Sunday, December 29, 2002

Mercury News | 12/28/2002 | Japan's shut-in society

Mercury News | 12/28/2002 | Japan's shut-in society
TOKYO - Kenji has seldom left his bedroom in five years. On a good day, when he forces himself, he can almost get to the front door of his mother's small Tokyo apartment before fear overtakes him.



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At least 1 million Japanese adults, mostly men, share Kenji's reclusive behavior, just one symptom of the nation's decline after a decade of recession and economic stagnation. Sleeping by day and pacing their rooms at night, these men epitomize a country that has become isolated, apprehensive and increasingly unable to interact with the outside world, according to a growing number of professional counselors and other experts.

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