Yusuke Morishima is the vice president of Quietude, a company based in Nagano that provides services in everything from translation, interpretation, counseling and consulting to job recruiting. But as of 2019, he had been a hikikomori — a social recluse who rarely leaves their home or makes contact with others — for five years.
“Being in a large group was always exhausting to me,” says Morishima, 33. “I was overly concerned about the people around me, and it really affected my mental health. Eventually, I stopped going to school, and then when I became even more tired, I stopped going out altogether and became a hikikomori.”
But after attending Samurai Gakuen (Samugaku for short), a school based in Ueda, Nagano Prefecture, that has been providing specialized education for hikikomori and troubled youth for 20 years, Morishima managed to not only overcome his social anxiety but earn gainful employment at Quietude — and then move up the ranks to boot.
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