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Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Homeless in Japan.

Always see a handful of homeless when I go into Fukuoka, more if I happen to go by the park or the art museum, where more than few of them have makeshift tents set up. And when I went to Nagoya earlier this year, it seemed to be a bigger problem there.

Heart goes out to them, especially in a country like Japan, where if you're not a part of "something" you hardly exist. I've given some of them 500 or a thousand yen before, and they mostly seem surprised. But bald gaijin will have that effect on people no matter the circumstance.

I doubt life is as rosy for any of them as this Post article makes out, but maybe some of them really do have their lives in some semblance of "okay" like this guy in the story. I hope so.

A Contented Life in a Tokyo Park - washingtonpost.com:
"Retirement comes in January. That's when Katsunori Hamahara turns 65, when his government pension kicks in and when he will be able to afford a place to live. Until then, the former cabdriver will stick with the life he has made for himself: He hangs out in a park and sleeps nearby on a bench.



By U.S. standards of homelessness, it's not a bad gig.

Hamahara eats free fresh food -- rice, fish, meat and vegetables. Because of strict Japanese hygiene laws, lunch boxes are discarded by convenience stores about 15 hours after they are prepared.

"If I am lucky, I get really good food, much better than at a restaurant," said Hamahara, who has befriended neighborhood convenience store employees.

He bathes, combs his hair and washes his clothes in the park's clean public restroom. With the two brooms and dustpan that he keeps at his side, he tidies up the restroom and the park every morning at dawn, often with park employees.

Most days, small children, along with nannies and parents, invade the park. Hamahara finds peace in the sounds of their play but keeps his distance. He does not talk to children, fearing he might frighten them or their guardians.

He has chosen his neighborhood well. The park is in Nishi-Azabu, where houses and apartments often rent for $10,000 a month or more. And the bench where he sleeps is next to a fancy supermarket that is guarded at night by private security guards. Hamahara says the guards are kind to him, which makes his sleep restful.

Police officers have never bothered him, he says, and no one has stolen or disturbed his possessions: an umbrella, a hand-held fan, a winter jacket and clothing he keeps in a large cardboard box that says "Kleenex" on it. When Hamahara needs money, he goes to a construction site and offers himself as a day laborer, making about $90 a day.

"I feel very comfortable in this park," Hamahara said on a warm morning in late summer. He was not expecting visitors, but he was cleanshaven, his white T-shirt was spotless and his sneakers looked new.

...There are only about 18,500 homeless people in this country of 127 million people. That compares with estimates of 335,000 in the United States, with a population of 300 million.

..."Nearly half survive without public support and they earn money as well," said Toshio Mizuuchi, a professor at Osaka City University who studies homelessness.

...Besides being rare, the concept of homelessness in Japan is rather new. There were always beggars, vagabonds and vagrants, but they were neither numerous nor visible since postwar prosperity exploded in the 1960s.

The word "homeless" was almost never used until Japan's bubble economy burst and the homeless became visible in city parks. "The reality and the term changed in the 1990s," Mizuuchi said.

...At the same time, the city of Tokyo has moved aggressively -- and generously -- to remove about 2,000 homeless people from five major parks. The city has persuaded about 70 percent of them to abandon their tents and hand-built cottages. It offers job training and two years of deeply subsidized rent ($30 a month for an apartment that rents for $600).

All this has conspired to make Katsunori Hamahara a lonely guy in the park.

"There are much fewer of us now," he said.

Only rarely, he said, does a friend (who works and lives in an apartment) come by to share a bit of sake.

City social workers, though, do stop by. They have not told Hamahara to get out of the park, but instead have offered free cigarettes, an affordable place to live and job training.

He has always declined their offers. But the dreadful heat of this summer and the prospect of another winter on a bench have weakened his resolve.

"I was not ready then, but if they come back again, I would go," he said. "I came here to take a break from life, now I am ready to go back."

Among his possessions there is a government-printed book about pension benefits, which average about $2,000 a month in this country for men, like Hamahara, who have worked for companies for more than 20 years. He declined to say what his pension would be.

In any case, he studies the book often, while counting off the days until he can throw away his brooms and his dustpan -- and say goodbye to the park."

Hat tip Japan Probe.

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