Carla Ricci's website  

I am an Italian anthropologist with a degree from the University of Bologna. I currently live in Japan where I carry out my research at the Department of Clinical Psychology of the University of Tokyo.

Mine cannot be defined as being a classic academic path. The reason for this is that, before dedicating my efforts to anthropology, I was for many years an entrepreneur, a commitment I embraced with passion and that led me to travel around the world and sharpen my interest that had always been present, ever since I was a child, in observing that world and its inhabitants.

Later, within me sprang the need for radical change that would allow me to focus exclusively on research and, thanks to many events that occurred, I understood that the only place where this could happen was Japan. The achievement of this project was quite complex. However, it is yielding precious results, as Japan has truly proven itself to be an extraordinarily suitable place for embarking upon what I love to call reflective and fruitful experimentation.
Knowledge of the Japanese language and my uninterrupted field studies, which I feel I carry out with passion as well as inborn empathic ability, have allowed me to penetrate the complexity of the hikikomori world which, barring few exceptions, up to now has been dealt with only by Japanese experts.

I deeply believe that culturally detached observation can produce innovative suggestions for reflection not only in the place in which a certain phenomenon is generated, but also outside its borders. One example can be seen precisely in my country, Italy, where - following the publication of my first book - for the first time, many cases of young Italian hikikomoris were documented, thus modifying the common opinion that said phenomenon was peculiar only to Japan.

The path of research I am following, which I have named anthropology of the self, is just beginning. The attempt to shed light on the darkness of the heart that invades those who withdraw into hikikomori is in fact but the first step that wants to lead beyond the borders of that phenomenon, i.e. toward a reflective observation of us, confused humans, because we are totally unknown to ourselves.