Many Young Japanese Lead Reclusive Lives
ALLEN: A new disturbing government survey in Japan shows hundreds of thousands of teenagers and young adults avoid social contact and rarely leave home. They find digital fantasy worlds more appealing than the real world. I hope that's not the case. But as Will Ripley explains, a new virtual high school is trying to lure them back.</s>WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Japan's conformist classroom setting has changed little over the years. Compare Japanese students today to almost 25 years ago, the same uniforms, long hours, even mandatory cleaning duty, a disciplined, demanding environment much like Japanese society itself. Traditional school left Ikami Shimizu (ph) increasingly frustrated, telling his father it was all a waste of time.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was in a situation to pretend to get along with people around him.</s>RIPLEY: He worried about his son's future.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not going to high school, not graduating high school, college would be a bad thing for him in long-term.</s>RIPLEY (on camera): You are afraid he would drop out?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, yeah, yeah.</s>RIPLEY (voice-over): Withdrawing from school and society is a documented social phenomenon in Japan. They even have a word for it here, Hikikomori, reclusive teenagers and young adults who hole up in their homes, sometimes for years, avoiding face-to-face contact. A new Japanese government survey says 541,000, more than half a million teenagers and young adults are Hikikomori. And that's actually down from the last survey six years ago. Those who study the program say Japanese Anime, Manga and video games allow some to escape to a fantasy world, a life that only comes to life at an a special event like this, where fans are free to address like the characters they idolize. This is where he searches for students who may be on the verge of dropping out.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We welcome the students who cannot fit into the standard program.</s>RIPLEY: He is on the board of n high school, a fully accredited virtual high school, hoping to identify, educate and develop unique talent. (on camera): This is the English class.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, English class.</s>RIPLEY (voice-over): Students learn using a Smartphone and computer app, sometimes event virtual reality.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have to make our course very enjoyable and very fun, very attractive.</s>RIPLEY (on camera): Like a video game? Like a video game.</s>RIPLEY (voice-over): Shimizu enrolled as a freshman. (on camera): So this is your school? IKAMI SHIMIZU (ph),</s>STUDENT: Yeah.</s>RIPLEY (voice-over): He often finishes a full day of class in less than an hour, allowing the 15-year-old to work part-time as an I.T. engineer and compete in global hacking competitions. Shimizu says he tries to see friends once or twice a week, but spends most of his time in this tiny Tokyo apartment. (on camera): Do you worry about the social aspect, meeting other teenagers, that sort of thing? (voice-over): "That's what my parents worry about a lot, he says. But I don't worry about it. I don't really like to communicate with other people." His parents hope learning in the virtual world will lead to success in the real one. Will Ripley, CNN, Tokyo.</s>ALLEN: We'll have to check back with him in a few years. The tale of hero pilot Sully has landed in movie theaters.</s>ALLEN: We'll hear from one person who lived through the trauma about the reality of the Miracle on the Hudson. There is Sully. Of course, Tom Hanks plays that role. More about it in a moment.