引き籠り

Hikikomori means to be a recluse. This is apparently an emerging problem among Japanese youths according to this NYT article, which has interesting insights into the flaws of the Japanese society and the psychology of Japanese (mostly)men within it.

I hate to think about it this way, but these hikikomori kids remind me of those jobless and clueless times between graduating college and moving to DC, and to a much lesser extent, between DC and Japan.

And it's somewhere I do not want to visit after I leave Japan. It's time to get back in touch with my ex-profs and hop back on the horse and re-re-re-restart writing my statement of purpose.