ill and recovering. hillary clinton's doctor says she's being treated for pneumonia after she appears to faint as you see in this video. >> also ahead, a spike in violence kills scores of people ahead of a planned cease-fire in syria. plus, the young and reclusive. why some schools in japan are turning to virtual reality to attract real students. that's a good concept. welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i'm george howell. >> i'm rosemary church. thanks for joining us. this is "cnn newsroom."

there are some answers to new questions about hillary clinton's health. she became ill sunday at a 9/11 ceremony in new york and was seen stumbling as she left. first her campaign said she was overheated. hours later after she left her daughter chelsea's apartment, more details came out. >> a statement from her personal physician reads as follows. secretary clinton has been experiencing a cough related to allergies on friday during a follow-up evaluation of her prolonged cough she was diagnosed with pneumonia. she was put on antibiotics and advises to rest and modify her schedule. while at this morning's event she became overheated and dehydrated. i've just examined her and she is rehydrated and recovering nicely. >> clinton has canceled a campaign trip to california this week so she can rest at home. >> cnn's chief medical

correspondent dr. sanjay gupta tells us more about her pneumonia diagnosis. >> we're still getting some details in about what exactly may have precipitated what you're seeing in this video here with secretary clinton. clearly having some trouble getting into the van. seems to stumble. what we heard initially as you now probably know is that this was due to an episode of overheating. sort of a vague term. then just a few hours later we heard that secretary clinton had been diagnosed with pneumonia but that took place on friday. today is sunday. and that it was pneumonia and bacterial pneumonia for which she's being treated with antibiotics that may have made hear condition worse. the way we're hearing from the campaign and from her personal doctor, dr. lisa barback is she was dehydrated, overheated and

there are still bits of information we don't know. how did she get diagnosed? a chest x-ray? when was she seen by a doctor. what kitype of bacteria is causg this and what's the impact going to be on her travel schedule? should she be traveling on a plane and doing other events? should she be resting and getting rehydrated anyone more. these are open questions. we're not sure we'll get any answers to those questions over the next several hours. as we get the information, we'll certainly bring it to you. >> this situation certainly raises questions about transparency for both candidates about their health situations. clinton's pneumonia is forcing a temporary slowdown in what's been a very packed campaign for her. >> dan marica spoke with poppy harlow earlier about clinton's schedule going forward. >> hillary clinton will not be going on a two-day california trip that was scheduled long before -- long ago.

she was supposed to headline a fund-raiser in san francisco, a large headliner in san francisco tomorrow night. she was going to then fly to l.a. where she had two events. one with lionel richie and another with diane von furstenberg and an appearance on the ellen degeneres show. she'll not be making this trip. right now the next open event will be in las vegas where she's supposed to headline a rally and speak about the economy in las vegas on wednesday. this is basically an acknowledgment from the clinton campaign this pneumonia diagnosis is an issue. i was struck when the doctor put out a statement earlier today and said that i advised secretary clinton to change her schedule. the fact the clinton campaign allowed that line to be in the doctor's statement was fairly telling. it nodded to the fact that, a, this was an issue for them. something they took seriously and they were seriously considering the amount they scheduled secretary clinton. the way she raises money and has raised money throughout this campaign has been very labor

intensive. it requires her going from place to place headlining events like the one she was supposed to do in the next two days. she's headlined over 330 fund-raisers as a candidate and over 37, i think exactly 37 in august. that's a lot of work and it's a lot of time spent raising money. there are serious questions within the clinton campaign tonight whether they are overscheduling her. >> but you know who is quiet right now? >> yes. >> donald trump. surprisingly quiet. not commenting on hillary clinton's health issues. he told reporters on sunday he did not know about the incident. both campaigns decided to pause for 9/11. >> of course. and sources from trump's campaign tell cnn they want to be respectful of clinton's health issue. they also say staff and campaign surrogates have been told not to post anything negative about the health incident on social media. one source says if they do, they

could be fired. political analysts are questioning the two-day delay at announcing this pneumonia diagnosis. >> a panel of them discussed it earlier with cnn's poppy harlow. take a listen. >> as far as the trump campaign, i think they're finally showing the discipline that would have been helpful to bring to the table a long time ago. they shouldn't say anything. listen, the whole country wishes hillary clinton well. we want her to recover. and good for her that she's taking a couple days off the trail to get back into shape. that said, i must tell you that echoing carl bernstein, they would have been so much wiser to have dealt with this pneumonia on friday and just put out a statement. candidates routinely come down with illnesses in these presidential cam. as campaigns. these are grueling experiences. she's been diagnosed with pneumonia. she's going to get over it. she'll be back on the trail soon. and then all of this would have

evaporated. as it stands now, she is seen once again, even as she was trying to tell i'm going to be more transparent, she's seen as like they were covering is it until their hands were forced. >> so, david, why do you think she didn't? why do you think the campaign did not do that? even this morning the statement that nick merrill her spokesman put out was that she was overheated. he could have at that time said she had pneumonia. >> it's the most baffling question surrounding hillary clinton and her campaign. this woman is so accomplished in so many ways. it's so obvious. it's so obvious that they are not helping themselves and really being -- living up to their responsibilities as a candidate. it is absolutely true that donald trump has covered up far more and both these candidates ought to be held to a much higher standard. tonight we're deal with a story that suddenly has been given legs. the alternative right was

pushing all these conspiracy theorys. tonight we're into a situation where it's a legitimate campaign issue about her health. people need to know and i think she will release her detailed health records, as i think mr. trump will be eventually forced to do with his health records. historically, way back when, franklin roosevelt could cover up he was in a wheelchair. in hyde park, his museum, there are thousands of pictures of fdr as president. only two showing him in a wheelchair. john f. kennedy lied to us about his health care but in recent years it's been required, expected especially of candidates approaching or in their 70s. ronald reagan, bob dole, john mccain. all of them had to release their health care records. >> so douglas brinkley, you are a presidential historian. speak to the history here. a, on, you know, how much this affects how people vote a candidate's health or critically

perceived health and also the fact in recent elections, john mccain, for example, we've known a lot more about the health of the candidates than we do this time around. >> that's right. and i agree with everything david gergen just said. one of the problems hillary clinton has is that concussion back in 2012. and she had double vision and was sort of an unusual two-month period for her. and nobody really knows what that's all about. n that's fed some of the conspiracy theorys. but the fact of the matter is the clinton campaign, the fact that here friday they got a morning diagnosis of pneumonia and had her run one of the most grueling schedules i can imagine. i'm sure she wanted to, but it was in that moment friday, that basket of deplorables comment came out by doing another fund-raiser that wasn't necessary when she should have taken a lot of the weekend off. she's starting this week not only canceling california, but i'm afraid that baskets of deplorables is going to be haunting her campaign for weeks

to come. so the best thing she can do is what she's doing. reboot, recharge. take a few days off. maybe pick up the ellen degeneres interview. maybe give that the exclusive on the recovering of pneumonia and get to las vegas and start doing rallies, not just fund-raisers. >> our jeff zeleny just reporting that hillary clinton's campaign press secretary is coming out and confirming what aides told us that she'll not be going to california monday or tuesday. carl bernstein, you know the woman, you wrote the book on her. as joe johns was reporting earlier, look, this is someone who powers through. what do you expect her to do now? clearly she's resting at home. what will her next step be? >> i don't think we can predict. we can hope some people around her will finally say, hillary, you have to open up in all kinds of ways here because that's when

you're at your best. i think among other things, she and her doctor need to be in front of the press for an hour with medical records and discussing and open to questions about her medical history and donald trump needs to do the same, and we need to demand it of both of them. >> across the united states, ceremonies have been held to commemorate the 15th anniversearies of 9/11. >> nearly 3,000 people lost their lives in the worst terrorist attack on u.s. soil. on sunday, the nation paused to remember the dead. ♪ >> 15 years may seem like a long time but for the families who lost a piece of their heart that

day, i imagine it can seem like just yesterday. >> michael patrick aiken. >> frederick j.il jr. >> and my father, john patrick gallagher. dad, me and mom think about you every single day, but we'll never stop loving you and missing you. >> steven a. knap. >> eugenie. >> and my uncle andrew fisher. >> words can't describe how much everyone loves you and misses you, and i look forward to us finally meeting in heaven. >> we remember, and we will never forget the nearly 3,000 beautiful lives taken from us so cruelly. we come together in prayer and in gratitude for the strength that's fortified us across these 15 years. and we renew the love and the faith that binds us together as one american family. ♪

>> and for my late husband, my late brother-in-law and my brother thomas, 15 years later, the love you three shared while you were alive still lives on in all of us. >> may god bless the memory of the loved ones here and across the country and may god forever bless the united states of america. ♪ for the land of the free and the home of the brave ♪ >> and the new york skyline was

illuminated by the tribute in light to mark the 9/11 anniversary. >> the tribute began six months after the attacks. it is now part of the annual memorial service. organizers say the beams can be seen as far as 96 kilometers, or almost 60 miles away.

welcome back to "cnn newsroom." at least seven people are dead after new air strikes in aleppo, syria. this as a nationwide cease-fire is set to begin at sun down. three of the dead are children. this latest attack comes as rebel groups say they have doubts now about the u.s. and russia-backed cease-fire. a representative from the free syrian army tells cnn it doesn't trust the syrian government. it says that it's made those reservations known to the united states. >> the syrian government announced its support of the deal saturday amid more air strikes on rebel-held areas. a rights group says at least 90 people were killed in air strikes on aleppo and id lib over the weekend. >> we're live in ahman, jordan, this hour.

let's talk about the cessation of hostilities set to begin at sundown but there have already been air strikes, more barrel bombs leading up to this. where do things stand right now? >> well, as you mentioned, george, we're expecting the cessation of hostilities to take effect in a few hours. after this weekend of air strikes in aleppo and idlib leaving more than 90 killed. there was no let-up in the violence. we're getting reports about fight, air strikes taking place in different parts of the country. as you mentioned in aleppo, they say seven people were killed, including three children. also we're hearing reports from the southern part of the country just bordering jordan. reports of at least 16 barrel bombs being dropped there. we don't have word yet on casualties. and also hearing from state tv.

syrian state tv saying that the rebels who they describe as terrorists also shelled the western regime-held part of aleppo this morning. this is the day that is supposed to be a day of peace but there is no sign of the violence in syria stopping at this point but, of course, george, those we've spoken to in the rebel-held areas hope there will be a pause in the violence because they want to see humanitarian aid come into the city but, of course, lots of doubts about whether the guns will fall silent at sundown today. if they do, how long will this last where we have seen truces fall apart in the past? >> the air strikes, the violence continuing, but a difference image that we have seen. these images of the syrian president bashar al assad performing prayers in the da t damascus suburb. >> this is a very traditional thing for heads of state to do. they perform prayers usually in

a grand mosque, the main mosque in the capitals or any part of the country. but today we were seeing these images from syrian state tv showing president bashar al assad praying in a small mosque in the damascus suburb of daraya. daraya was one of the first syrian -- damascus suburbs to rise up against the regime in 2011. peaceful protests there in 2012. it was taken over by rebel groups. and for years it was under siege by the regime. it endured constant bombardment and cut off from the world with no water supplies, no food. and just until last month, george, we saw a locally brokered truce deal between the government and the groups in daraya allowing for the evacuation of the fighters into

idlib province and civilians out into other parts of damascus. this was hugely symbolic, seen as a victory. a very symbolic victory for the syrian regime and big blow to the rebellion against bashar al assad. as we see today, a very strong message from al assad praying in daraya. >> a moment there, photo op, you could say, showing the syrian president. but at the same time, the violence continues in this hellish civil war that has been going on now for year after year after year after year after year. jamonica, thanks for your reporting. we'll stay in touch with you. of course, the stakes are high for the latest syria cease-fire deal. hundreds of thousands of people have died in over five years of war. i'm joined by fawaz gerges, the author of "isis, the history." also at the london school of

economics. the bombs have continued to fall ahead of this u.s./russia cease-fire going into effect. how likely this truce will succeed, do you think? >> we have to wait and see in the next hours if the united states and russia will succeed in exerting pressure on the respective clients. the united states via the opposition and russia, via the syrian regime. my take on it is that the odds are against a successful cease-fire. we have been there before. two points. the opposition is deeply divided. one of the largest and most powerful rebel groups has already said that it will not abide by the cease-fire. you have also al qaeda. it used to be called al nusra front. al qaeda will do everything in its power to basically sabotage

this particular cease-fire. and finally, will russia succeed in convincing the assad regime to freeze its air force. if i were assad in damascus, my air force is the only strategic weapon that i have vis-a-vis the opposition. so there are many ifs. there are many questions. and even if the cease-fire holds in the next few days, the big question is, for how long, given the absence of a political horizon because without a political horizon in syria, i doubt it very much whether any cease-fire would hold. >> of course, it was such a tortured effort to actually get to this point. you don't think there's much chance for this cease-fire. so what needs to be done to make sure that there is a long lasting cease-fire? is that even possible, do you think, given the circumstances? >> i think the situation is very complex.

there are many players entangled in the syrian quagmire. syria now is a battlefield for regional wars by proxies. where are the regional powers? does iran and saudi arabia, the two leading powers, really agree or accept this particular cease-fire? and even the united states and russia again as we know, president barack obama has made it very clear there's a deep crisis of trust between the united states and russia. the defense department and our intelligence communities in the united states do not really trust the russians. and the defense department was extremely blunt in its report after the agreement was announced by john kerry and lavrov. it says we have to wait and see. if russia delivers on its promises and then we can begin the process of sharing information with russia. there are so many complex

questions. my take on it, this is the best option of all horrible options. there are very few good options inside syria, and the obama administration knows very well it's trying to save lives. it's trying to reduce violence. its strategic goal is to deliver humanitarian basically assistance to besieged areas. and i think my take on it, this is the last effort on the part of the obama administration to see whether a cease-fire can really take place in syria before the next administration comes to power in the next year. >> you don't think this has much of a chance but you're saying what is there is the best option available for you. sometimes it can be a process one step toward that effort. fawaz gerges joining us from london. this lag between hillary

clinton's diagnosis of pneumonia and the public announcement of it. why the delay? those are some of the questions that are coming to light. this is "cnn newsroom."

a warm welcome back to our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. i'm rosemary church. >> i'm george howell with the headlines we're following this hour. hillary clinton is canceling a trip to the state of california where she became ill and stumbled as you see in this video after a 9/11 ceremony in new york city. her doctor says the u.s. democratic presidential candidate was diagnosed with pneumonia on friday. she says clinton got overheated

and dehydrated sunday but is now recovering. in syria, a u.s. and russian-backed cease-fire is set to begin as air strikes continue. at least seven people are dead after new strikes hit a rebel-held neighborhood in aleppo. the syrian observatory for human rights says three of the dead are children. 90 people were killed in air strikes on rebel-held areas in aleppo and idlib over the weekend. a truce is set to start at sundown. manuel valls says the country's terror threat is at its maximum. police are foiling plots on a daily basis. he said authorities are monitoring around 50,000 potential threats there. hillary clinton's republican rival has been uncharacteristally quiet about her illness so far. donald trump's campaign will be respectful about her health. >> clinton's diagnosis wasn't

disclosed for two days and hours after she left the 9/11 ceremony in obvious distress. and that is raising questions about the issue of transparency. michael holmes spoke about that earlier with cnn senior media correspondent brian stelter. >> there are two issues at play here. on the one hand, there are outrageous conspiracy theories about clinton's health that have pe percolated on the web for months. mostly from right wing outlets and trashy outlets suggesting clinton has an illness and is on death's door. that has to be taken off to the side because that's nonsense. now there are very real questions, legitimate questions about this pneumonia, about whether she should have been going out in public events this weekend and things like that. that is where the story is going monday into tuesday. campaign events and fund-raisers into this week.

>> do you think it will be a factor? the campaign has been, i guess, accused of not much transparency. she plays everything close to her chest. this was a diagnosis on friday. is this something they should have mentioned? >> diagnosis on friday and on sunday morning she chose to attend the 9/11 ceremony, for obvious, understandable reasons. she was one of new york's senators during 9/11. an important 15th anniversary occasion. she also knew donald trump would be there. there were a number of reasons why she'd choose to attend this event despite having pneumonia. initially the press corps was told nothing and then she felt overheated and then only seven hours later were journalists and the public told she has pneumonia and was diagnosed with it for two days. i've seen a number of democratic press aides criticizing that choice by the clinton campaign to keep information so close to the vest. >> we've heard a lot of people,

including donald trump for that matter, saying hillary clinton needs to release all her medical records or far more detailed accounting of her medical past. is that going to resonate more that call, and for that matter, with both of them because, let's face it, donald trump has released a rath ir bizarre three-paragraph document from his doctor. >> that's exactly right. today trump has been silent. number one because of the 9/11 anniversary. a choice not to campaign today. and he doesn't need to say anything right now. he has no reason to weigh in on this. >> hasn't stopped him before. >> that's true. has not stopped him before. maybe he's getting better political counsel from people. we have to separate the two issues that are at play here. there are outrageous conspiracy theories suggesting clinton is dying and on death's door. no evidence of that. trump has played into those theories not by citing them directly but questioning clint op's stamina. those questions about her stamina are given more legitimacy by this issue today

with her health. there's the nonsense on one hand, on right wing websites, but then legitimate questions, legitimate concerns that reporters need to spend more time digging into. y ultimately we'll hear renewed calls to have more information about both trump and clinton's health, more records from them. dr. sanjay gupta suggesting there should be an independent board able to review these documents from both candidates in the coming weeks. >> you mentioned the conspiracy theory aside of the media, the more fringe elements of the alt-right or whatever you want to call. do you think the mainstream media has a responsibility for context? pneumonia is not a death sentence by any -- need to keep things in perspective here. >> what happens in this day and age is these ideas percolate online. they start showing up in people's facebook pages. they start showing up on twitter and on right wing radio shows. and then they gradually make their way up into the media

ecosystem where lots of ordinary people have heard them, even if they don't read right wing fringe websites. that's what's happened in the case of clinton's health. relatively discredited ideas and theories about her covering up an illness have been given attention in mainstream media outlets. our job is to say we've got no evidence for that nonsense that's online. however, you put that all to the side, there are important issues here involving two candidates actually that are senior citizens. something that's relatively new for u.s. politicians, u.s. presidential candidates. that we have to take seriously. that's not nonsense. there's a lot of americans who have real questions about trump and clinton's health. in the white house race, clint op hoon holds a narrow ler donald trump. >> "the washington post"/abc news poll has clinton at 46%. trump at 41%. clinton's lead grows to ten

points when registered voters are included. >> that right there is a snapshot of where the race is right now for context, though, let's bring in jacob, the assistant head of the u.s. and the americas program at chatham house live in london this hour. good to have you. let's first talk about the fallout from what we saw today. this video, if we can show it of hillary clinton by that van stumbling apparently losing her footing there. the trump campaign not commenting about her health situation at this point but from what we see here and the fact we know she was diagnosed two days before this was finally revealed it raises a lot of questions about the issue of transparency. >> the trump campaign has habitually raised this issue of stamina and physical fitness for the office. and now that it's been -- now that there is some video evidence that in their minds probably confirms what they've been saying, it doesn't benefit

them at all to push it further. it's the same strategy that trump pursued with his birther claims back in 2011. just asking questions until it becomes a media issue and then sort of stepping back and saying i never actually said x or y. i just raised questions about it. so it's a clever, if somewhat underhanded strategy that trump is using in relation to this. but it does point as the previous segment indicated to a real question of transparency on both sides. neert neither campaign has released the records previous campaigns have. there's a lower amount of information available about either of these candidates than there was about obama and romney in 2012 or obam na and mccain i 2008. >> whether donald trump decides to push on this issue of health or, as you point out, if he just sits back and lets this play out as it will to become a media

issue, doesn't this also expose donald trump because as you also me mentioned, here has not released his medical records. the best is a couple of paragraphs, bizarrely written statement by his physician. >> that may be a contributory factor to his uncharacteristic silence yesterday as well. he or his campaign are aware that this isn't an issue where they can sort of safely hurl accusations n not expect some degree of questions pointed back at them as well. >> i want to know if we can ask the director to see that snapshot of the race as it looks now with likely voters. the latest poll. when you look there, jacob, this is a pretty tight race and tightening as we move along getting closer to november. hillary clinton is now canceling her trip to california. fund-raisers, very important fund-raisers and possible rallies to actually see and, you

know, be face-to-face with voters. how significant will that be given where we are with this race? >> i don't think that in and of itself it's particularly significant. the problem is that as you say, this is a close race. and i think what we have seen from the statistical evidence is that, you know, you have polls that show a large clinton lead, a tied race. what those average out to is maybe three to five-point clinton lead. and that's been fairly consistent if you smooth it out as people like sam wang from the election consortium have done. when you smooth out the polls it's been a consistent 2012 election style, 3 to 4 point lead for the democratic nominee. now that's not necessarily a guarantee because the campaigns do need to be raising money. they need to be doing voter contact. a lot of that happens independently of the nominee's presence on the campaign trail. a lot of it doesn't. the fund-raising in particular

requires face time from the candidate. and you need to be in the public eye and shaping the narrative to some degree. so this may have a marginal impact if it drags on, if it sort of prevents her from appearing in public for a lengthy period. in terms of the overall state of the race, i wouldn't say it's going to make a large difference. >> jacob live for us in london with context on the latest political twist. jacqu jacob, thank you. more than half a million catalans filled the street of barcelona for an independence rally on sunday. the movement for cat lonia to leave spain has been simmering for years now. support is high at the moment and growing. a july poll shows 48% of people in spain support catalonia's independence. in north korea's latest nuclear test has the world on edge. and now south korea is shoring up its defenses. >> plus, many young people in japan are avoiding contact with

the outside world. but they're still getting an education thanks to a virtual school. we have a report. stay with us.

welcome back. tensions are running high on the korean peninsula after north korea's latest nuclear test. >> south korea is preparing for the worst case scenario. its defense ministry laid out a detailed plan for military retaliation if necessary. >> the united states is considering tougher new sanctions against pyongyang. the u.n. special representative met with his japanese counterpart sunday in tokyo. >> they discussed ways the international community can best deal with the north which now claims it can mount nuclear warheads on ballistic rockets. in a televised statement, kim jong-un's regime called the u.s. threat meaningless. >> translator: the obama administration running around and talking about meaningless

sanctions until today is highly laughable. >> now many are suggesting that sanctions won't be enough to deal with the situation in north korea. our paula hancocks joins us now with more from seoul, south korea. so, paula, we'll talk about those sanctions. first, north korea launched a nuclear test friday. now south korea is preparing for the worst. what does it believe is the worst, and how will it respond? >> well, i don't think it's come as a surprise to many or anyone that south korea has a plan in place. this has been a threat that north korea has posed to its southern neighbor for many years now. and certainly this year as we've seen kim jong-un, the north korean leader, in a rush to carry out these nuclear tests, missile tests. there's been far more this year than we've seen in previous years than the south koreans are now deciding they need to be

more public in saying they have a plan in place. what we've heard from the south korean military on friday, we heard from the jcs that they would target the leadership if they felt that their country was under imminent threat from north korean nuclear weapons. effectively saying kim jong-un himself would be targeted. this isn't the first time they've said this. they've warned this in the past when tensions have been high. they'd carry out surgial missile strikes and have a -- an elite special warfare unit which would be involved as well. no further details on that. but this is something that most people would expect south korea to publicize it and make it public to lawmakers and to the press to make sure that pyongyang knows it has a plan. >> we mentioned the sanctions. so far, sanctions haven't had any impact, have they? there isn't really anything out there that appears to be able to

be applied to stop north korea doing what it's doing. >> well, officials around the world are insisting that sanctions could still work. the fact these sanctions passed in march were as they described them ground-breaking and unprecedented. and they say as long as china continues to implement or fully implements its side of these sanctions that they could well work. they could start to strangle the coffers of north korea and prevent more cash being funneled through to their missile and nuclear program. there was never a time scale given when these sanctions were approved. and since march we've also seen unilateral sanctions from different countries. from south korea, japan, the united states. so certainly from an official level, the powers that be in washington, seoul and tokyo are not giving up on these

sanctions. they still believe they can go furth ethough. >> watching this story very closely, paula hancocks reporting from seoul in south korea where it's nearly 5:00 in the afternoon. very interesting story of more than 500,000 young people in japan are staying holed up in their homes, sometimes for years. you'll see how a virtual high school is trying to keep them in touch with society. "why are you checking your credit score?" "you don't want to live with mom and dad forever, do you?" "well...i'm not changing." "how do i check my credit score?"

"credit karma. don't worry, it's free." "credit karma. give yourself some credit."

stan wawrinka has won the u.s. open after a brutal four-set final against world number one novak djokovic. his victory earn eed him his thd grand slam title. he won the australian open in 2014 and the french open last year. he only needs a win at wimbledon to complete a grand slam. >> well done. a new government survey in japan shows hundreds of thousands of teenagers and young adults avoid social contact and rarely leave home. they find digital fantasy worlds more appealing than the real world. >> as will ripley explains, a new virtual high school is trying to lure them back into learning.

>> reporter: japan's conformist classroom setting has changed little over the years. compare japanese students today to almost 25 years ago. the same uniforms, long hours, even mandatory cleaning duty. a discipline demanding environment much like japanese society itself. traditional school left ikimo increasingly frustraitted telling his father it was all a waste of time. >> he was in a situation to pretend to get along with people around him. >> reporter: he worried about his son's future. >> not going to high school. not graduating high school, college, would be a bad thing for him long term. >> you were afraid he would drop out? >> yeah, yeah. >> reporter: withdrawing from school and society is a documented social phenomenon in japan. they even have a heard for it here. reclusive teenagers and young adults who hold up in their homes, sometimes for years

avoiding face-to-face contact. 541,000, more than half a million. and that's down from the last survey six years ago. those who study the problem say japanese anime, manga and video games allow some to escape to a fantasy world, a world that only comes to life at special events like this where fans are free to dress like the characters they idolize. this is where takeshi searches for students who may be on the verge of dropping out. >> we welcome the students who cannot fit into the standard world. >> reporter: he's on the board of a virtual high school hoping to educate and cultivate talent. students learn using a mart phone and computer app. sometimes even virtual reality. >> we have to make our course very enjoyable and very fun. very attractive. >> like a video game?

>> like a video game. >> reporter: he enrolled as a freshman. he often finishes a full day's classwork in less than an hour allowing the 14-year-old to work part time as an i.t. engineer and compete in global hacking competitions. he tries to see friends once or twice a week but spends most of his time in this tiny tokyo apartment. >> do you worry about the social aspect, meeting other teenagers? >> that's what my parents worry about, but i don't worry about it. i don't really like to communicate with other people. >> reporter: his parents hope learning in the virtual world will lead to success in the real one. will ripley, cnn, tokyo. >> thanks for your company. i'm rosemary church. >> i'm george howell. "early start" is next for our viewers in the united states. >> for our international viewers, stay tuned with more news with max foster in london.

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breaking overnight. hillary clinton cancelling her trip to california after stumbling at a 9/11 ceremony yesterday and leaving that event early. how her health now plays into her campaign. >> diagnosed with pneumonia. and cease-fire set to begin hours from now. a bloody weekend in the region. a warning for u.s. allies. good morning. busy monday morning. welcome to "early start." i'm john berman. >> i'm christine romans. it is monday, september2t