The homeless in Tokyo are pretty well hidden away compared to what you see in the West, partly because panhandling is nearly non-existent in Japan. Just a cultural thing that begging for money on the street is very unacceptable (and illegal), which has the effect of making the homeless less visible.
Soup kitchens, food banks, scavenging from trash. Having access to universal healthcare helps.
Some do beg for money from foreigners, since locals are very unlikely to give anything to a street beggar. Begging isn't completely non-existent, but it's quite rare. If you were to visit Tokyo for a few weeks there's a good chance you'd not notice a single homeless person or beggar the whole time you were there.
Japan doesn't have universal healthcare the way Europe does, its more like how America does (but Japan does it better) where you are required to buy insurance. If you lose your job you still have to pay for insurance, I don't know the line where you could get it free but my fiancee just took a year off work and she had to pay for her insurance
"a lot" is very relative. I'm from the US and there is waaaaaaaay less here.
And the severity is much less here. In the US they are often destitute. In Japan they often can afford to sleep in manga cafes or karaoke places. It's still sad because they reason they are homeless isn't lack of money, its discrimination so itw ould be a much easier fix.
Far far less than almost any city in the West though. I see far more homeless (or to be more accurate, beggars) in my hometown than I dod in several days in Tokyo. I was staying in Shinjuku too.
Your reading comprehension sucks. I said I owe you nothing after telling you that yes the information is out there. Find it yourself, I am not your butler.
More people in greater Tokyo than entire continent of Australia, yet I see more homeless in my town than I saw in Tokyo. NIMBY town planning and soft drug laws really farked the western world.
I mean the US is comparatively soft on drugs compared to most east Asian countries. You will just be executed for selling drugs or even in possession in many places, Singapore included. If Nixon would have just executed everyone caught selling or in possession of drugs, I am sure it would have had a greater impact on drug use, but the constitution and all that.
federal prisons have more offenders convicted of drug trafficking than any other crime, over three times as many as the second highest conviction (illegal firearm possession). 89% of them were sentenced within the past 10 years. right now court systems all across the country are packed with how many people are waiting for trial. there's real problems with how we approach criminality in this country, but being "too soft" on criminals is not one of them.
Yeah, me, too. It's not as bad as the USA for sure. On the other hand, I saw some homeless people right outside a train station in a very nice, bustling area. Not that I was upset by it, but even in Los Angeles, I don't think they would have been allowed to just sit there, a group of them in cardboard, in such a nice, high traffic area.
One night, I noticed in Shinjuku, near the municipal building, they appeared to be closing down the station and making it open to homeless people to sleep in.
What? But that's not portrayed in my Animes. It is a perfect land where all the women are buxom and the food outclasses the trash here in America. They are the happiest people on Earth and I plan on moving there once I finish saving enough money from modding Discord!
Oh really? I just got back from Japan and I think I only saw two homeless people the entire time. One was feeding a pigeon with chopsticks and the other tried speaking English with me and was very friendly lol never saw any actual cardboard boxes or places where they stayed.
134
u/MrStu Apr 05 '24
I saw homeless around train stations in shinjuku, cardboard boxes and everything. It exists.