The professional support for Neet.

"Neet" are young individuals who are not engaged in education, employment, or training. Socially withdrawn Hikikomori is one type of Neet. There are 520,000 Neet in Japan. Can you believe that? They say there are four types of Neet - Hikkikomori type, Yankee type (who live their days for their own enjoyment), transfixing types who know they have to work but sit brooding all day, and the false step type who can't get back on their feet after a setback. Here is an article about Neet in the Japan Times.

The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare finally begins to make many efforts. They have allocated 11 billion yen to next years budget for measures to help Neet and will build 64 "Neet support centres" all over Japan, The MHLW will gather and analyze related information and then visit each Neet to urge them to work and be independent. They say clinical psychotherapists will work for the centres too.

I am always wondering if this issue is so big only in Japan? Some foreigners gave me comments and mails before, but in most cases, they are staying at home without going out and meeting people, but at least they earn their living. In Japan, many Neet have their family's financial support (Yankee type would have part time job). Why don't Neet work? Why do they support them? Neet is not only an individual issue, but sometimes (maybe most cases) it's a family issue.

I linked to Hikikomori guy's blog in March, and this is what I wrote about him, "regularly he suffers from his lack of motivation for life, ends up wondering about his individual value, and spends a lot of time searching for his identity. He said he's gotten slurs on his site, but I could sense he gets hurt most from these words "you are so exaggeratedly self-conscious".
Today I read his web again, he seems to be depressed and puts himself down. He says he feels as if he has only two options, death from starvation at home or being homeless. I wanted to say hello to him, but he erased the comment part from his blog, he says his ears hurts because he wears earphones for 24 hours. He focused on himself in March, and he said he enjoyed my post. 6 months have passed, now he criticizes others and gives in to despair, he seems to have harder times now.

Some Neet would be just lazy, some Neet would suffer from their state. It would be very very difficult job for "Neet support centers", but professional support for each case would be needed now.

Comments

[Mari]

Hi Thanks Chris and Dali.
Generation X, hmm interesting. Then the U.S society think generation X will make damage for economy or somethintg? NEET is burden for our sciety.

In the 60s, the 70s we said all Japanese are middle class, but there will be clearly success people and non-success people, the difference between rich and poor would be bigger in Japan.

[I am Dali]

"transfixing type who know they have to work but sit brooding all day"

that made me laugh.

500,000 people can seem like a lot. but i think it's still small, out of many Millions of people. it seems normal that there is a group of people who are down-on-their-luck and dysfunctional in the context of modern commercial society. they're a little anxious, feel meaningless, maybe lazy, probably confused. don't know what to do with their lives. they need a little HELP.

mari commented (i think) recently about the trend of people (not neet) opting out of salary-man mentality and accumulation of wealth. they choose instead to make just enough money to live happily. i think this is like the Generation X thing, but not Neet.

that's much better than Neet, because they don't put a burden on family. i think.

(i hated that book, Generation X. but i liked the way they lived, in their flat.)

i think the american term for Neet might be something like "emo bum"

[Chris]

in the states we had the generation x phenomenon (my age group was part of that period) in the mid-90s: people who were disaffected with the go-go business drive of the 1980s US (epitomized by Oliver Stone's film "Wallstreet"). the greatest literary expression of that period was douglas copeland's famous novel, "generation x."

these were people who consciously decided to get out of the salary-man culture and instead worked in "McJobs" -- low-paying, low-prestige jobs (think of a job at McDonald's) or just "checked-out" of the stress of corporate america entirely.

Chris