night. It was awful. That is the reason I get haircuts even if I'm not trying to impress anyone.
  - opan 5y ago
    A microfiber towel works pretty well to get the bulk of the water out of your hair (you basically squeeze your hair between the towel, like juicing a lemon), and then it can air-dry over the next hour or two just fine.
    - ratww 5y ago
      Long hair dude here. A barber taught me another technique with a normal towel. It's hard to explain and counter intuitive, but you just have to "lightly pat" in different areas instead of shaking or squeezing. The technique is mostly to avoid damage and to avoid frizz, but it is also surprisingly faster than the "shake" method. Maybe with a microfiber towel like you said it's even better.

greesil 5y ago

This guy probably didn't even notice the pandemic.

joemazerino 5y ago

It is a shame that the hikkomori is a trend and becoming popular with COVID.

dustintrex 5y ago
Eh, I doubt many people become hikikomoris because it's trendy. In Japan, it's usually understood to be a reaction to social pressures, basically dropping out of all the various societal rat races (work, dating, "adulting") simultaneously.
- brnt 5y ago
  > adulting Is there a word for the opposite? A desire to escape the pressure of being a child/younh adult? The pressure to be a child and do childlike things always annoyed me so...
  - watwut 5y ago
    "Wishing to grow" or "thinking he is already adult" or "being mature for his age" depending on how you want to spin it.
- smcl 5y ago
  I don't think this was meant as "trendy" as in, people see it as an attractive lifestyle. But rather "it is becoming more of a thing".
pkrotich 5y ago
I'm actually attracted to it - the more I get older the more I think it's a lifestyle for me.
- systematical 5y ago
  I am generally fine only interacting with people face-to-face once or twice a month. All my close friends live states away, so we text or talk. I have my dog who I take on walks. And if I absolutely get tired of being alone (about once or twice a month) I go to a bar and strike up conversation. Sure I do vacations and concerts and the like, but in general I prefer being solo. I've been this way my whole life. I like it, I definitely don't like doing stuff with people more than once a week, too draining on me. Amazingly I even have a girlfriend. She lives two hours away and we switch off who drives to stay the weekend each month.

gexla 5y ago

> The upcoming Pull Stay is, as you would expect, modeled around his principles and requires players to protect their hikikomori master by basically beating people who try entering his house for whatever reason. I detect anger issues. And apparently he's looking for a following so that he can upgrade his status to "hikikomori master." What else do you have to do to hit the rank of master, if 10 years dedicated to the lifestyle doesn't get you there? I guess in Japan, the answer is to develop a video game. > Since then, he's learned English, started up a YouTube channel and learned game development en route to launching his first game with the help of a Kickstarter. Note to self. Creating a game from zero knowledge is a really long process. Maybe he should have skipped learning English. ETA: Here's his Kickstarter link for quick reference. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1363912222/pull-stay https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1363912222/pull-stay

iratewizard 5y ago
Full game development mastery is mastery of software development, graphic design, and storytelling.
- ehnto 5y ago
  Game design, 3D modelling, 3D texturing, general art direction, sound design, audio mixing... the list goes on. There's so much to a modern game and that's just implementation. You also have to market and sell the thing.
unobatbayar 5y ago
> Maybe he should have skipped learning English. There are probably many resources available in Japanese to learn programming/game development. But, English is the foundation of almost everything in the information age.
- JetAlone 5y ago
  Yeah, it's very important for reading the bulk of documentation. He's not making any mistakes to learn english for sure.

driverdan 5y ago

owlbynight 5y ago
What mental illness?
- jhgb 5y ago
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - meepmorp 5y ago
    He could also be 3 kids in a trenchcoat, since we're letting our imaginations run free based on little to no evidence.
    - jhgb 5y ago
      Not quite sure how pointing out that similar symptoms are non-specific is "letting our imaginations run free". You can't really tell for sure.
- dspillett 5y ago
  Some assume that someone who doesn't want the life they want, is defective rather than just different. I get the impression there are some under-managed issues/anxieties here, but no more so than a lot of society, particularly myself and most of my circles at various times in our lives. He just displays his in a way that is currently getting some attention.
slmjkdbtl 5y ago
The guy looks happier than some of my extroverted friends, prefer to stay at home is not illness, being sad and depressed might be! And this games looks like it'll definitely bring more laughter than depression

jabej 5y ago

bredren 5y ago

I first read about this lifestyle in World War Z, a decent book for zombie lore with no connection to what ultimately became the movie. There is a character in the book named Kondo Tatsumi who is described as an “otaku” which I presume has some approximation to hikkikomori.

JetAlone 5y ago
Yeah, there's a "dark triad" of Japanese-bred terms for given behaviours that usually occur together. -Hikikomori is a shut-in. -NEET is someone who is "Not in Employment, Education or Training". -Otaku means basically a "super-geek", an enthusiast about something. They happen a lot in Japanese society and the terms got recognized and coined here, but they are not exclusive to Japan. I believe, as a foreign resident, that the more "Tokyo-like" the conditions of life in a place get, the greater the pressure is to embrace this dark triad. Going out to spend time in a crowded noisy polluted modern city space full of judging eyes is unsettling, so living as a hikikomori offers some shelter from that. Long work hours and demanding extra expectations, and things like academic anxiety are exhausting so NEET life gives an expensive way out. We are all wired to love to learn about and play with something. In a world where people don't communicate positively with each other much passing by in the streets, and you have to sit in institutions all day with other people suffering these pressures and not communicating positively with us, it's not so strange to lean harder on a fascination with something to cope.
- marcan_42 5y ago
  > Going out to spend time in a crowded noisy polluted modern city space full of judging eyes is unsettling Tokyo really isn't that, though. Of big cities it's probably one of the most comfortable to live in. I live walking distance to Shinjuku station, which is the most transited train station in the world, and rarely does a car pass by my apartment. Other than the occasional ambulance there's basically no audible noise from indoors. Sure, you can walk towards the center and end up in the middle of a big crowd - or you can just not do that and spend most of your time in smaller neighborhoods. Convenience stores provide all basic necessities a minute or two's walk away, you have supermarkets within walking distance without having to delve into any dense crowds. You can take main streets to travel around the city and pass by a bunch of people, or you can step 20 meters into a side street and rarely cross paths with anyone. There's parks to relax in all over the city. And if you don't mind taking a few detours and avoiding rush hour, you can get anywhere in Tokyo via the train network (or even buses!) while getting to sit down the whole way, never ending up in an uncomfortably full car. That said - yes, people don't talk to each other in Tokyo by default, and that takes a toll. I've had more random people talk to me on the street in my visits to Osaka than in 7 years living in Tokyo. To socialize here, you need to find groups with similar interests. It took me a while to figure out how this all worked, but for three or so years now I've been going to anime music and jazz jam sessions and related events, and I even play in a couple amateur bands (modulo COVID). If you don't put in the effort to find these kinds of groups, you can certainly end up quite lonely in Tokyo.

jurassic 5y ago

Whenever I hear a bit about the hikikomori phenomenon in western news I'm always left wondering how they support themselves. Are these trust fund kids or something? If they're just living in mom's basement or whatever, that seems pretty selfish and pathetic. I guess this happens in the US also, but it's not something people talk about and we don't have a specific term for it.

ehnto 5y ago
We do, they're NEETs. "Not in Education, Employment, or Training".
howstheweather 5y ago
It may seem selfish from the outside perspective, but there's always more than meets the eye: inability to cope with societal demands?, perhaps the internet has simply just given certain individuals greater capability to connect with ones own "special" interests/people?, hence the disinterest in the outside world: why bother with the "real-world", when all the things that you love about life itself are virtual? Again, it's a peculiar mode of thinking if you aren't conditioned to it. If you've been the popular kid, smart, social, you've been handed most things to you, or people were always quick to help you, in whichever way. Some never had that. And well, some just really like their alone time. And aren't we happy for the time that we live in, that such behavior is empowered for those people? If we disregard an active interest in the contribution of others to something, if X is happy, let's be happy for X.
wickoff 5y ago
It's parents supporting them most of the time and the only expense is food. I think there is an implicit (and sometimes explicit) understanding that if pushed those people would just commit suicide, so the family is stuck in limbo forever. There is also a lot of shame involved on all sides, so getting outside help is problematic.

Markoff 5y ago

> Per ITK, Nito only leaves his apartment to get a haircut and take out the trash, as well as any other activity that absolutely requires him to step outside of the comfort of his room. He gets all of his groceries and whatever else he needs delivered, eliminating the need to go shopping. Huh, I thought Japan is more developed, in China delivery companies offer taking out the trash service for years, they deliver you groceries and on the way out they take out your trash. Also what's up with out of home haircuts? That's pretty standard even in poor European countries for hairdresser to come to your own place, it's actually often cheaper than having rented place, because it saves them tons of money plus it's very difficult to tax it. So as European who lived in China I say meh at taking out the trash and doing haircuts as absolutely required activities to leave the house.

konart 5y ago
>Huh, I thought Japan is more developed, in China delivery companies offer taking out the trash service for years, they deliver you groceries and on the way out they take out your trash. You mean a guy comes into your apartment, puts groceries in the fridge or puts them on the table and then proceeds with collecting your trash for you?
- Markoff 5y ago
  they deliver you groceries to your apartment door, where they will also pick up your trash and throw it outside in the bin, they don't enter apartment years ago when living there used this to deliver groceries to my air purified apartment I didn't leave sometimes for days, it was always nice punch in the nose after opening door and smelling the burning (smoggy) air
quantum_magpie 5y ago
In Japan you need to sort all of your trash and then put it in bins before the truck comes. In my apartment complex it was forbidden to put out trash before 22 the night before, and the truck would show up at 8:15~ everyday for different stuff. As for home haircuts - it's not a thing there as you would rarely invite even friends into your home. It's a space for you and your family.

holografix 5y ago

That’s a very nice aunt he’s got there.

unnouinceput 5y ago
Yeah! That or he has delivered to his door more than just groceries.

MrDresden 5y ago

As I can't see it having been shared before, here[0] is an interesting look into his daily routine that was posted on Youtube roughly a year ago. It is a nice calm interview and video footage taken by him self on why he lives the way he does. It got recommended to me after watching a video on the hikikomori phenomenon. [0] https://youtu.be/pu9Ty9fxTHE https://youtu.be/pu9Ty9fxTHE

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

spqqgza103 5y ago

My father doesn't shower (hasn't showered to my knowledge for the last 10 years). He doesn't leave his property, although he does a lot of outside activity within the property itself. His last medical checkup was in 2001 (to my knowledge). Growing up, he would shower every six months to a year. I lived with him growing up and was ashamed to be seen with him in public. I would try to walk a couple of meters behind him at the grocery store so people wouldn't think we're related. Nowadays he lives alone, I visit every couple of months due to COVID. I would still be embarrassed to be seen with him in public. When I got married, he I managed to get him to wear a suit but not to shower. What goes through his mind to do this to himself I don't know. He says he doesn't sweat much (false) doesn't have body odor (false). Right now he's over 80 years old, but all this started in his forties. I feel bad for him and know I've probably never felt happy being with him in public.

akudha 5y ago
Wait, hasn’t showered in 10 years?? Does he clean some other way? Like a wet towel or something like that? Does he swim? This is super weird. How has he not developed any skin condition, especially if he is working outside and sweating? I can understand not going to the doctor though. There are lots of people who go to the doctor only if absolutely needed. It is even more understandable if he lives in the U.S and doesn’t want to deal with insurance companies
- layer8 5y ago
  You do realize that not showering/bathing was the norm for most of history? There’s no reason to develop skin conditions because of it.

mrkramer 5y ago

This awfully sounds like me during my high school and college years. Go to school or college, get back home, do stuff for school or college and go to my computer to research software topics that interest me. My health suffered but I learned so much. I wouldn't recommend anyone doing it because essentially you are trading your health for knowledge. Go out for a walk everyday.

0xmarcin 5y ago

From what I heard, the problems with Hikikomori often start in late teenage years. At first the person closes the room doors and refuses to leave. I guess this is the diverge point between Japan and western societies. I in the west no sane parent would allow child to stay in their room without leaving for a week. Be it breaking the doors but no way, I would allow my children's to do that. In Japan looks like the parents allow it, and what's worse it can continue for years. One thing that I learned is that the faster psychological problem is addressed the better. Otherwise something quite small can snowball into life damaging persistent disorder. The other thing that I heard is prevalence of bullying in Japan, not only in school but in work live too. I was never in Japan so I cannot verify these claims. But in one book I read that this is the cause for most of the hikikomori cases, bullying either by their classmates or by their coworkers in early 20s. As for this guy, he get a free marketing from this article, so I hope his game will sell well for the time being. But I hope he will try therapy, as I don't see how this could work in the long term...