Comment by james_marks
3 months ago
I asked myself the same question when I saw exactly 1 homeless person in all of Tokyo.
There has been a global trend to decommission psychiatric hospitals. Japan didn’t follow suit, and today has 10x the beds per capita compared to the US.
This is balanced by the fact that it’s much harder to commit someone against their will in the US.
https://www.borgenmagazine.com/japans-homeless-population/#:....
> I asked myself the same question when I saw exactly 1 homeless person in all of Tokyo
Homelessness in Tokyo looks different than homelessness in a major US city. Often enough, it means freeters sleeping overnight in manga cafés.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_café_refugee
According to the article, living in an internet cafe can be as little as $420 per month. But where does someone who has no work that month get the $420? Does the government have a minimal support program?
lol that’s actually more expensive than a lot of small apartments in Tokyo.
That said there is no shortage of work in Tokyo. Far more work than the number of people available to do it.
FWIW there are definitely homeless people in Tokyo. Under a lot of overpasses in the affluent Shinjiku area, you'll find many homeless people living long-term. I was there as recent as last year and I wouldn't say it's nonexistent. :) Definitely an order of magnitude less than any major US city, however.
https://www.huckmag.com/article/yusuke-nagata-photographer-d...
https://metropolisjapan.com/tokyos-homeless/