This is something I've always wondered about. Although I've never been to Japan, I've often marvelled at its Technological Advances and the amazing way that they've managed to turn around their 1960's reputation of "producing nothing but junk" to one of the worlds main leaders in Technical manufacturing. But as always, there are two sides to every story. One thing I've always wondered was "how do they cope with the less fortunate members of their society? Does poverty even exist in Japan? If so, how do they deal with their homeless. From reading this report from Yahoo, many of my questions were finally answered.

Here, Check out this report and tell us what you think :eek:

Japanese find sleep, shelter in cyber cafes
By Sophie Hardach
Mon May 7, 6:23 AM ET



TOKYO (Reuters) - Takeshi Yamashita does not look like a homeless person.

http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/8646/japanmt8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

From his carefully distressed jeans to his casual-cool navy striped T-shirt, he is every bit the trendy Tokyoite.

Yet the 26-year-old has been sleeping in a reclining seat in an Internet cafe every night for the past month since he lost his steady office job and his apartment.

It's cheaper than a hotel, offers access to the Internet and hundreds of Manga comic books, and even has a microwave and a shower where he can wash in the morning before heading off to one of his temporary jobs ranging from cleaning to basic office work.

Asked how long he plans to go on living like that, Yamashita smiles and shrugs.

"I hope the situation in Japan will improve. The new Japanese generation doesn't have any money, and many young people don't have any motivation. I don't have money, but I have a dream," he says, sitting in a cubicle with a PC and a stack of comic books.

So what is his dream?

"I don't know. Maybe some ordinary job in an office."

Yamashita is one of Japan's many "freeters" -- a compound of "free" and "Arbeiter," the German word for "worker."

A by-product of the economic crisis that hit Japan and its lifelong employment guarantees in the 1990s, freeters drift between odd jobs.

Earning around 1,000 yen ($8) per hour, they often struggle to pay the rent in Tokyo, one of the most expensive cities in the world where a modest 30 square meter (320 square foot) flat in a central location can easily cost 150,000 yen ($1,250) a month.

Now the economy is recovering, but many freeters are missing out on the upswing after years of unskilled work. Most expanding companies prefer to recruit fresh university graduates or transfer basic jobs to low-wage countries such as China.

CYBER HOME

As an Internet cafe owner in Tokyo's Ueno district, Masami Takahashi has had a close-up view of social change in Japan.

Around the corner from his cafe, homeless people who cannot even afford a reclining seat sleep in cardboard boxes.

Chinese prostitutes in Japanese kimonos prop up drunken office workers, or "salarymen," who will stumble into Masami's cafe for a nap later in the night.

The salarymen were the first to discover net cafes as a cheap alternative to hotels after companies hurt by the economic crisis stopped funding team drinks -- an essential part of Japanese corporate culture -- followed by a night in a hotel.

And then there are customers for whom Takahashi's Internet point is home. Takahashi, an affable host sporting a mullet and a blue track suit, regularly sees freeters taking refuge at his cafe. He has even lent money to some of them out of pity.

"It shows how the social system is changing. It's a bit sad for us Japanese," he told Reuters, scratching his head.

At about 1,400 to 2,400 yen ($12-$20) for a night in a central Internet cafe -- free soft drinks, TV, comics and Internet access included -- prices beat those of Japan's famous "capsule hotels," where guests sleep in plastic cells.

This means that on a Friday night in Shibuya, one of Tokyo's main entertainment districts, the dimly lit cafes are packed.

At 3 am, there is loud snoring from salarymen in suits, their shoes lined up neatly outside each individual cubicle containing a reclining seat or sofa, a computer and a clothes hanger.

There are fashionable young women wearing high heels and short skirts, who missed the last train after a night out.

And there are those who use the discretion of a net cafe to their own advantage.

"I often come here with my boyfriend. Today we escaped from high-school and came here," said 16-year-old Naomi, a schoolgirl in a white shirt, tartan miniskirt and knee-high socks.

Shyly sweeping aside her long brown fringe, Naomi said she started going to net cafes with her boyfriend at the age of 15, telling her parents she was sleeping at a friend's place.

"We usually spend all night talking and reading mangas, and in the morning we go to school."

"WORKING POOR"

Like Yamashita, the freeter, many of the cyber homeless fade into this colorful crowd, finding anonymity as well as shelter.

"The younger ones don't look any different from other young people," said Kazumasa Adachi, a manager at one of the more elegant net cafes where staff wear suits and receive customers with the polite efficiency of hotel receptionists.

He recognizes cafe dwellers by the heavy bags they lug around.

"They are different from the real homeless because they belong to the working poor, so they do have some money, whereas the ones on the street have no money at all," he added.

There is no official data on the cyber cafe homeless. Japan's Welfare Ministry plans a wider study on the phenomenon, according to a newspaper report, but in the meantime, it is hard to gauge the scope of the problem or its social impact.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that many are freeters in their mid-to-late-twenties, who stay in a net cafe for a couple of months before settling for a more permanent housing solution.

Those who are older, poorer, with fewer chances of escaping their drifting lifestyle, and sometimes too embarrassed to return home, find themselves at the very bottom of cyber society.

http://img362.imageshack.us/img362/4899/japanesese8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

They congregate in run-down Tokyo suburbs such as Kamata, renting poorly ventilated, smoke-filled cubicles with reclining seats for 100 yen an hour.

"It's very uncomfortable. You can't really sleep," said one Kamata cafe guest who preferred not to be named.



link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070507/wr_nm/japan_cyberhome_dc

Interesting article.

It seems Yamashita doesn't have much of a dream if he spends his spare time reading Manga comics.

the japanese dream. work yourself fucking silly to live in a tiny little apartment barely big enough for 2 people and try to raise a family in it. wow. some dream. i'd rather be homeless.

the japanese dream. work yourself fucking silly to live in a tiny little apartment barely big enough for 2 people and try to raise a family in it. wow. some dream. I'd rather be homeless.

I actually agree with this.
It is not a way to live. People need space and a place to move around in.
This is not my idea of heaven, this is over population.

If a crowded society is all you know you learn to make accomodations. Japanese are extremely insular. When they are walking they can mentally maintain their own personal space even while being jostled by crowds. If you grew up were five hundred square foot homes were considered the norm you wouldn't know any different. Look at Manhattan where a 1,200 square foot apartment is considered pretty large. Take someone from Montana and put him in a Manhattan apartment and he would go crazy.

Heres more :(

Japan's homeless face ageism
By Takehiko Kambayashi | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor

TOKYO – Living in a shack under Tokyo's elevated expressway, Hiroshi finds himself hitting an invisible wall - his age.
The stocky man in his early 50s, who declined to give his real name, started living on the street after losing his job as a forklift operator. Despite decades of experience in that job, he cannot get rehired.


"I apply for the position many times, but companies never look at my skill but only pay attention to my age," he says, shaking his head in wonder.

Hiroshi's experience is not unique. The number of homeless people in Japan is on the rise, and experts say that ingrained cultural attitudes about age are exacerbating the situation. The problem has become so prevalent that Doctors Without Borders - a nongovernmental health organization accustomed to missions in the poorest of nations - has sent staff to this hi-tech, high-rise capital.

In central Tokyo, the number of the homeless nearly doubled to about 6,000 in February 2003 from 3,200 five years ago. A first-ever nationwide survey found 25,296 homeless people in Japan. But the actual number of the homeless is much larger, insist those close to the issue.

The survey also shows that the average age of the homeless is 55. 9 years old and that those from 50 to 64 years old make up about two-thirds of that population. Moreover, about 55 percent of them used to work in construction; many were day laborers who toiled without fringe benefits to help Japan flourish in the postwar era. But the recession has hit contractors hard.

In February this year, Tokyo announced that 2,000 apartment rooms would be rented out in the next two years to park dwellers. The government will employ them for six months in such jobs as cleaning or guarding public spaces.

Some welcomed Tokyo's step and said other big cities should follow suit. But Mitsuo Nakamura, a leader of a support group for the homeless, says renting out rooms is not the answer.

"Many of the homeless are desperate for a job. But there are no jobs," Mr. Nakamura says. "We should respect their willingness to work."

In Japan, however, not only the homeless but those over 35 have difficulty finding a job - especially if they are unmarried. Companies expect married men to work more strenuously, since husbands here are usually the sole breadwinners.

That's why most of the homeless are middle-aged or older single men - a unique aspect of the problem of homelessness in Japan, activists say.

"Most of the homeless are systematically eliminated from society," says Nakamura. Japan's homeless problem is attributed to "deeply rooted discrimination."

While homeless people suffer from low self-esteem and feelings of inadequacy, age discrimination reinforces their sense of alienation, say those who look after them.

Yoshie Omura, a nurse with Doctors Without Borders, says one homeless man broke into tears when she simply said hello. "Because they are alienated from society for a long time, they don't expect to be spoken to," she says.

Nobuyuki Kanematsu, director of the Association Against Ageism, a nonprofit organization near Tokyo, says age discrimination comes from a prejudice against middle-aged and older people.

"Companies tend to think people in that age group are stubborn, inflexible, weak, and forgetful," says Mr. Kanematsu. "Regardless of age, there are capable people."

Another factor of the discrimination is Japanese discomfort with a younger boss having an older subordinate, he adds.

Some citizens like Kanematsu, who has brought a lawsuit against the government for ageism, are demanding that the government outlaw such discrimination. Officials at the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare say they will take action by the end of the year against those employers who discriminate against older job applicants without "legitimate reason."

Kanematsu worries about loopholes. He argues that Japan must develop interest groups that look after the rights of minorities, like the elderly and homeless, to keep pressure on the government to act.

I would go batshit crazy in Japan.

Not from lack of space, I just want to get on their TV.

You're batshit crazy here in the States.:lolhit:

You're batshit crazy here in the States.:lolhit:
This is true, but people do not appreciate it when I put on Victorian gowns and go to emergency rooms talking like Bill Cosby. In Japan, I'll be among my own kind, but since I'm white I may get a show...I'm going to be huge when I go to Japan!

i wouldn't live in japan, manhatten or any other over crowded over priced peice of shit excuse for a living place.

hell, my parents never lived in the same place for more than 4 years, then i went into the military for 8 years, and i got used to not having more crap than could fit into a medium sized box. clothes, etc.. i still think i've lost my mnd having as much stuff i do now after living in the same place for over 7 years.

i've lived in a tent for some time. not a big deal. it is just the idea of working your ass off for not much at all. why would i even work a minimum wage job at part time to live in a tent? i didn't.

i could easily go back to that.

comfort is a blanket. don't work too hard for it.