Indeed, many of the preconditions for the hikikomori phenomenon exist in the west and, if we can establish that the condition relates to the fragmentation of social structures in the late modern period, it would not be unreasonable to argue that acute withdrawal may become widespread within the advanced nations. Indeed, the process of individualisation (Beck, 1992) and the breakdown of ontological security (Giddens, 1991), which may be linked to withdrawal, affect young people in all advanced countries. On the other hand, socio-economic conditions in Japan and the other developed nations of the Asian-Pacific rim are, in some senses, unique and may result in a greater sense of normlessness.