Blue Village: Homelessness in Japan
September 1st 2008 06:00
Blue taupalin huts.
Back a number of years ago when I first traveled to Japan as an exchange student, one of the things which struck me most was how "clean" the city looked at first glance. This observation held particularly true when my fellow students strolled along the streets of Tokyo.
However, there was always the odd neat pile of flattened cardboard boxes tucked away in some obscure corner and after seeing our third or fourth pile, we couldn't resist the urge to ask our teacher why.
Her response: "The homeless people around this area use those cardboard boxes at night to build their shelters. Then in the mornings, they fold them up again and pack them neatly like so."
To be frank, this came to me as a surprise. After all, I'm used to seeing the homeless back at Australia who would beg during the day for spare change. In Tokyo, I saw no beggar. It was as if they were some sort of underground society - invisible to a foreigner's eye.
I recalled this memory after reading today's news article "There are 'rich' homeless and 'poor' homeless" in Japan Today.
With current trends of increasing living costs and such, perhaps we may see an increase of homeless people on the streets. In Japan, this may present a major issue as there may be a risk of more homeless people as a result of job cuts.
However, statistics from the Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry data show that homelessness has recently decreased.
According to Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry data, the homeless population has decreased over the last five years from 25,296 to 16,018 nationwide and 6,603 to 3,647 in Osaka, partly due to the enforcement in August 2002 of a law supporting the homeless.
... 95 percent of homeless people are men in their late 50s who have lost their jobs.
Source: Yomiuri Shimbum - LINK ... 95 percent of homeless people are men in their late 50s who have lost their jobs.
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Comment by Dianna G
I Wish This Was 42
Fictional Worlds
On the other hand, it's kind of shitty that they exist.
And yes, I am haunting your blog now.
~Dianna
Comment by Cibbuano
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
..in the movie, a manager loses his job, but can't bring himself to tell his family, so, every morning, he gets dressed and pretends to go to work. He sits in the park and eats from the soup kitchen... it's funny, in a morbid sense, and interesting to see this slice of Japan...