The ranks of hikikomori, people who shun social life and stay at home, have swollen to almost 1.5 million of working age

Vosot Ikeida traces the start of his life of isolation to a time when most people are beginning to spread their wings.

Ikeida (not his real name) had moved from his family home in Nagoya, central Japan, to study at a prestigious university in Tokyo when he began to feel alienated from his peers.