Homelessness in Tokyo

My point in making this post was mostly for my own digestion of the information I have uncovered on this topic during my stay in Tokyo. I know many people that have never been to Japan idealize the country, and perhaps believe that homelessness isn't a thing here. But it is definitely a thing here.

From Wikimedia Commons: Homeless cardboard shacks in Nishi-Shinjuku

The homeless situation in Japan, specifically Tokyo, is an interesting one. As a foreign person living in Japan, it's difficult for me to determine whether the 'homeless' label is a blessing or an albatross on the neck. In North America, homelessness is without a doubt a difficult situation to be in, but in Japan, I hear mixed stories.

As an eikaiwa (English conversation) teacher, I get to meet a lot of people of different ages across many walks of life. I asked my students, from university students to elderly seniors, about homelessness after having been around Shinjuku enough times to see the underside. Specifically, I asked if there were homeless people in Japan, playing the "ignorant foreigner" stereotype. Bafflingly, almost all of the students I asked in private responded in the negative. I only remember maybe one or two people sullenly nod in response to my question.

What this tells me is that either most of the people I've talked to are blissfully ignorant, or the Japanese culture's inherent aversion to talking about anything openly negative pushes the issue under the rug to be left to fester.

Before writing this post, I did some very cursory research on homelessness in Japan. What I found is that 95% of the homeless population are middle-aged or elderly men, and in that statistic, the senior-aged men are rising in number. I can somewhat attest to that figure. In my two years of living in Japan, I've only ever seen a grand total of two homeless women, and many, many gray-haired men.

Where I live just outside the official limits of the Shinjuku ward, there are two elderly men and one woman that I often see in the local park, sleeping on cardboard and sheltering themselves from insects and the wind with blue tarps. If you're ever out at the east side of Shinjuku station past the last train, you'll find rows of cardboard boxes set up next to buildings. The boxes are actually small spaces of privacy for the homeless, cleverly put together to look either like garbage waiting to be collected in the morning or delivered packages left at storefronts.

But there is something about the homeless in Japan that might explain, or at least factor into, why the Japanese people I've talked to don't mention homelessness: homeless people are relatively well connected with technology compared to other countries in the world. Many of the people have smartphones with them and some even have their own portable television sets. I've even seen some set-ups in Yoyogi Park with their own radios and hotplates.

I've been told that a fraction of the homeless population chooses that lifestyle. With their access to such equipment and the horribly expensive rent prices in Tokyo, it makes a lot of sense. I've actually seen a man in a full business suit, clean and accessorized with a briefcase, crawl into one of the cardboard rooms found out in the streets of Shinjuku. I think it's unlikely, but it is plausible that some people would choose that lifestyle.

If you've been in Japan for a while, you've probably tried the internet cafes at one point. They exist to serve as spaces where you can access the internet, read comic books, or play games in a somewhat private setting. These establishments accommodate another class of homeless people unique to Japan: the net cafe refugees. There are a number of documentaries out on the internet on this subject. These people stay in internet cafes for extended periods of time, some for years. Having been a net cafe refugee myself for a few nights, I can easily see how one could resign themselves to this arrangement, especially if someone has lost hope for the society that they are in. However, I do think an extended stay in these cafes would prove detrimental to one's mental health.

I've observed the homeless in Tokyo for some time now. My Japanese isn't proficient enough to directly help them, nor am I noble enough to find an indirect way to help them. Even if I did, I doubt they would accept my help anyway. Many of these people put up a wall around them as if walking on a different plane of existence. If you walk in a crowd in Shinjuku, the crowd will flow around the slow saunter of the homeless as if they were rocks in a river. There is a distinct lack of interaction between the homeless and the rest of society, and it is due sentiments from both parties; the homeless don't beg to keep their dignity and avoid being a burden onto others, and the rest of society views them as eyesores that won't pull their weight in Japanese society. My research has given me accounts of welfare offices acting in the same mindsets.

I am curious to see how Tokyo will handle this issue with the Olympics coming this year. I do hope they don't do what Vancouver, Canada did and simply sweep them elsewhere, but at the same time, I'm doubtful that they will do something I would see as beneficial in the long run.