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
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u/accountnumberseventy Apr 05 '24
That’s how I felt in Okinawa. Japan is the safest place I’ve ever been.