This year, I was required to make a pair of presentations (one in English and one in Japanese - though the latter was considerably shorter!) on a research topic of my choosing. Ever the fan of somewhat grisly subject matter, my attention turned to homelessness in Japan. I won't be too long-winded for this one, as this is more a photo gallery than anything, and I want to put some article-esque material online soon, but a quick briefing is in order.
Compared with many nations around the world, homelessness in Japan was, for many years, what many would see as a complete non-issue. The post-war economic boom had the country bursting at the seams with jobs, and for the most part, employment was tremendously high. It remains enviably high compared with other advanced economic powers, but times have assuredly changed. After the economy hit its unsustainable peak in the late 1980s and into the 90s, the subsequent crash and period of economic stagnation gave the Japanese populace its first real taste of unemployment, and as a result of that - homelessness. As a country tied invariably to import/export markets, the current global economic downturn (spearheaded by the United States) has pushed Japan into a new wave of unemployment. Couple this with recent legislation which allows corporations to employ far more contract-based employees than ever before, meaning when times are tough, these constracts simply are not renewed, and a large volume of people are out of work (and typically looking for new housing) all at the same time.
At present, things continue fluctuating, as many businesses are coming back into the profitable swing of things. Mitsubishi and Panasonic are both reported to be hiring large groups of factory workers once again. As always, change in these sorts of things is highly variable! Regardless of small fluctuations in numbers however, is the interesting way in which homeless people are distributed across Japan. While assuredly congregrations are found in the major urban centers, the density to which they are packed into a single location is really quite staggering.
This single location has a number of different names (colloquially and municipally), but the most commonly used is Kamagasaki (釜ヶ崎), a collection of a few neighbourhoods in Osaka city, and the location housing more homeless people than anywhere else in the country. I met one of the district's chief volunteer coordinators, visited a presentation he made on an number of topics, and also took a trip down there by myself just to see what life is like on an ordinary day there.
If you take a look at Yahoo's map of the area, you can visually scope out the general area. The largest concentration of people is in the niehgbourhood just southwest of Shin-Imamiya Station (新今宮駅) across the big road on the map there, along the train line running north/south, including several blocks in each direction from that train line.
There are many business-esque hotels here, often known colloquially as 'doya' (ドヤ), they differ predominantly only in the sorts of clientele they cater to. Typically those who can't afford a permanent residence, but aren't living out on the street (at least not every night). It is not uncommon to see businesses of this sort tied to sex-trade services, as well.
As mentioned above, the train tracks along which a great number of individuals congregate. The regular and strong rumbling, the garbage piled up, and a certain degree of weariness exuded from the people living there give this district an almost dystopic, cold futuristic feeling.
A common stereotype attached to homeless people is that of laziness. In Japan, this can hardly be applied to anyone I saw. Everyone was busy, preparing goods for sale, carrying around monstrous bags of cans, searching through scrap waste for useful items; work that many might not even consider doing, they earnestly work hard at.
Waiting is the name of the game near the welfare office. Typically, interested day-labourers gather underneath this large building at ungodly early hours, looking to take on any short-term, part-time positions that employers are seeking to fill. As the average age of individuals living in Kamagasaki pushes into 60+, a huge amount of these day labourers are reaching a point in which they are either unable to work such physical jobs, or they are regularly passed over for younger candidates.
One of the primary sources of income for many living in Kamagasaki is this rather elaborate underground economy that has been set up. Either by hand, or by van in some cases, sellers bring their own tables and goods and set up shop. There are a *lot* of sellers, but still a surprising amount of people browsing the goods. The environment doesn't feel particularly welcoming to outsiders (especially a goofy looking foreigner like me), and the angry dogs barking can be a deterrent, but the fact is, anyone can come here and partake in this small economy, and in reality it is quite open.
A distinctly surreal feeling here, it's like most Japanese conventions seen in neighbourhoods almost everywhere else in the country don't quite apply in full here. Seeing dogs just lying around on the street definitely reminds me of Thailand, walking around Hua Lamphong, but certainly not of Japan.
On the note of broken conventions... the litter here definitely stands out. It's not like Japan is garbage free, and you get the nice smell of trash sitting out on the street two days a week for trash pickup days, but this is an extremely clean country, and trash typically does not accumulate. That said, there is definite accumulation in Kamagasaki.
It's really quite a marvel how industrious and hard-working the supposedly 'lazy' homeless population is. I've never seen shacks on the sides of the street in Canada built to resemble a real house, protected from the weather and set into a degree of permanence made apparent by the tending of a series of lovely little potted plants.
A lot of people in Japan really look down on the homeless population (despite its small size!), but it's important to see how homeless people actually live, and why they live the way they do. Motivations and causes are many, some concede willingly to a life on the street or in temporary accomodations, some begrudingly accept it or try their best get to financially liberate themselves, while others are just absolutely content with the life they have on the streets. I've met and seen a lot of interesting people and everyone has a different story, something I always enjoy hearing. Looking deeper into these kinds of seemingly unsavory topics can unearth a vast array of psycholgical, political, and socio-economic issues!