What does the government do about it ? Is there any help provided ? I saw here and there that there is very few ''homeless'' in Japan but is it because they deal with it by helping homeless people or is it more because of an invisibilization of the problem ?
Can you sleep in the streets ? Is there association that supply food to homeless people or shelter for them ?
Yeah basically how is it like for homeless people in Japan, is it ''a good place to be homeless'' ?
by AjiinNono
11 comments
I think it’s hard to get a good response, tbh. I don’t think homeless people have access to the internet to answer your question.
Approximately 3% of people rely on welfare, which is 1,000 times more than the number of rough sleepers.
As the mayor of a city with a population of 2 million, you would prefer to manage a 0.1% increase in welfare costs rather than have to deal with the issue of rough sleepers.
Aside from a strong stigma against homelessness, there are many reasons that contribute to Japans low homelessness rates.
– Comprehensive welfare programs
– Affordable housing
– Internet cafes
– Literally free akiyas if you are willing to move to rural areas
– Most properties lose value over time and don’t make good investments.
– Employment policies include lifetime employment
– Non profits that actually work to help people with government support
– Low drug abuse levels
I used to see a lot more homeless encampments that were built of cardboard and tarps and looked really comfortable and well maintained. I’m not sure what they did to remove them.
Oriental pearl on utube had some videos semi recently on it nothing crazy in depth tho
Small tangent. What surprises me most about homeless Japanese is they seem so **sane**. From what I’ve seen, they talk and act like ordinary, good natured people. In the US, I’m used to homeless continuously screaming at thin air (talking to people they’ve burnt bridges with?).
Interesting article here:
[Skid Row, Yokohama: Homelessness and Welfare in Japan | Nippon.com](https://www.nippon.com/en/column/g00232/)
“Nowadays there are somewhat fewer homeless men living on the streets of Yokohama. This is part of a national trend: **Japan’s official homeless population has declined from 25,296 in 2003 to 7,508 in 2014. This improvement is partly due to the passing of the 2002 Homeless Self-Reliance Support Law, which had a 10-year limit but was extended for five more years in 2012.** Under this law national and local governments have shared the cost of constructing a network of municipal homeless shelters designed to get people off the street and help them to get back in employment and housing.
One of those shelters is Hamakaze, Japan’s only purpose-built, permanent homeless shelter, right in the middle of Kotobuki. It is a white seven-story building with 250 beds—230 for men, 20 on a separate floor for women—in shared rooms with four to eight beds each. The maximum length of stay is one month on the lower floors and six months on the upper floor, which is reserved for people who have got a job and are building up their savings towards moving into a place of their own. Multiple periods of residence are permitted, although one must wait at least one month before applying for readmission to the lower floors. Thus some men have developed a cyclical lifestyle, alternating a month in Hamakaze with a month on the streets.
But there is another, bigger reason why the homeless statistics are looking better these days, and that is **the big increase in recipients of livelihood protection (*****seikatsu hogo*****), the main Japanese welfare safety net.** This is designed to keep the promise enshrined in Article 25 of the Japanese Constitution, of “minimum standards of wholesome and cultured living” for all citizens. **It used to be that men in the** ***doya-gai*** **would often be refused livelihood protection for want of a permanent address.** This policy—which is not specified in the Livelihood Protection Law but was invented by local officials—ironically debarred the people who most needed welfare from even applying.
**After an intense campaign by the Kotobuki day laborer union, the requirement for a permanent address as a precondition for livelihood protection was removed in the mid-1990s. The result was a big increase in welfare recipients. Kotobuki has a** ***doya*****-dwelling population of about 6,500. Twenty years ago, most of them were day laborers. Today, well over 80% are living on livelihood protection.
By global standards, **livelihood protection is a generous welfare system. It supplies about ¥80,000 a month, plus rent up to about ¥50,000 and free medical and dental care.** Men who use their money carefully are able to remain housed and fed. There is no doubt that the *doya-gai* has become a more humane social environment since the days when day laborers were treated as “disposable labor” to be used when convenient and left to die on the street when too old or weak to work.”
Japan and especially Tokyo is a heaven for homeless people. It’s safe! No drug violence. Cheap booze. Weather is not too bad. Some even have electricity in their tents and have rice cookers.
Before Covid, I saw them lining up in Yoyogi Park at 10am every other day. I trust they got some meals or other kind of welfare during that time.
Besides being homeless is shit, I rather chose to be homesless here than in the US or Europe.
Nowhere is a good place to be homeless. Japan has unique differences from western homelessness.
– Lower housing costs, lower rates of drug abuse, homogeneous society
– Cultural / familial shame (“untouchables”), undiagnosed mental health, alcoholism
Many people often sleep and reside in manga and internet cafes. This way they have a shower, toilet, electricity, internet, storage, but lack formal housing.
Hello I am a researcher focusing on homelessness, and was lucky enough to study japanese homeless populations for over six years now, accompanied by two presentations at academic events.
I’ll try to answer some of your main questions, but feel free to free to ask me any follow-ups.
*What is homelessness in Japan?*
Homelessness, as in many countries comes in many different shapes and sizes, however, the most common depictions of Japanese homelessness come from large city areas like Tokyo and Osaka.
With a keen eye you will often see homeless men near large parks, as well as near train stations at night. There are even riverside and mountain campers, but tend to be harder to find outside of major city areas.
The cause for homelessness is varied, with some individuals dealing with a lack of money, debt, depression, job loss, and mental health.
While the quality of life for homelessness isn’t good by standard social comparisons, it is one of the ‘better countries’, on average, to be homeless in.
*Daily life of homelessness*
Depending on where a person lives, and what local city/ward ordinances one has, there are a variety of schedules one has. Some people might have day jobs, socialise, visit local organisations, or simply relax depending on how desperate one is for something.
In winter, most men who don’t have temporary accommodation will stay up in the night, and sleep during the day, and the same can be true for summer due to temperature issues, with regulated temperature areas like shops, gambling halls, cafes, and train stations being in high demand.
In regard to how homeless people receive support, Japan, while not completely supporting the issue, does have some local community organisations in large cities, as well as some government programs to aid homeless people. However, it is a bit difficulty if you are homeless and have family members who can take care of you, because most legal cases defer aid to your closest living relative, but many men feel ashamed or disinterested in seeking help either from their family and even some government, communal, and religious organisations.
This is one of the highest things with most cases of homelessness I have seen in Japan, where concepts of shame, guilt, and privacy are at the forefront of how homeless people make decisions that often push them into the “Cycle of Homelessness”
*The lack of data*
As someone who has a strong interest in Homelessness in large and small cities, the biggest issue with Japan is the lack of research on ‘non-ordinary’ types of housing insecurity. When many researchers enter the field large homeless communities in Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto are focused on, particularly focusing on ‘rough sleepers’, those who sleep in public places.
However, there are a multitude of categories that are still related in the homelessness discussion.
You might have heard of ‘netcafe’ homelessness, where some individuals will find themselves temporarily habitually, or even permanently sleeping or using netcafe spaces for sleep, work, entertainment. But, there are also groups of day workers who may have seasonal housing from work. And finally another ‘large’ group are migratory homeless individuals who often ‘escape’ government surveys and travel between regions in Japan following seasonal work.
Other small, or understudied populations exist such as homeless women who often face sex work, or sexual relationships in exchange for work or housing. There is also ‘non-metropolitan’ homelessness, rural homelessness, illegal squatting, and even instances of foreign homelessness which is very varied.
*Support for Homelessness?*
It is often never easy to be homeless, however, most homeless communities are supportive of newcomers, and large groups can be seen and divided pretty easily. With particular regions being aided by social organisations like Second Hand Harvest, Tokyo Spring Homeless, as well as support from small businesses and stores in big cities. Smaller towns may have some support options, but it is much ‘easier’ to find aid in metropolitan areas.
Those who suffer from mental illness are usually taken in by local medical Centers, where they receive litigation from government agencies to find the best course of action. However, Japan is an aging society, so a lot of elderly people who suffer from degenerative conditions are often ‘picked up’ by concerned citizens, hospitals, and even local law enforcement.
*Depression, Shame, and Suicide*
One thing, that is not talked about enough, is that suicide is much more common in Japan than other countries where homelessness is considered more prevalent. And this is a huge issue that I personally saw. Most people in Japan who are on the brink of becoming homeless, losing their job, suffering from addiction, or even faced with the death of a loved one, have a difficult choice to make, and sadly, only a few decide on the path of homelessness. The same of course is true in any country, but for every homeless person you see, just remember there are a handful of others that didn’t make it.
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Hopefully this can help, if there are any questions I am happy to provide what information I can. I also have studied homelessness in the US, Germany, and the UK.
Also, as a side note, the reality of homelessness has changed drastically since COVID 19, and there were a lot of casualties in the homeless community due to the virus, lack of aid from lockdown, and other factors as well. The demographics have also rapidly changed since 2020, with more and more younger men and women becoming homeless, and sadly, there are not enough researchers yet to conduct thorough surveys, however rumours of another government survey have been mentioned.
I actually am wondering what sort of services there are as well. I live in Tokyo’s Arakawa-ku and I sometimes go for late walks at night with my husband since we work late and it’s cooler to walk at that time. We’ve been seeing this older man for quite some time now sleeping in a sitting position on a small bench in a park. I know he’s sleeping the night because we’ve passed by very late, 3-4am and he’s still there, hunched over with his head hanging down. I considered going to the koban to see if he can get assistance but I’m scared the police could make it worse for him.
Homelessness should not be a goal. However, in comparison to other nations Japan is decent but the homeless people are decent. Meaning the homeless are generally not a nuisance to the general public.
Instead of throwing expired food away many convenience stores and some restaurants leave it out (unless events are going on) for the homeless to get. Japan provides them with encampments away from high traffic areas or they have housing facilities.
Id you’re a foreigner though, obviously you wouldn’t be able to be homeless for long.
You can sleep internet cafes, capsule hotels, the train (limited time), etc. Not the street.
‘Even though Japan has a significantly lower official homelessness rate than the US for example, the proportion of Japanese people living impoverished is actually higher in Japan than in the US. While a few may end up homeless, a substantial number of them end up living in cybercafés and capsule lodgings.
This is because, due to social pressure, they prefer to keep their identities a secret, and the saddest thing is that both the Japanese government and the public would prefer it that way.’
The stigma is quite high…most do not go around saying they are homeless.