Homelessness

So I have previously talked at length about the homelessness around Tokyo.  It's a problem, but I'm divided as to whether it's as big an issue here as elsewhere.

Obviously, the fact that a single person is homeless is unacceptable.  That people spend billions on building missiles, while others can't afford a few pennies for food strikes me as bizarre.  Striking at the rampant overpopulation of planet earth from both sides, apparently.

Anyway; one thing is absolutely certain.  Japanese people don't care about the homeless.

This isn't to suggest that English people do, or americans, or anyone else.  No one does.  The point being that they exist somewhere outside the societal consciousness - until they get drunk and throw up in your shopping trolley.

Spending hundreds of dollars on a bag that phillipino slave labour made, worth ten US cents.  Spending millions on placing that advertisment.  Money well spent.

 I went out with a couple of the Tokyo Gaijin on Saturday night.  We went to the middle of Tokyo, and these pictures are actually taken from Shibuya station.  To put this in perspective, the starbucks at Shibuya is purportedly the busiest in the world.  It's either 24 hours, or as near as makes no difference.  The crossing at Shibuya is what you'll see whenever anyone writes an article about Tokyo as the busiest city in the world.  When the lights go green, thousands of people will cross the road at once, in all directions.  Thousands of people in the thirty second window between red and green lights.

When we were between bars, he disappeared off somewhere for a minute, reappearing to usher me around the corner.  The corner turned out to be the entrance to Shibuya station - I wouldn't be surprised if half a million people tramped these steps over the weekend.

This guy was really well kitted out, he had all new clothes and a bag.  Then he turned around and had a ragged shirt that looked a thousand years old.  To be honest, I think he was just drunk - not homeless.

He seemed genuinely saddened by the homeless guys, sleeping in the most hedonistic of areas in one of the richest places in the world.  It's the first time I've seen a Japanese person express genuine emotion about anything, and that it should be about something that struck me on a previous visit made it a somewhat poignant moment.

Then I turned around and realised that I'm a middle class alien, as far from the circumstances of the homeless as from the culture of the Japanese.

This guy was definitely homeless.  I didn't see any women.  The misogyny of Japanese culture would appear to have fringe benefits for the female population.

If we've learned anything this year, it's that charity is as corrupt and broken as any other human endeavour (thanks to the kony campaign) so there's no point donating money.  Not that charities have any kind of presence here.

People always say that giving money to beggars only leads to, or deepens, dependence of some kind or other.  To be honest, if you're in this situation then an alcohol dependence would be the least of your worries, I'd have thought.

I didn't go down and take any closeups or individuals - this article is exploitative enough as it is.

So what can you do?  I have no idea.  I know everything you can't do, but nothing that you can.  I guess the first step is to understand the flaws that exist within your society, so here you are Japan, this is a flaw; the next step is up to you.