Rent-a-sister: Coaxing Japan’s hikikomori men out of their bedrooms | POP JAPAN Hikikomori refers to young Japanese men that refuse to leave their bedrooms and gets withdrawn from their society. They all spend their evening playing games o...
What is the movie hikikomori and the rental sister about?
Inspired by the real-life Japanese social phenomenon called hikikomori and the professional “rental sisters” hired to help, Hikikomori and the Rental Sister is about an erotic relationship between Thomas, an American hikikomori, and Megumi, a young Japanese immigrant hiding from her own past.
What is the purpose of the rental sister system?
The purpose of the certified rental sister system developed here is to reach out to and communicate with these people who lock themselves in the room and start Hikikomori Therapy. Family alone cannot communicate with these children. For this reason, the rented siblings / brothers try to reach these people with certain time intervals.
What would an American rental sister call herself?
An American rental sister would be likelier to call herself an outreach counselor, the linguistic equivalent of stomping in muddy hiking boots through a Japanese teahouse. Such a term would entirely miss the kind of erotic masochism on which Mr. Backhaus’s book depends.
Why did the rental sister's brother lock himself away?
The rental sister is Japanese/Korean and her brother in Japan had locked himself away after being beaten up at school because he is half Korean. This phenomenon is called hikikomori and is common in Japan. This was a really strange book.
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Publisher Description
A “masterpiece” about a withdrawn husband, a desperate wife, and the young Japanese woman who is hired to break down the walls between them (Robert Goolrick).
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY SEP 10, 2012
Hikikomori, Backhaus explains in his implausible debut, is the Japanese term for withdrawn, an experience apparently more common than Silke Tessler realizes when she goes looking for help for her husband, Thomas, who shut himself up in a room three years earlier and has barely been outside of it since.
What is the rental sister in Hikikomori?
Hikikomori and the Rental Sister tells the story of a man named Thomas who has holed himself in his bedroom for 3 years. The Japanese term "hikikomori" means "pulling inward, confined", and it says on the back of the book that it's a Japanese phenomenon. His wife, Silke, hires a "rental sister" named Megumi, who's job is basically to help that the isolated person out of their room.
How many chapters are there in Hikikomori and the Rental Sister?
Jeff Backhaus' Hikikomori and the Rental Sister was a 4 and a half star novel for 18 and a half of its 26 chapters. The subtle, Japanese nuanced pathos of an amazingly original American story, the gentle, fluid prose of the first 2 thirds of this back and forth narrative were testaments to the author's talent, as well as his empathy. One feels through his writing, after living and working in Korea, Backhaus had obviously immersed himself in the understated elegance of Eastern literature and culture.
What is the name of the Japanese person who retreats from the world after a tragedy?
Hikikomori is the name in Japan for a person who retreats from the world after a tragedy. In this case, Thomas and his wife live in New York and lost their young son in an instant to what was considered an unavoidable accident, but Thomas blames himself and has stayed cloistered in his small room for three years. His wife, Silke, has tried everything to entice him out - entreaties, tempting him with little things that embody their life on the other side of the door, and finally raging against him and unable to go on. In her desperation, she hires a "rental sister", as it is known in Japan, a strange phenomenon, completely without an equivalent in the U.S. Megumi, a young Japanese Korean has some familiarity with Thomas' condition through her own experience with her brother. In her brother's case, it ended in tragedy, and Megumi begins her role with Thomas as initially a reluctant participant.
Who does Backhaus hire to bring him out of his shell?
His wife hires a "Rental Sister", a young woman to bring him out of his shell, his room, his hopelessness. And with a mere three characters, Backhaus manages to sustain a story that I am still pondering, rehearsing on the stage in my head.
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How Can Hikikomori Therapy Save You From Lockdown?
Sometimes this isolation can be precipitated by social anxiety or extroverted tendencies that tend to come with depression for many Japanese people, but at its core it seems like just another type of anxiety.
What Does Hikikomori Mean?
Hikikomori is the Japanese term for people who stay in their homes to avoid social contact. These are people who have cut themselves off from society or are not confident engaging with other people.
About Author
I am studying in Florida about Dialectic Behavioral Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. I'm doing research on Neuro-Emotional Technique (NET), Cognitive psychology, Metacognitive Therapy.
