Takeshi Arai says he was a 'hikikomori,' or a socially isolated adolescent cocooned at home, for five years until he turned 20 in June.</PARAGRAPH> <PHOTO> <TABLE WIDTH='250' ALIGN='RIGHT' BORDER='0'> <TR> <TD><IMG ALT='News photo' BORDER='0' SRC='../images/photos2006/nn20060913f2a.jpg' WIDTH='250' HEIGHT='187'/></TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><FONT SIZE='1'><B> Takeshi Arai –

, 20, takes part in a government-sponsored job training program in Fussa, Tokyo, in early August. KYODO PHOTO

After dropping out of school at 14, Arai said, he mostly spent his time watching television in the living room of his parent's home in Saitama, stepping outside only once or twice a month, usually in the morning to avoid bumping into his old schoolmates.

The real-life violence that inspired South Korea's 'Squid Game'
Riot police march in front of the main building of Ssangyong Motor in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul, on Aug. 6, 2009.
Japan’s ‘quiet revolution’ of luxury travel nears fruition
Scheduled to welcome its first guests in early 2025, the Waldorf Astoria Osaka is just one of many luxury hotel openings Japan has seen in recent months.
Tomiko Itooka, the world's oldest person, dies at 116
Tomiko Itooka died of old age in a nursing home for the elderly in the city of Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture.
Japanese chip industry poised for a comeback
An attendee looks at a prototype of a 2-nanometer gate-all-around wafer produced by Rapidus and International Business Machines Corp. at the Semicon Japan exhibition in Tokyo in December.
Three people found dead in Kobe home
Two people who were found Thursday in their relative's home in the city of Kobe had sustained wounds like they had been beaten.
Traveling for sake's sake: The emergence of brewery tourism in Japan
Tonoike Sake Brewery has been gearing their brewery toward tourism since the late 1980s, attempting to lure tourists to the town of Mashiko.
Guitarist Marty Friedman goes to bat for J-pop in new autobiography
One of the themes in American guitarist Marty Friedman’s autobiography “Dreaming Japanese” is that while he has become a star in his own right in Japan, he still feels that he doesn’t “belong.”
Sumo’s brotherhood gets latest inductee
Chugo Saito at Isenoumi stable on Friday. Saito has joined his older brother, Seigo, at the stable.
A year after a deadly earthquake, Noto Peninsula still faces long road to recovery
Photos taken from the same place but at different times in the Noto Peninsula towns of Wajima (left) and Suzu illustrate the progress made following the devastating earthquake that hit these areas of Ishikawa Prefecture on Jan. 1, 2024.
Japan’s go-slow approach to selling high-speed rail globally
At 60, the shinkansen has been mostly stuck in Japan, with only one system ever sold overseas.

Our Planet

People cover themselves with umbrellas during a hot summer day in Tokyo's Ginza district in August. Temperatures shot up in early July, even before the official end of the rainy season, and the high temperatures persisted well into the fall.
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By Tomoko Otake

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One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

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A man offers prayers at Hebikubo Shrine in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward. The shrine is one of several across the country dedicated to the snake.
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