発信箱：「仮面」の人たち＝滝野隆浩（社会部）

翻訳抜けの部分を補いました。（和文、英文）
（　）で示しています。

(Mainichi Japan) May 12, 2010
Masked social withdrawal linked to Japanese culture
発信箱：「仮面」の人たち＝滝野隆浩（社会部）

At the Sayama Psychological Institute in Saitama Prefecture stands a collection of sketches.
　(埼玉県狭山市の狭山心理研究所には一冊のスケッチブックが置かれている-by srachai）

The first drawing is too hard to make out. It almost looks like an expressionless "umi-bozu," a type of sea monster.
　１枚目は何が描かれているか分からなかった。あえていえば「のっぺらぼうの海ぼうず」のよう。
The second shows something like a person's face behind a stream of diagonal lines.
２枚目はぐちゃぐちゃの斜線の向こうに人の顔のようなものが。

The third can actually be made out. It is the picture of a woman's head, as seen from behind.
３枚目は分かる。後ろから見た女性の頭部。

(There is a vivid mole on back of the neck. -by srachai)
うなじに鮮やかにホクロがある。

These pictures, sketched by reclusive patients at the institute, are of their "mother's face."
これが「お母さんの顔」なのだという。

One wonders if their mothers ever looked at them when they were young.
子供のころ、ママは振り向いてくれなかったか。

The institute accommodates a number of patients between their 20s and 50s who have withdrawn from society.
　狭山心理研究所（埼玉県狭山市）には２０～５０歳代の「ひきこもり」たちが通っている。

Rather than focusing on cases in which people have shut themselves inside their rooms, facility therapist Yuichi Hattori, 60, has turned his attention toward "underlying social withdrawal" among people who normally appear cheerful.
セラピストの服部雄一さん（６０）が気になっているのは部屋に閉じこもるケースより、ふだんは「明るい人」を演じている「潜在的ひきこもり」だ。

They come from good families, have good academic backgrounds, and are amiable, but they cannot build relationships with other people.
家柄もよく、学歴も高く、人当たりもいいのに、人間関係が築けない。

They are concerned about the masks behind which they are hiding.
そんな自らの「仮面」に悩む人たち。

When the patients are asked during therapy to draw a picture of their mother on an A4-sized sheet of paper, none of them can draw the face -- this was the case in the dozen or so examples that I was shown.
セラピーでＡ４判の紙に母の絵を描かせると、みな顔が描けない。見せてもらった十数枚全部そうだった。

Reclusive patients at the institute commonly come from homes that are concerned about social appearances.
　同研究所のひきこもりは、世間体を気にする家に多いという。

They are well-off, but the father is absent.
裕福だが、父は不在。

The mother cannot express her feelings.
母は感情表現ができない。

Children who are brought up in such an environment have no chance of having contact with other people.
そんな環境で育った子供たちが他人とかかわれるはずがない。

They try to please their mother at home, and when they go out into society, they try to suit those around them.
母に合わせてきたいい子たちは、社会に出ても他人に合わせようとする。

But they don't know how to go about love.
でも、恋愛の「仕方」はわからない。

They think that marriage is impossible and that babies are creepy.
結婚なんて無理。赤ちゃんは不気味……。

"This is not just the case at our institute," Hattori says. "Social withdrawal is a pathology that has affixed itself to Japanese culture."
　「うちだけの話じゃない。ひきこもりは日本文化に固着した病理」と服部さんは断言する。

Such a culture values the home and groups over the individual, and approves of a dual nature of an outward and inner self. 個人よりも家や集団を優先し、本音と建前の二面性を容認する。

Rather then considering the question of good and evil, homes and society place importance on harmony.
善悪より和が大事な家と社会。

"The people who have wiped out their own existence can't find themselves.
「自分を消してきた人は、そもそも消す自分が見つけられない。

They look like good people but they can't make decisions, and are swayed by the opinions of those around them," Hattori says.
いい人にみえるが、実は決断ができず、他人の意見に振り回されてしまう」。

A therapist who has turned his face toward the cries of people's hearts from beneath their masks has unexpectedly traced the problem to Japanese culture.
仮面の下の心の叫びに向き合ってきたセラピストが、期せずしてたどり着いた日本文化論。

When considering Japan's declining birth rate, the situation is foreboding.
少子化が進む現状と考え合わせると、とても怖くなる。

(By Takahiro Takino, City News Department, Mainichi Shimbun)
毎日新聞　2010年5月12日　0時11分