Hacker News Reader

I’ve heard anecdotally that ghosting is a popular thing in Japan. For some cultural reason they are anxious to break up any sort of relationship and instead prefer to just disappear. Considering that companies are like families peppered with stress, not surprising.

View on HN

It isn't the case where every other person you know is a 'ghost', but yeah it does happen (similar to 引きこもり: hikikomori, a person who lock themselves away from society).

The main thing is that Eastern cultures is all about community (especially so in such a homogenous culture like Japan or Korea where everything is uniform). It can be quite distressful when you feel like an outsider for a group that initially felt like 'home'.

The podcast series "The Vanished" talks about this. There are even special moving companies that will help you move out under cover of darkness.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com