From my research the more successful approach to the acute social withdrawal is to remove the person from the stagnant home environment and put them into a group situation with peers in the same state. ... I still maintain that the majority of youth so-labeled as hikikomori are not mentally ill but socially isolated and in need of a third party intervention to bring them back into functionality in everyday society. Continue reading

English director Laurence Thrush and executive producer Takao Saiki released "Tobira no Muko" (Left handed) back in 2009 and the film now is due for an official release in Japan. ... You can read about the film in greater detail on the ENglish website for the film: Tobira no Muko And here is a subtitled Youtube trailer for the film: ~M.D. Continue reading

Its been exactly one month today since the Tohoku earthquake in Japan. My condolences to those who have lost someone in this tragedy and that those who are gone from this world have found peace. Earthquake Continue reading

There was an article in the New York Times in 2006 about hikikomori. Even though the Gray Lady is now behind a pay-wall, you should still be able to view the article. Continue reading

There is now talk of Nationalizing the TEPCO power utility (see here as well) as the massive cost to pay for damages caused by this radioactive fiasco has probably rendered TEPCO stock worthless , Moody has already downgraded TEPCO stocks from A1 to Baa1 . ... Here are a few sensible reports on the radiation issue at Fukushima. http://www.japanprobe.com/2011/03/30/still-no-need-to-panic-about-radiation-leaks-at-fukushima/ Earthquake Continue reading

Earthquake Continue reading

To get a sense of perspective, here is a time lapse of earthquakes and aftershocks since the 9.0: http://www.japanquakemap.com/ For the regions hit in North-East Japan, the tsunami was undeniably the most devastating result of the earthquake. ... There is also the sheer scale of the debris and wreckage left after the tsunami, leading to debates on whether to rebuild at all or what to do with the 146,000 damaged vehicles in Miyagi. Earthquake Continue reading

About the only AC CM I can tolerate at this point is the one based on the poem "kodama-deshou ka" by Misuzu Kaneko. Earthquake Continue reading

Earthquake Continue reading

Personally, I dislike the usage of "pressure cooker" applied to the Japanese school system. If forced to use sound bite imagery, I would prefer to think of the educational track in a Japan as a highway with too few off-ramps into adult life. Collectively, this marginalized population of Freeters and NEET are rapidly becoming Japan's new working class with no viable path to a mainstream middle class career. Continue reading

Its just been announced on NHK several minutes ago, 2:45 pm local time, that radiation testing of water purification plants has show a reading of 210 Becquerels in the water for the 23 wards of central Tokyo as well as Western Tokyo. The cause is radioactive iodine. That includes Mitaka and Musashino City where I live. The thing to think about is, while a reading of 210 Bq/liter is not threatening to health, continuous consumption will be a problem. In addition to tap water. raw milk, spinach and 10 other vegetables from Fukushima and Ibaraki Prefectures have been identified as having radioactive contamination. Earthquake, Kichijouji Continue reading

A little about me: My name is Michael Dziesinski and I've lived in Tokyo for the last two years working on my dissertation for my PhD in Sociology at the University of Hawaii Manoa. ... Currently posts are focusing on critiques and deconstruction of the current media coverage. http://www.japanprobe.com/ And here is a wiki that is cataloguing fear-mongering and sensationalist journalism on events since the earthquake. http://jpquake.wikispaces.com/ ~M.D. Earthquake, Kichijouji Continue reading

The events and the aftermath were terrible and my heart goes out to those unfortunate enough to be overcome by the earthquake, subsequent tsunami and now, the radioactive fallout from the Fukushima reactors. For an idea on magnitude and massive number of aftershocks Northern Japan has endured from March 11th to March 18th alone, please look at this time-lapse of events: http://www.japanquakemap.com/ ~M.D. Kichijouji, Earthquake Continue reading

Sorry to let this blog go inactive if anybody but dissertation service spammers read it. Again just a note to those folks- I personally approve comments so your link-spam will never make it to the front page of my blog. Go elsewhere. But it has made me realize I need to freshen this blog up. I'll do my best to do so. I currently live in Tokyo and I'm doing my PhD dissertation research so maybe I can talk about that process here. Cheers, M.D. Continue reading