Shutting Out The Sun

In her essay “Inside and Outside: An Analysis on Shutting Out the Sun”, Jiang first identifies the concept of “inside and outside” as the most prominent cause of the phenomenon of hikikomori (Jiang, 1). Second, Jiang asserts that because of his perspective as an outsider, Zielenziger is bias and unfairly uses Western values to judge Japan. To the first point, while I agree that the division of “inside and outside” is important to the emergence of hikikomori, I think Jiang’s account is an oversimplification. As to the second point, I agree that Zielenziger is inevitably biased. However, I think Jiang mischaracterizes this “bias”. In fact, since everyone with a distinct perspective is more or less biased, a biased account is not necessarily bad.

As I noted earlier, in his book Zielenziger is less questioning Japanese values than investigating why the system does not work for hikikomori. Therefore, Zielenziger is indeed an outsider, yet he does not disregard Japanese tradition or uphold his American values, as Jiang claims. Rather, precisely because of his status as an outsider, can he delve into what “insiders” have already taken for granted, in this case hikikomori. On the personal level, “in polite company, the subject of hikikomori is seldom brought up” (40); on the government level, “Japan’s central government, which should be taking the lead, seems paralyzed or uninterested” (76) in countermeasures to hikikomori. Zielenziger’s perspective as an outsider enables him to notice hikikomori and to freely think about it. For me, Shutting Out the Sun does not aim to advocate a solution, but to record stories of contemporary Japan. This book provides a foreign perspective through which we can see Japan more wholistically. This perspective is helpful, as Okayama believes “only pressure from the outside—from foreigners, especially—will force Japan to seriously confront its own societal dysfunction…it was an idea I often expressed in Japan” (47-48). A foreign perspective only motivates Japan to face the problem. In the end, it is Japan, and only Japan, that can redeem