Aoba Shinji & Hikikomori (1 déc. 1977 – 18 juill. 2019)

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Whenever people analyze Aoba Shinji’s arson motivation, his past has always been an unavoidable topic, through understanding Aoba’s past life, people can not only pry into his motivation but can also discern the reasons behind the group “hikikomori”. Aoba Shinji is an extreme example of “hikikomori”, who lacks socializing skills and stable jobs. Hikikomori usually isolates themselves in their houses and financially dependent on their parents. Due to the aging population and the 1990s bubble burst, the number of hikikomori has been increasing continuously and has become an unignorable part of Japanese society. According to the Japanese government, the number of “hikikomori” has reached more than half a million by 2013, which is approximately 2% of the total population. When people mention the word “hikikomori”, most people may think about young people who refuse to continue their studies. However, people aging from 40 to 64 years old occupy most of this population, who are considered as the “lost generation” of Japan. These people were in their prime of life when dramatic changes took place in Japan’s financial industry. The high expectations from parents, accompanied by the economic stagnation and globalization in the late 1990s have crushed many young people’s dreams and brought them endless pressure and frustration.

To Aoba, his financial problem is the primary reason behind his aggressive behaviors. Aoba has been an introvert kid since he was young, no one knows about him, and sometimes he was bullied because of his obscurity. His materialistic desire was first shown when he was in primary school. He wrote in his diary that his hobby was “playing video games” while his dream was “being a rich man”. When he was in high school, he worked as a part-time employee of the Saitama Prefectural Office but soon got fired because of the government’s financial difficulties, that they needed to save funds for human resources. After that, Aoba could no longer find any stable jobs and work at convenience stores intermittently. In 2006, he was arrested for being an underwear thief, he moved out of his apartment later, but his mother helped him pay off his rent. The next time he showed up in public was in 2012, when he was sentenced for three years in jail for robbing a convenience store with a knife. Until 2019, he still owed 39 thousand yen of rent before the arson. Like many other “hikikomori”, Aoba Shinji has a failed life, he accomplished nothing and has become a burden to society. The Kyoto Animation Arson demonstrated Aoba’s malice toward society, yet what initially caused this malice was Japan’s recession and social pressure, even though all of these excuses will not justify the crimes that Aoba committed.

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