It is a story for the generation raised on Soviet collapse and Western dreams—the generation stuck in the middle, afraid to go outside, terrified of the phone ringing.
Because the themes of N.H.K. hit Georgia with a strange, uncanny precision. Georgia has its own hidden epidemic of social withdrawal. While Japan has hikikomori , Georgia has gadacxrilebi (the "hidden ones") — young people, often highly educated, who have retreated from a collapsing job market, post-war trauma, and a pressure-cooker society that demands you be either a successful businessman or a gangster. welcome to the nhk qartulad
But why "Qartulad"? Why Georgian?
This is Welcome to the N.H.K. — but translated, localized, and utterly at home in Georgia. It is a story for the generation raised