Reclusive faces of Japan checked out

Nearly 1.5 million working-age people in Japan are social recluses, with a fifth of them citing the pandemic as the reason for withdrawal.

The figures are in Japan's first comprehensive probe into the prevalence of hikikomori, or "shut-ins" - a phenomenon affecting from teens to the elderly.

Hikikomori range from people who only go out to shop for groceries or to pursue hobbies while extreme cases rarely leave their homes at all.

The pandemic was cited by 18 percent of recluses aged 15-39 and 20 percent of those aged 40-64, but the most common reason for social withdrawal was "quitting jobs."

Other reasons for retreating from Japan's notoriously conformist and work-focused society include unemployment, depression or bullying at school or in the workplace. In all, around 2 percent of respondents aged between 15 and 64 had withdrawn from society to some extent - percentages that amount to 1.46 million people - Cabinet Office official Koji Naito said.