Difficulties and Possibilities of Tojisha Activities of Hikikomori People

Through Reexamination of a notion of “Tojisha”

Abstract

　This paper aims to clarify the problems and possibilities of activities of hikikomori

people（ those who have socially withdrawn）. For the purpose, I reexamine

a Japanese notion of “Tojisha”, which literally means subjects or actors who are

involved in certain problems or issues. Ueno Chizuko has tried to clarify the

meaning of the notion and she defined “Tojisha” as a “subject who actively

identifies him/her to the position where his/her needs are attributed”.

　Based on this previous research, I present extended definition of this notion

as a “subject who is imposed to reflect on his/her positionalities”. By this extension,

“Tojisha” can describe the difference between one who expresses his/her

own needs proactively and one who does not express his/her but experience

problems in his/her situation as a difference of attitude toward his/her positionalities.

　Some Tojisha of hikikomori are trying to share their experiences not by identify

themselves to their positionalities but by sharing their experiences of problems

through self-help activities. Other hikikomori people develop self-advocacy

activities, which require people on majority position to accept positionalities of

hikikomori people not as their condition of failure but just as their living realities.

In the self-advocacy activities, hikikomori people criticize the majority people

of Japanese society who deny hikikomori as meaningless or to be changed.

　Hikikomori people need to accept their positionality of a subject who is difficult

to comply for social expectation and they need to focus on the “impossibilities”

rather than the “possibilities” to meet social expectations, if they want to

develop Tojisha activities as self-help and self-advocacy. Tojisha activities which

expect “possibilities” of hikikomori people deny hikikomori experiences of “immobilities”.

Activities of hikikomori people which consider ther “immobilities”

as essential of their positionality can provide opportunities of self-help and

self-advocacy for various Tojisha of impossibilities.