The Essay - Japan Refusal
Christopher Harding asks if mental illness in Japan may actually be a sign of a rejection of a narrowly conceived modernity? From the neurasthenia of the great novelist Natsume Soseki to the "hikikomori" or acute social withdrawal of the 1990s, he questions whether these conditions may actually be a rational response to a tightly governed society: "their deep disorientation may be the result of living in a rapidly changing society and possessing an almost pathological degree of clear-sightedness." This is the final episode in a series of essays in which he explores the doubts and misgivings which have beset the rapid modernisation of mainstream life in Japan.
Producer: Sheila Cook
Published on Friday, 27th April 2018.
Available Podcasts from The Essay
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