Akiko Abe has barely seen her 25-year-old son in six years, yet they live in the same small house. He leaves his room only when he's sure his parents are out or asleep, she said. She can tell when he has used the kitchen, and she knows he goes to the living room to watch television and use the computer at night.

    阿部秋子盡管與兒子同住在一間小房子里，六年來(lái)，他只在父母外出或者睡覺(jué)的時(shí)候才出門(mén)。她只知道他什么時(shí)候用過(guò)廚房，還知道他在客廳看過(guò)電視，在晚上使用過(guò)電腦，可是她卻沒(méi)能和自己25歲的兒子見(jiàn)上幾次面。

    She has waited patiently for him to tire of his isolation, sometimes standing outside his door and talking, to herself as much as to him. But, afraid that many more years would pass like this, she finally approached an organization that works with shut-ins by making home visits. "It will be difficult, because he won't open his door," she said quietly.

    她耐心地等待著有一天兒子終于會(huì)厭煩這種自我封閉，有時(shí)她就站在他的門(mén)口說(shuō)話，既是對(duì)他說(shuō)也是對(duì)自己說(shuō)。但是她很害怕再過(guò)上幾年這樣的日子，于是她終于向一家自閉癥患者援助中心求助，這個(gè)組織可以提供家訪服務(wù)。“這可能會(huì)很麻煩，因?yàn)樗�不愿意開(kāi)門(mén)，”她小聲地說(shuō)道。

    As many as a million Japanese -- most of them young men -- are considered shut-ins, either literally cloistered in their rooms or refusing to work and avoiding all social contact for periods ranging from six months to more than 10 years. Forty-one percent live reclusively for one to five years, according to a government survey. Some shut-ins suffer from such illnesses as depression, agoraphobia or schizophrenia. But experts say the vast majority shut themselves up at home for six months or more without showing any other signs of neurological or psychiatric disorder. The seriousness of the problem has increased dramatically over the past decade as Japan's economy has slid into recession, bringing record unemployment rates and little job security as companies restructure or go bankrupt.

    日本有將近一百萬(wàn)人患有自閉癥，其中大多數(shù)是年輕人。他們把自己幽禁在房間里，不愿意去工作，把自己完全與外界隔離開(kāi)來(lái)，少則半年，多的超過(guò)10年。根據(jù)一項(xiàng)政府調(diào)查表明，41%的患者把自己一人關(guān)禁起來(lái)一到五年不等。一些自閉者患有沮喪、曠野恐懼或者精神分裂等癥狀。但是專家們表示，大多數(shù)的自閉病人在呆在家里半年或更長(zhǎng)的時(shí)間里，都沒(méi)有出現(xiàn)任何神經(jīng)或精神上的失調(diào)癥狀。隨著日本的經(jīng)濟(jì)開(kāi)始走下坡路，經(jīng)濟(jì)蕭條導(dǎo)致了居高不下的失業(yè)率，而由于公司重組或者破產(chǎn)員工的飯碗也是朝不保夕，自閉現(xiàn)象在過(guò)去十年里也變得更加嚴(yán)重。

    Psychologists and other mental health experts here say that Japan has the biggest problem of this type in the world, and that it is growing. They give a long list of reasons why young men are dropping out of society, including a declining birthrate, which means there are more families with only one son on whom they place all their hopes in this patrilineal society. Also, boys grow up without male role models because their fathers are working all the time. Psychologists also cite Japan's "culture of shame," which makes people fear how they're perceived if they have a problem fitting in. Japan's wealth makes it possible for people to cut themselves off from society. Young adults live at home much longer than they do in the United States, traditionally until marriage. Teens and adults who drop out of school or leave work are simply supported by their parents.

    心理學(xué)家和心理健康專家們都一致認(rèn)為自閉現(xiàn)象在日本尤其嚴(yán)重，并且有增長(zhǎng)的趨勢(shì)。他們列出了一大串的理由來(lái)解釋為什么年輕人會(huì)幽居寡出，與世隔絕。這些理由包括低出生率，這表明在這個(gè)父系社會(huì)里，越來(lái)越多的家庭只有一個(gè)孩子，家長(zhǎng)們把他們所有的希望都寄托在這個(gè)孩子身上。同時(shí)，由于父親長(zhǎng)時(shí)間在外工作，男孩在成長(zhǎng)過(guò)程中缺乏可模仿的男性模范角色。心理學(xué)者同時(shí)指出日本文化中的羞恥感，在出現(xiàn)問(wèn)題的時(shí)候，人們都害怕不能被社會(huì)所接納而極力隱瞞。日本的富有也使日本國(guó)民可以脫離社會(huì)生存。日本的年輕成人呆在家里的時(shí)間遠(yuǎn)比美國(guó)人的長(zhǎng)，傳統(tǒng)上他們?cè)诮Y(jié)了婚以后才自立門(mén)戶。對(duì)退學(xué)或失業(yè)的孩子，他們的父母完全有能力把他們養(yǎng)在家里。

    "When I was young, there was no question that you would have to go to work," said Abe, 61, who asked that her son, who refused to talk to a visitor, not be named. "Now, families have enough money so that the children don't need to find jobs right away." In an attempt to get their son to communicate with them, Abe and her husband have decided that from now on, they are not going to slip an envelope under his door with his '400 monthly allowance. Shut-ins -- 70 to 80 percent of whom are men -- often sleep much of the day and are up all night, watching television, using the Internet and popping out to the 24-hour convenience stores that are located in most neighborhoods and sell all kinds of microwaveable packaged meals. Japan's convenience store culture caters to the solitary life -- providing everything for the person eating alone, living alone.

    “在我年輕的時(shí)候，我必須要出去找工作謀生”，現(xiàn)年61歲的阿部秋子說(shuō)。她的兒子拒絕和來(lái)訪者交談，她請(qǐng)求不要把她兒子的名字寫(xiě)出來(lái)，“現(xiàn)在，每家每戶都有足夠的錢(qián)，他們的子女也不必急著去找工作。”嘗試著讓他們的兒子以后和他們進(jìn)行交流，阿部秋子夫婦倆決定停止兒子每月400美金的零用錢(qián)，那還是夫婦倆用信封裝好從兒子的門(mén)縫里塞進(jìn)去的。70%到80%的自閉癥患者是男性，他們經(jīng)常晝伏夜出，白天就蒙頭大睡，晚上才出來(lái)活動(dòng)，看電視、上網(wǎng)，或者跑到外面24小時(shí)營(yíng)業(yè)的便利店。這些便利店在每個(gè)街區(qū)都有，可以提供各式各樣的速食食品，只要放進(jìn)微波爐烤一烤就可以吃。日本的便利店文化迎合了獨(dú)居生活的需要——里面的東西可以滿足一個(gè)人獨(dú)吃獨(dú)住的一切需求。

    "In Japan, it's easy for anybody to live with walls around themselves," said Seiei Muto of the Tokyo Mental Health Academy. "And with the number of children declining, you play alone, eat alone, study alone."

    “在日本，人們很容易生活在自己修筑的墻里面，孤獨(dú)地生活著”，東京精神健康研究所的武藤清英說(shuō)，“隨著兄弟姐妹數(shù)量的減少，你就自然成了孤家寡人，你只好一個(gè)人玩，一個(gè)人吃，一個(gè)人學(xué)習(xí)。”武藤清英和一些精神康復(fù)的工作人員還談到了自閉現(xiàn)象的其他成因，比如說(shuō)交流能力的匱乏，日本城市里人們彼此距離的疏遠(yuǎn)，及集體合作精神的崩潰等。

    Muto and other mental health workers talk about the decline of communication skills, the increasing anonymity of urban Japan and the collapse of a cooperative society. "If a child is walking down the street, it would be rare for someone to ask the child, 'Where are you going?' " Muto said. Others say the problem has deep historical and cultural roots. "Japan is a rich country, but we have no identity, no confidence, no ability to communicate with others," said Tadashi Yamazoe, a professor of clinical psychology at Kyoto Gakuen University. "Japanese have a passive personality." But most people say it is a modern phenomenon, evidence of a great generation gap between those who built Japan's postwar economic success, and their children, who cannot expect lifetime employment in today's weak economy and say they do not want it anyway.

    “如果一個(gè)小孩在街道上游蕩，幾乎沒(méi)有路人會(huì)上去問(wèn)他'你要去哪里呀？'”武藤清英說(shuō)。但也有人認(rèn)為這個(gè)問(wèn)題有著深遠(yuǎn)的歷史與文化根源。“日本是個(gè)富裕的國(guó)家，但是我們卻有身份危機(jī)，我們?nèi)狈ψ孕牛�不懂與他人交流”，東京學(xué)園大學(xué)的臨床心理學(xué)教授山添忠說(shuō)，“日本人的性格都很消極被動(dòng)。”但是大多數(shù)的人認(rèn)為這只是個(gè)現(xiàn)代病，證明兩代人之間已經(jīng)有了一道無(wú)法逾越的鴻溝，與親手締造戰(zhàn)后日本經(jīng)濟(jì)繁榮的父輩相比，他們的子女根本不指望能在經(jīng)濟(jì)疲軟的今天找到鐵飯碗，他們甚至不在乎有沒(méi)有工作。

    "In Japan there has been only one path, and today an increasing number of people are not on it," said Noki Futagami, who began the nonprofit New Start Foundation to work with shut-ins. "It's easy to say that academic background is not everything. But the parents cannot suggest another path because they don't know one." The existence of large numbers of shut-ins in many ways encapsulates the social problems of modern Japan and the wrenching period it is now going through. The Japanese word for the phenomenon -- hikikomori -- translates as withdrawal, and it is becoming increasingly familiar. It is the subject of television documentaries and newspaper and magazine articles.

    “在日本只有一條路可以走，可現(xiàn)在越來(lái)越多的人都不在這條路上走，”二神軒這樣說(shuō)道，他創(chuàng)辦了新生基金會(huì)，一個(gè)幫助自閉癥患者的非贏利機(jī)構(gòu)，“大家都說(shuō)學(xué)歷背景其實(shí)并不重要，說(shuō)起來(lái)很容易，可是家長(zhǎng)們又不能提出其他更好的出路。”自閉現(xiàn)象的流行其實(shí)濃縮了日本的很多社會(huì)問(wèn)題，日本經(jīng)濟(jì)的不景氣也使這個(gè)問(wèn)題顯得特別尖銳。日語(yǔ)把這現(xiàn)象稱為閉居，翻譯過(guò)來(lái)就是遁世。這個(gè)詞現(xiàn)在在日本很流行，常在電視、報(bào)紙和雜志等媒體中報(bào)道。

    Many adult shut-ins start as school dropouts. For a country obsessed with education, there is a surprisingly high number of dropouts. A record 134,000 elementary and junior high students were absent from school for at least 30 straight days during the 2000-01 school year, more than twice the number 10 years ago.

    很多成年人的自閉首先從退學(xué)開(kāi)始。對(duì)極端重視教育的日本來(lái)說(shuō)，日本的輟學(xué)率也是相當(dāng)驚人。日本中小學(xué)在2000年度就有134,000人次曠課一個(gè)月以上，這個(gè)數(shù)字是10年前的兩倍多。

    Abe said her son's school years were normal, but in high school he failed the university entrance exam. That is not unusual; most who fail study for another year and try again. Abe's son said he was going to study on his own instead of enrolling in a cram school, and that began his withdrawal.

    The family has tried to keep the problem hidden, not even talking about it to relatives, much less neighbors.

    阿部秋子說(shuō)她兒子在學(xué)校的表現(xiàn)還算正常，但在高中升大學(xué)的考試中考砸了。這本來(lái)也不是很出奇的事情，大多數(shù)失敗的考生都會(huì)復(fù)讀一年再考一次。阿部秋子的兒子說(shuō)他寧愿自習(xí)也不愿意參加備考班，從此他就開(kāi)始了遁世。夫婦倆試圖掩蓋這件事情，從沒(méi)跟親戚們講起，鄰居們也自然無(wú)從得知。但是二神軒說(shuō)，這就意味著這個(gè)家庭也把自己封閉起來(lái)，這只會(huì)使問(wèn)題惡化。

    But Futagami said this means the family is shutting itself in as well, making the problem worse. "There are things parents can and cannot do," he said. "They should be more open and get help from others, nurture social ties. I regard this as an illness stemming from society. Nobody helps these people, so they accumulate." In a few recent cases, socially withdrawn young men have committed shocking crimes, including a 27-year-old who kidnapped a 9-year-old girl in 1990 and kept her in his room for nine years. His mother, who lived downstairs, was never permitted to enter his room.

    “處理這些問(wèn)題有些是家長(zhǎng)們可以做的，有些卻是不能做的，”他說(shuō)，“他們應(yīng)該更加開(kāi)放，從外界尋求幫助，培養(yǎng)社會(huì)關(guān)系。我認(rèn)為這是由于社會(huì)弊端在作怪，沒(méi)有人愿意幫助這些人，所以這些人的人數(shù)也隨之增長(zhǎng)。”近期的一些例子中，遁離社會(huì)的年輕人犯下了令人發(fā)指的罪行，其中有一個(gè)27歲的男子，于1990年綁架了個(gè)年僅9歲的小女孩，然后把她困在自己房間里長(zhǎng)達(dá)9年之久。而住在樓下的母親卻從來(lái)不容許進(jìn)入他的房間。

    "In America, the child's room belongs to the parents and is seen as being rented out to the kid," noted one of the actors appearing in a new play on shut-ins. "The child can be displaced for guests." This is a remarkable concept in Japan, where the norm is that teens or young adults can forbid their parents from entering their rooms.

    “在美國(guó)，孩子的房間是父母的財(cái)產(chǎn)，他們就好像把房間租給孩子一般，”一位演員這樣說(shuō)到，他剛參加了一部反映自閉現(xiàn)象的戲劇演出，“當(dāng)有客人來(lái)時(shí)，小孩的房間可以準(zhǔn)做客房。”而在日本，青少年和年輕成年人完全可以把父母趕出他們的房間，這在日本已經(jīng)是個(gè)深入人心的觀念。

    As the problem gets more national attention, parent support groups, counseling centers and mental health clinics have geared up to help families. Home visits over the course of months and sometimes years bring many people out of their rooms. But finding a job after having spent several years as a shut-in is extremely difficult. To provide work experience, Futagami's New Start organization runs a welfare center for the elderly, a restaurant and coffee shop.

    這個(gè)問(wèn)題越來(lái)越引起全國(guó)的關(guān)注，家長(zhǎng)援助組織、咨詢中心和心理健康醫(yī)療所等機(jī)構(gòu)組織了各種活動(dòng)援助那些家庭。幾個(gè)月甚至幾年的家訪，他們終于使很多患者帶出了他們的家門(mén)。但是，自閉癥患者在閑置多年后再繼續(xù)找工作會(huì)變得特別困難。為了給他們提供工作經(jīng)歷，二神軒的新生基金會(huì)開(kāi)了一個(gè)老人福利中心、一家餐館和咖啡店。

    Takeshi Watanabe, a counselor with the Tokyo Mental Health Academy, and Yasutaka Masuko, 28, seem like brothers. For 10 years Watanabe visited Masuko once a week at the home Masuko refused to leave. Masuko said he doesn't remember anything specific causing him to drop out of school during his second year of junior high. "Maybe I was feeling pressure," he said. For a while he became physically ill when people came to see him.

    渡邊武是東京精神健康研究院的顧問(wèn)，他與28歲的康隆雅子看上去象是兄弟一般。十年來(lái)，渡邊武每周對(duì)康隆雅子進(jìn)行一次家訪，而康隆雅子卻不肯離開(kāi)自己的家門(mén)。康隆雅子回憶說(shuō)，他其實(shí)記不清是哪件具體的事情讓他在初二時(shí)退學(xué)。“也許是我感到壓力吧，”他說(shuō)。在一段時(shí)間里，只要有人來(lái)看他，他就會(huì)覺(jué)得渾身不舒服。

    But Watanabe's steady visits, their shared interest in music and eventually Masuko's purchase of a computer slowly convinced Masuko that he could go out. The turning point was soccer. He wanted so badly to go to the games of his favorite team -- an interest encouraged by Watanabe -- that he bought a season ticket, and before the first game practiced going outside.

    渡邊武持之以恒的家訪發(fā)現(xiàn)倆人在音樂(lè)方面有共同的愛(ài)好，最終康隆雅子買(mǎi)下了一臺(tái)電腦，而康隆雅子也慢慢地被說(shuō)服，他其實(shí)是可以出去面對(duì)的。轉(zhuǎn)折點(diǎn)是一場(chǎng)足球比賽�？德⊙抛臃浅Ｏ肟匆粓�(chǎng)他喜愛(ài)球隊(duì)的比賽，渡邊武也一直鼓勵(lì)他喜歡足球運(yùn)動(dòng)，他還買(mǎi)下了整個(gè)賽季的球票，在賽季開(kāi)始前他們練習(xí)一起走出家門(mén)。

    "For night games I went early in the morning to get a good seat," he said. "I made friends because I was in the same place every game." Masuko has taken other big steps. He got his high school degree through a correspondence course and is now enrolled at Nihon University, majoring in philosophy and education. He said there are many other former shut-ins there, and they often talk. He also found a part-time job at a loan collection company. An understanding society is critical to dealing with the problem, Watanabe said. The mental health clinic in a Tokyo suburb where he works has cultivated about a dozen business establishments in the immediate neighborhood, where they have introduced themselves and the young men who come by. "We wanted them to understand we are not a cult," Watanabe said. At the bike shop, coffee shop and 7-Eleven, people started to talk to them, started to say, "Hi, how's it going?" They got emotional support from the neighborhood and some shopkeepers hired them to work two to three hours per week, he explained. "Many people feel nostalgic about Japanese traditions and the warmth that is harder to find today," Watanabe said.

    “比賽在晚上舉行，我早上就去了，這樣就能占個(gè)好位置，”他說(shuō)，“由于我每次都坐在同一個(gè)位置上，我還結(jié)交了一些朋友。”康隆雅子在其他方面也取得了很大的進(jìn)步，他通過(guò)函授課程獲得了高中學(xué)歷，現(xiàn)在已被日本大學(xué)錄取，所學(xué)的專業(yè)是哲學(xué)與教育。他說(shuō)在這里還有很多以前的自閉癥患者，他們經(jīng)常一起交流。他同時(shí)還在一家商賬追收公司找到了一份兼職。渡邊武說(shuō)，一個(gè)理解寬容的社會(huì)對(duì)這個(gè)問(wèn)題的處理是很重要的。他在東京郊外的那家精神健康診所已經(jīng)在周邊地區(qū)開(kāi)了十幾家的店鋪，他們向人們介紹自己和在店里工作的前自閉癥患者。“我們要讓他們明白我們并不是什么邪教組織，”渡邊武說(shuō)。在自行車(chē)店、咖啡店和7-11連鎖店里，人們開(kāi)始跟他們交談，開(kāi)始會(huì)問(wèn)，“嘿，最近怎么樣啊？”他們得到了鄰居們的精神支持，一些店主還雇傭他們?cè)诘昀锩恐芄ぷ?到3小時(shí)，他解釋說(shuō)。“大家都很懷念日本過(guò)去的傳統(tǒng)，而過(guò)去人與人間的溫情現(xiàn)在也很難找到了！”渡邊武說(shuō)道。