Tamaki Saitō

Tamaki Saitō (斎藤 環, Saitō Tamaki, born September 24, 1961) is a Japanese psychologist and critic. He specializes in the psychiatry of puberty and adolescence. Saitō is Director of Medical Service at Sofukai Sasaki Hospital in Funabashi, Chiba.[1]

Saitō is notable for his study of hikikomori, a term he coined;[2] he is internationally recognized as Japan's leading hikikomori expert.[2][3]

Personal history

Saito was born in Kitakami, Iwate. In 1980 he graduated from Morioka First High School and matriculated into the University of Tsukuba the same year; graduating in 1986 from the medical faculty with a specialization in Environmental Ecology. In 1990 he completed a doctoral course in medicine under the leadership of Hiroshi Inamura.

Publications

• Bunmyakubyō--Lacan/Bateson/Maturana (文脈病――ラカン/ベイトソン/マトゥラーナ), Context disease--Lacan/Bateson/Maturana 1998
• Shakaiteki hikikomori--Owaranai Shishunki (社会的ひきこもり――終わらない思春期), Social withdrawal--Adolescence without End 1998
• Sento bishojo no seishinbunseki (戦闘美少女の精神分析), Psychoanalysis of Beautiful Fighting Girl 2000
• Gekiron! hikikomori (激論！ひきこもり), Argument! hikikomori (co-authored with Sadatsugu Kudo) 2001
• 'Hikikomori' kyushutu manual (「ひきこもり」救出マニュアル), 'Hikikomori' rescue manual 2002
• OK? Hikikomori OK! (OK?ひきこもりOK!), OK? Hikikomori OK! 2003
• Hikikomori bunkaron (ひきこもり文化論), On Hikikomori culture 2003
• Kairi no pop skill (乖離のポップ・スキル), Pop skill of Dissociation 2004
• Bungaku no choukou (文学の徴候), Symptom of the literature 2004
• Ikinobiru tame no Lacan (生き延びるためのラカン), Lacan for survival 2006
• Media ha sonzai shinai (メディアは存在しない), Media does not exist 2007
• Artist wa kyokaisenjou de odoru (アーティストは境界線上で踊る), Artists dance on the borderline 2007
• Bungaku no dansou--Sekai/Shinsai/Character (文学の断層――セカイ・震災・キャラクター) Dislocation of the literature--Sekai/Disaster/Character 2008
• Kankei no kagaku toshite no bungaku (関係の化学としての文学), Literature as chemistry of relationships 2009
• Bungaku no seishinbunseki (「文学」の精神分析), Psychoanalysis of 'Literature' 2009
• Hikikomori kara mita mirai--SIGN OF THE TIMES 2005−2010 (ひきこもりから見た未来――SIGN OF THE TIMES 2005−2010) The future seen from hikikomori--SIGN OF THE TIMES 2005−2010 2010
• Character seishinbunseki (キャラクター精神分析) Character psychoanalysis 2011

Translation in English

• Saitō, Tamaki (2007) "Otaku Sexuality" in Christopher Bolton, Istvan Csicsery-Ronay Jr., and Takayuki Tatsumi ed., Robot Ghosts and Wired Dreams. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 978-0-8166-4974-7 (with a foreword by Mari Kotani)
• Saitō, Tamaki (2009) "The Asymmetry of Masculine/ Feminine Otaku Sexuality: Moe, Yaoi and Phallic Girls" in Ayelet Zohar, ed., Postgender: Gender, Sexuality and Performativity in Japanese Culture. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN 9781443809900.
• Saitō, Tamaki (2011) Beautiful Fighting Girl. Trans. J. Keith Vincent and Dawn Lawson. Minneapolis: University Of Minnesota Press. ISBN 978-0-8166-5451-2 (with a foreword by Hiroki Azuma)[4][5]
• Saitō, Tamaki (2012) Social Withdrawal: Adolescence without End. Trans. Jeffrey Angles. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

References

1. Minutes of Forum "Have Young People Lost Their Dreams? A Portrait of Young People in Modern Society" (March 2005). Retrieved on 13 October 2008.
2. Maggie Jones (2006-01-15). "Shutting Themselves In". The New York Times Magazine. Retrieved 2014-01-17.
3. "Japan: The Missing Million" (20 October 2002). Retrieved on 13 October 2008.
4. "Beautiful Fighting Girl". Amazon.com.
5. Ruh, Brian (26 July 2011). "You Fight like a Girl - Brain Diving". Anime News Network.

External links

• Tamaki Saitō's website (in Japanese)
• Sofukai Sasaki Hospital website (in Japanese)