I've known about Café Joyeux since it first opened in 2017, as they managed to get a lot of press, but, there not being one in Toronto, I guess it slipped my mind. I rediscovered it again today.
If you're not familiar with the chain, they have 24 locations in France and last year opened their first in New York City. The business hires crew members with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and empowers them through meaningful training and employment. They currently employ 154 people with mental and cognitive disabilities. So, so great.
Most of the online profiles are in French, but here's one in English:
Though not much of a fan of Gotye, I was delighted when CDK's dance video for Somebody That I Used to Know recently went viral. Unorthodox choreography is my jam. Here are some of my favorites.
Celui qui tombe. Choreography by Yoann Bourgeois.
Kenzo World starring Margaret Qualley. Directed by Spike Jonze. Choreography by Ryan Heffington.
Steve Reich / Come Out. Dancers and director unknown. Choreography by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker. I believe De Keersmaeker may also be the brunette dancer, but don't hold me to it because prosopagnosia. If the audio sounds familiar to you, you're probably a fan of MF Doom's America's Most Blunted.
Sia / Chandelier. Dancer, Maddie Ziegler. Choreography by Ryan Heffington.
Welcome Home. Dancer, FKA Twigs. Directed and choreography by Spike Jonze.
And here's the CDK video that inspired this post. Choreography and direction by Sergio Reis. Almost as impressive to me in this one is the clothing.
The Japanese have a word for severe social withdrawal: hikikomori.
It refers to people, usually men aged 18 to 35, who refuse to leave their homes, and often won't even leave their bedrooms. They do not socialize and they do not work or attend school. For an "official" diagnosis, the Hikikomori must do this consecutively for at least six months. However, many spend decades alone in their bedrooms, some even dying there, having isolated themselves until they're without friend or family.
One researcher compared its growing prevalence in Japan to homelessness in the US — Americans have millions of homeless, whereas Japan only has about ten thousand homeless. Yet, an estimated 500,000 to 1 million Japanese Hikikomori exist — and those are 2010 numbers.
France 24 English did a segment on it:
Rent-A-Sister
The phenomena has given birth to an industry of women for hire, known as Rent-a-Sisters. They are not social workers, nor are they professionally trained. They're paid (usually by the victim's parents) to visit the Hikikomori and talk with them. At the start, it's usually through the bedroom door, and over months or years becomes a face-to-face relationship. Eventually, it can lead to outdoor accompaniment, and, hopefully, cause the afflicted to move out on their own and start a normal life.
I found the topic rather interesting and it checked my Unorthodox Work box.
Amelia Hemphill has a BBC short on the Hikikomori and the Rent-A-Sisters program:
For an even deeper dive, there's Saito Tamaki's book, Hikikomori: Adolescence Without End, which was the publication to first bring the phenomena to a wider audience within Japan.
