Concerned Citizen: I think you’re looking for the word hikikomori; antisocial, sure, but it’s more like extreme agoraphobia than violent psychopathy. All of the perpetrators of these recent stabbing sprees have been at least partially employed and most have lived alone, so it’s hard to show a connection between hikikomori and random violence.
Zeph, to what effect of Liberalism (I’m assuming you meant “Big L” Liberalism) are you referring? What type of Liberalizing? Japan’s politics have not changed much over the past few decades, and that may well be the problem. I’m a bit lost on what you mean by people living only for their vices. If you mean “as opposed to religion,” I’d have to disagree: largely agnostic, atheistic, or just plain disinterested Japan and South Korea have substantially lower crime rates than largely religious America, for example.
If you mean the breakdown of community ties, I can see more clearly where you’re coming from, but am not sure how, in actual practice, people can be forced to return to living in agrarian villages with their extended families.
People might show less deference to their elders now, and the press might be bellowing of doom, but Japan’s crime rate among teenagers and people in their twenties is decreasing and was at its zenith just after WWII, which would suggest that economics is the biggest factor. Being poor and desperate is a better indicator of criminal likelihood than politics.
