Wataru Yoshida had had enough. He wasn’t going back to school.

He disliked his teachers, chafed against the rules and was bored by his classes. So in the middle of 2020, as Japan’s schools reopened after pandemic closings, Wataru decided to stay home and play video games all day.

"He just declared, ‘I’m getting nothing from school,’” says his mother, Kae Yoshida.