This is the main image I made for The Japan Times "The prison inside: Japan's hikikomori lack relationships, not physical spaces" article.

In this illustration I depicted an old hikikomori man leaving his house during the night. Despite the image people have of Japan shut-ins not leaving the house at all, they do when they're not likely to meet anyone. While focusing on the figure, I also wanted to portray very mundane house elements outside Japanese houses, like plant pots, air conditioners, traffic cones, and some buildings in the background. I also made use of screen tones to add texture to the image, and I'm glad that could be kept in the newsprint version.

You can read the full article here.