I knew Japan had homeless people, but I didn’t think it wasn’t quite this bad. I’ve previously seen shows with people who were suffering from situations of homelessness, but they were taken care of by Japan’s social services system and had been placed in temporary housing. It was a long time ago and I barely remember the show, but it was a woman with a child. There were pathways set up to get people back on their feet and back into regular society.
The woman in this video says that a lot of Japanese people don’t qualify for those services, however, and some choose not to use them. I’m guessing it has something to do with pride, like the gentleman in the video above who lost his retirement money gambling in Las Vegas, so they wind up living on the fringes of society in makeshift dwellings, apparently until they reach a certain age, when they qualify for space in essentially old folks homes.
The sample set in the video above is pretty small. I wonder if all of the homeless people in Japan really live and act the same way as those pictured, or if this is designed specifically to show the best since they’re soliciting donations. I also wonder how Japanese people feel about foreigners coming to take care of them considering the rumored Japanese aversion to foreigners even being in Japan. Maybe when your situation is that precarious, you have to set aside pride and ego. Regardless, it’s impressive to see these people making the best of their situation, especially the couple that even had a garden set up.
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