WSJ Article on Homelessness in Japan
I’d like to direct your attention to an interesting article from the May 2 issue of the Wall Street Journal. The article highlights changing attitudes toward the issue of homelessness in Japan as that nation faces an increase in what had been a persistent, but largely unacknowledged problem. Author John Murphy features the efforts of activist Makoto Yuasa to enhance public awareness and spur government action to aid the many working homeless in Japan, including many young people who work as day laborers and sleep in internet cafes or McDonald’s.
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Thank you for sharing the WSJ article on homelessness in Japan. I lived in Japan for twelve years: eight of those years in Tokyo, all of it in the nineties and early 2000s. I saw first-hand the plight of the homeless in Tokyo; the main walking tunnel from Shinjuku Station to the Government buildings was lined with people living in cardboard boxes. I also remember when those same people were displaced when the city government decided to construct moving sidewalks and strange-looking pillars to discourage the homeless from living in the tunnel. No alternate location for temporary housing was provided.
I am glad that the recession is bringing awareness that Japan cannot ignore their own - no matter their socioeconomic status. I pray that the Japanese government will not turn its back on their people in need.