Student Discourse on Tokokyohi (School Phobia/Refusal) in Japan: Burnout or empowerment?

Tokokyohi (school phobia/refusal) has been steadily increasing in Japan since the 1980s. It is causing an exodus of students from schools, thus creating a legitimation crisis of the education system. This paper examines this phenomenon by focusing on its various discourses. Four types of adult discourse are discussed: the psychiatric (tokokyohi as mental illness); the behavioural (tokokyohi as laziness); citizens' (tokokyohi as resistance to school); and socio-medical (tokokyohi as physical and psychological burnout). These are compared with the student discourse drawn from autobiographical accounts of tokokyohi. This paper argues that tokokyohi is a process in which students who burn out in the extremely demanding and alienating school system try to empower themselves in their search for subjectivity.