Homeless
Someone asked me yesterday if there are homeless people in Japan. Japan is widely seen as the land of the middle class, and although that perception is slowly changing within Japan, it is still basically valid. However, there are definitely homeless people in Japan, especially in Tokyo.
Homeless people in Japan act very different than in the States, however. As far as I know, there is no panhandling (at least, I've never been asked for change - although that could just be because people assume I don't speak Japanese). It may also be related to the fact that there is no tipping in Japan, as they are both things you do with your leftover change.
The other major difference is the cleanliness and presentability of the homeless. With most of the homeless in Japan, you often are hard-pressed to identify them as such. They are usually dressed in decent clothes and look like they are fairly in control of their lives (i.e. not completely strung out on drugs). While I don't have any hard data, I get the feeling that people in Japan are homeless for often quite different reasons than in the US. There is definitely a significant percentage of the homeless who were involved in Japan's business / manufacturing world, but for whatever reason, were not able to make it in that life. That is, some of the homeless were definitely former Salarymen who couldn't deal with the stresses of the job, rather than people who lost it because of drug or alcohol use. Given the strict penalties for drug use in Japan, I think it is less prevalent than here in the States.
Japanese homeless encampments are also completely different than in the states. The most common way to see the homeless in Japan is when they sleep at night in the downtown districts such as Shinjuku. Every night large numbers of homeless set up for the night outside businesses that have closed down. They lay down their bedding and surround it with cardboard boxes so that all you can see on the outside is an 8x2x2 foot cardboard box with nothing unsightly protruding from it. I will upload a picture later when I can figure out how to download it off my cell phone. This neatness may be part of the reason why shop owners don't complain about homeless people sleeping outside their business. I am sure that the Japanese homeless are also very conscientious about packing up and removing their belongings before the start of business the next day.
The other places where you often see homeless encampments are in public parks and alongside riverbanks by train lines. In these cases the homeless may not really be considered homeless, as they seem to live a more nomadic life. They construct tidy tents out of blue plastic tarps that are actually around the same size as many Japanese apartments. Some even have stoves and cell phones in their houses.
I haven't actually spoken with any of the Japanese homeless, but friends who have said that they seem completely normal, other than the fact that they live outside of traditional Japanese society. Given Japan's much stronger social system, it seems as if the traditional Japanese propriety extends out into the world of the homeless.
Homeless people in Japan act very different than in the States, however. As far as I know, there is no panhandling (at least, I've never been asked for change - although that could just be because people assume I don't speak Japanese). It may also be related to the fact that there is no tipping in Japan, as they are both things you do with your leftover change.
The other major difference is the cleanliness and presentability of the homeless. With most of the homeless in Japan, you often are hard-pressed to identify them as such. They are usually dressed in decent clothes and look like they are fairly in control of their lives (i.e. not completely strung out on drugs). While I don't have any hard data, I get the feeling that people in Japan are homeless for often quite different reasons than in the US. There is definitely a significant percentage of the homeless who were involved in Japan's business / manufacturing world, but for whatever reason, were not able to make it in that life. That is, some of the homeless were definitely former Salarymen who couldn't deal with the stresses of the job, rather than people who lost it because of drug or alcohol use. Given the strict penalties for drug use in Japan, I think it is less prevalent than here in the States.
Japanese homeless encampments are also completely different than in the states. The most common way to see the homeless in Japan is when they sleep at night in the downtown districts such as Shinjuku. Every night large numbers of homeless set up for the night outside businesses that have closed down. They lay down their bedding and surround it with cardboard boxes so that all you can see on the outside is an 8x2x2 foot cardboard box with nothing unsightly protruding from it. I will upload a picture later when I can figure out how to download it off my cell phone. This neatness may be part of the reason why shop owners don't complain about homeless people sleeping outside their business. I am sure that the Japanese homeless are also very conscientious about packing up and removing their belongings before the start of business the next day.
The other places where you often see homeless encampments are in public parks and alongside riverbanks by train lines. In these cases the homeless may not really be considered homeless, as they seem to live a more nomadic life. They construct tidy tents out of blue plastic tarps that are actually around the same size as many Japanese apartments. Some even have stoves and cell phones in their houses.
I haven't actually spoken with any of the Japanese homeless, but friends who have said that they seem completely normal, other than the fact that they live outside of traditional Japanese society. Given Japan's much stronger social system, it seems as if the traditional Japanese propriety extends out into the world of the homeless.
posted by Don at 8:38 AM
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