Homeless People in Japan

Claudia Pierdominici
Intern at UNRIC in Brussels, Italian desk

Since its recovery after World War II, Japan has been considered as one of the richest and most industrialized countries, a leader in technology and an example in terms of lifetime employment within the same company. One can hardly imagine that this country, able to reach considerable levels of wealth in few years, is now among the leading nations with the highest poverty rate. The OECD – Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development - placed Japan fourth after Mexico, Turkey and U.S. in 2005.

The global financial crisis and the consequent redundancies have meant that many Japanese people now face severe conditions, sometimes becoming homeless. Irregular workers, such as daily and temporary employees and part-timers, are generally not covered under the Japanese social insurance system and once they lose their job they can no longer afford the rent on their apartments.

According to the first “National Survey of Homeless People”, conducted in 2003, there are 25,296 homeless people in Japan, more than a half living in Osaka (7,757) and Tokyo (6,361). Data shows that most of these people were former irregular employees, often in the construction business, with unstable habitation, as they were living in cheap lodging houses (doya) or laborers' lodgings (hanba), and without a stable family. Among them, 95.2% are male, usually middle-aged; they live in parks, riverbanks or on the road and many (64.7%) earn an income by collecting and selling waste products such as aluminium cans.

The fact that nearly two-thirds of homeless people have a source of income is a noteworthy characteristic, which is related to the Japanese ethic of “independence by labour”. They retain the values of self-sufficiency despite the poor conditions they live in and want to counter criticism from “normal” citizens, who see them as idle and an embarrassment for the country.

The phenomenon began to draw nation-wide attention in the 1990s in Japan, when the number of homeless people began to increase and the previous idea of homelessness as a temporary situation caused by unemployment had to be questioned. In 1999 the “Liaison Conference on Homelessness” was established and “Interim Measures” aimed at encouraging the self-sufficiency of homeless people were formulated for the first time. By the end of 2002 several self-sufficiency support centres were established in Tokyo, Osaka, Yokohama and Nagoya, offering accommodation and meals to homeless people enrolled in the facility. These facilities, which can be used for a limited period only, also offer employment counseling and job placement services, but more than a half of homeless people are reluctant to use them, partly because they are ashamed of asking for help and partly because they mistrust this support system, with its lack of privacy, the impossibility of finding a job and the short-term support provided.

Due to the lack of effective measures from the government, some NGOs in Japan are trying to address the growing poverty and to call media attention to the issue. Makoto Yuasa, Head of the NGO Independent Life Support Centre Moyai, and author of Hinkon Shūrai (“Assaulted by Poverty”) is one of the biggest advocates for poor and homeless people in Japan. He has been involved in anti-poverty work since 1995 and he is spreading his anti-poverty message through rallies and speeches, as well as through concrete actions such as opening a drop-in centre for homeless people in Tokyo, which also provides health checks. According to Mr Yuasa, the mood is changing in Japan, as many people, concerned about their own job security, are finally seeing the homeless more as victims of a failing economy rather than lazy and troubled individuals, unwilling to work.

In my opinion, challenging prejudices held about homeless people is of paramount importance for all countries, but particularly in Japan where people care deeply for social appearance (sekentei) and where people’s opinion is taken into great consideration. The value of social harmony, coming from Confucianism, affects almost every aspect of Japanese social life, often influencing people’s actions and behaviour. In that sense, homeless people, while claiming their independence, are actually dependent on others as they suffer discrimination and skepticism from the society they want to be part of. These attitudes result in a vicious circle leading to a loss of self-belief and making them unable to fight for a more decent civic life.■