In the movie “Tokyo”, the last story is called “Hikikomori”, which refers to individuals who choose to isolate themselves from society by staying indefinitely indoors. Usually, they are disillusioned by life or the world in general, which led them to disconnect themselves as much as possible from it. This is said to be an increasingly problematic (anti-)social problem. Unless one is not in a time-limited spiritual retreat for a training purposes, there’s really nothing very positive about being a Hikikomori.
In the story, a Hikikomori guy lives his life in meticulous order, with shelves upon shelves of his daily needs and books. One for physical nourishment and the other for mental nourishment. But perhaps, he just wanted to kill time? He orders his food and stuff by phone delivery and his father sends him money. He had no reason to step outdoors. Then again, he didn’t want to.
One day, he happens to look up at the pizza delivery person and there was a spark of infatuation. At that moment, there was a brief earthquake, and the girl fainted. Exasperated, he wasn’t sure what to do. Here he was, forced to connect to another human being in need. It was the clash of enforced order and real chaos! Maybe what was really earthshaking was the fact that he finally connected to someone – though it was one-sided.
Unable to take his mind off her after she recovers and leaves, he braces himself to venture outdoors to look for her in person. To his surprise, the streets are deserted. Tokyo has become inhabited by mostly Hikikomoris. Even the girl became one, and he had to persuade her to come outside. The story reminds us of the need for the human touch, to realise our need for human connection. Like it or not, we are already interconnected. When we lose connection with other humans, we lose connection to the humanity in us. Even a Hikikomori needs a phone connection to a human for deliveries! If so, may we all connect to one another harmoniously, with appreciation and love. (Yes, do interpret “love” here in a manner as broad as possible!)
