4:30 p.m. lecture by Alan Teo, M.D.followed by screening of “Tobira no Muko” or “Left Handed”Adriaticos pizza will be served

0160 EA Building209 West 18th Ave.

For more information, contact attias-goldstein.1@osu.eduThis event is sponsored in part by a U.S. Department of Education Title VI Grant.

Co-sponsored by:

EASC Special Event

In recent years, Japan has been struggling with hundreds of thousands of young people who have retreated into their very own bedrooms. Known as "hikikomori," they are modern-day hermits who disdain social contact and are unable to work or go to school for months or even years. Using the lens of a physician -- but, also careful to consider psychological, social, and cultural factors at play, Dr. Teo reviews the nature, scope, and ramifications of this epidemic of social isolation. He further considers whether hikikomori exists elsewhere in the world and what we can do to address the problem.

4:30 p.m. lecture by Dr. Alan TeoAlan R. Teo, M.D., M.S., is an adult psychiatrist who completed his undergraduate education with honors at Stanford University and medical school and residency at the University of California, San Francisco. He is currently a clinical lecturer in the department of psychiatry and a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar at the University of Michigan. Dr. Teo’s research is focused on the effect of social ties on mental health outcomes. Recently completed research studies

STEM in East Asia Lecture Series continues with:

have included a systematic review and meta‐analysis of the role of social isolation in social anxiety disorder and a secondary data analysis of the quality of social relationships as a predictor for the development of major depression. He has also written extensively about hikikomori, a form of social withdrawal first described in Japan. His work has been featured in the Guardian, Le Monde, Los Angeles Times, and NPR. In his clinical work, he is interested in collaborative care and incorporates principles of cultural humility, measurement‐based care, stepped treatment, and patient centeredness. He is fluent in Japanese and serves on the board of directors of VIA.

5:15 film screening of Tobira no Muko "Hiroshi, a disaffected teenage boy, is struggling at school and one day shuts himself away in his bedroom. For the next two years he refuses to come out or let anyone else in. Hiroshi’s parents are so ashamed by what has happened that they attempt to conceal his condition from friends and family. The story is based on the condition of Hikikomori, which is estimated to affect 1 million young Japanese". -Tobira no Muko website

Tobira no Muko is the debut feature of British director Laurence Thrush, produced in collaboration with executive producer Takao Saiki through SIZE.The cast is comprised almost entirely of non-actors, including the star Kenta Negishi, a former student of a school for those unwilling or refusing to attend junior high or high school, as well as ex-hikikomori children.

East Asian Studies CenterOSU Film Studies ProgramInstitute for Japanese Studies

Wednesday, April 10

“Modern-Day Hermits: The Story of Hikikomori in Japan and Beyond”