Isolation nation: Japan tries to draw its citizens out of post-Covid seclusion

Japan’s health ministry defines a hikikomori as someone who has remained isolated at home for at least six months, avoiding school or work. Photograph: Grant Faint/Getty

Vosot Ikeida traces the start of his life of isolation to a time when most people are beginning to spread their wings.

Ikeida (not his real name) had moved from his family home in Nagoya, central Japan, to study at a prestigious university in Tokyo when he began to feel alienated from his peers.