But in Japan half a million people live as modern-day hermits. They are known as hikikomori – recluses who withdraw from all social contact and often don’t leave their houses for years at a time.

Talk a walk around modern-day Senzoku 4-chome 千束四丁目 in Taito-ku 台東区 ... Instead of the ties that kept the social hierarchy of old Edo in place, the red-light district was bound by a new hierarchy of ...