I don’t remember seeing any in NZ, but I’m sure they’re around somewhere.
This used to be a thing but it’s years since I last saw it. People do sell newspapers at traffic lights though.
Those are buggerers, not beggars.
I have not seen a beggar in Singapore. Maybe they’d get caned.
Not sure I’ve seen one in Vietnam or Laos now that I think about it.
Anyone been to Qatar? Are there down and out people there?
I didn’t see any in North Korea or the Maldives (I stayed in the capital, Malé, not on a resort island).
Thanks for the link. That is one of the saddest things that I have ever read.
No beggars that I saw but many of the low-paid laborers are living in quite poor conditions.
We got hit up by a Japanese beggar last week, and I didn’t know they existed. At Shibuya Station in Tokyo. We’d been in town a couple of days and had the subway and JR systems figured out, but while looking at the board to see how much the fare was back to the Ueno area, this Japanese guy starts showing us how to use the ticket machines. He was distinctly too friendly, which, after living in Thailand, sets off all sorts of warning bells. Sure enough, after he finished showing us how to use the machines, he asked us for 200 yen. I told him to get lost or I’d find a cop.
Monaco’s beggars are anyone who’s merely a millionaire. 
Canada most definitely has beggars, though they seemed whiter than the typical US beggar crowd.
I’ve come across exactly one beggar in Japan, in a busy shopping street in Osaka (Shinsaibashi-suji). If it were not for that one incident, I would have offered Japan as an example in answer to the OP.
The unemployment rate in Nauru is 90%. It’s basically all beggars.
Maybe it’s the same guy traveling around. The National Beggar. 
He didn’t look like your stereotypical beggar. Dressed casually but well, about 35-40, a little nerdish-looking. His overly friendly manner screamed “scammer” more than it did “beggar,” but then he flat out asked for 200 yen.
I’ve never been there, but my ex grew up in Monte Carlo. She said the place is policed like Beverly Hills (at least, like in the movies - I’ve never been there either), to the point where residents leave their doors unlocked.
A Bennett Cerf collection contained a short story about an American gambler in Monte Carlo who goes broke. He considers shooting himself, but then recalls a secret that a casino manager friend had let him in on: there are never any destitute suicides found in Monte Carlo. The police always find a wad of cash on suicides’ bodies, planted for PR purposes by casino detectives. So, the American spreaded ketchup on his jacket, fired his gun into the air, and skedaddled before the police arrived with his casino-funded ‘severance pay’.
SRSLY? that seems about the most non-threatening beg I can think of. He helped you out and you threatened him with police? How about just saying no and walking away. Or how about giving up 200 yen even ($2) to help someone whos obviously down on their luck.
I have never met a beggar after living in Japan for 2 years and in fact I have tried to give money to homeless people and they have refused to take it. Siam Sam’s story is extremely rare but I guess we can’t say “none” for Japan, just very very few.
I read that story too. That was touching. Thanks for sharing.
He “helped us out” in no way but rather imposed himself on us in an unwelcome manner. Obviously he was targeting foreigners because the Japanese would have the cops on him pronto, and as I said, we already knew how to operate the damned machines. He’s lucky he didn’t get a boot up his arse.
Sorry I believe in compassion. If you don’t then that’s fine but it’s probably a lonely life.
You live in Thailand, a buddhist country, do you not have any buddhist ideals?
Sorry but you were not there and have no feel for how creepy this guy was acting. My main concern was getting this lunatic away from me and, especially, my wife. Someone else can be his social worker. I’m used to beggars in all sorts of countries, and I can tell you this was completely out of place for Japan.
How does that (fictionally) work? The police had the money to plant on his “corpse” but he fled before they arrived. Or do you mean that the casino planted the money on him before he fled?