In the New Yorker, March 18, 2002, an article titled, “Shopping Rebellion”, by Rebecca Mead, sez:
–and I went, “Hanh?” I thought poverty was just a basic part of the human condition. I’ve never heard of a human society that didn’t have some kind of po’ folks.
So I looked it up on Google and sure enough, not much is coming up under “japan poverty”, whereas “poverty u.s.” brings up tons of stuff.
However, “tokyo slum” brings up references to, well, slums in Tokyo, specifically the “sanya slum district”. So what gives? There are non-poor people living in the slums? Or do the Japanese have a different definition of the word “slum”?
Yep, there’s poverty in Japan. Perhaps (just a WAG) not as much as the US, but in most of the major parks and train stations around Tokyo, it’s not difficult to find plenty of homeless people.
The lifetime employment system has broken down, but the unemployment benefits are still pretty generous. The payment period is based on a combination of age and length of time at your last job, with a 55-year-old who stayed at the same company for more than 25 years being eligible for 2-3 years’ worth (payment in all cases is 70% of your last salary). It’s possible some of these guys could have some money saved, but I don’t know.
I’ve heard that a lot of homeless men work as day laborers on construction projects, earning enough to buy food (or alcohol), but not to rent a place to live, especially in an expensive place like Tokyo. As they get older and less able to do physical work, I don’t know what happens to them.
The official statistics on homelessness are probably very inaccurate. Interviews I’ve read with homeless people living in ‘tent towns’ in the parks say that each month, before the government survey takers do their rounds, the police go through the park and make everyone pack up their houses so that when the inspectors come through, presto - no homelessness. From this article:
Regarding Ms. Mead’s comment, it could be interpreted as true statement. There’s no poverty to speak of. It’s unpleasant to speak of such things, so polite folk don’t speak of them very often.
I see upon preview that Sublight has already replied, but since I’ve done all this typing, I’m posting it anyway.
According to the IPSS in Japan (from all I can tell, it’s a semi-governmental agency, and its name is too long to repeat), the poor are to be provided income support, and the unemployed should receive benefits as well. A quick scan through the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare turned up nothing substantial, but you may have better luck. Without governmental data, the Asian Coalition for Housing Rights may give us some light, however:
Sounds to me like the Japanese public and government are pretty much in denial over the existence of the poor and are stingy with the funds. This stinginess is echoed by another observer, who also notes:
So the same social fabric that protects most of the population will leave those who don’t fit within it out in the cold. The dearth of hits from your search is, then, probably due in part to the lack of anyone willing to report on the issues until things really get out of hand. Whether the sparse coverage caused Ms. Mead to make her (erroneous, IMO) statement, I can’t say.
So how do the poor survive? Other than the “classics” of panhandling, dumpster diving, or day labor (all guesses on my part), they can also organize and take care of each other. From the above ACHR article:
Sure, it’s all arbitrary, and a lot of these countries have “NA”% because either there isn’t accurate data (I’m thinking Afghanistan, e.g.), or 100% is below the predefined poverty line. But there’s also plenty of Western countries with “NA”%, meaning 0% are poor using the CIA’s definition.
A few examples: Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, The Netherlands, Finland…
Note that these are all countries with some sort of social safety net in place. The US, in comparison, has a score of 12.7%, and the UK 17%, even (which surprised me!).
Been quite serious changes for the good in the past two years or so, Coldie. Strange statistic, though: High employment, low inflation, average levels of property ownership…my instinctive guess would be the figure is influenced (at least to some extent) by another unfortunate statistic; the highest teen pregnancy rate in Europe - teen mothers, not great social benefits (apart from housing, of course), can’t work…classic case poverty trap.
The US figure is an estimate… by a Government Agency.
On Japanese poverty, I wonder if a distinction should be made between Japanese citizens and legal or illegal economic migrants - presumably the latter get full State benefits and the others not ?
I had a teacher who used to go on and on about Japan like it was some kind of Holy Grail. The class was about social dviance, and he claimed that Japanese people were so close knit and working toward the greater good and that’s why they had so much less crime than the individualism-loving Westerners. Of course, a rcent Japanese immigrant in my class was laughing. He then explained all about the gangs, cutting off fingers, etc.
It sounds like severe denial is the standard Japanese method for coping with unpleasant realities. I once read that World War 2, and Japan’s actions in China and the South Pacific, is a completely taboo subject in the Land of the Rising Sun. So much so that most young Japanese people have never heard of World War 2, and would be stunned to learn that Japan and the US were at war in the 1940’s.
I highly doubt that (although it might have been true several years ago), Diceman - most Japanese would know that World War II happened. They feel incredible shame for it, even more so than the Germans - a teacher of mine told me about a Japanese exchange student he was hosting several years before. She saw a sign on a car dealership that said ‘Remember Pearl Harbor - Buy American’ (or words to that effect) and burst out in tears.
The subject is almost never mentioned in history classes in Japan and it’s definitely not in good taste to talk about it around them.
umm, The Subject is almost NEVER talked about in history classes? am i the only person who finds that very disturbing? So by that line of reasoning, The Germans would be better off if they NEVER talked about the holocaust? There are still shrines in Japan dedicated to people who have been generally judged to be war criminals by anyone’s standards, but there are no statues of Hitler or Goering in Germany are there? It would seem quite clear to me who ended up on top in this comparison.
Sorry about the hijack, but you perhaps may have found that this is a rather delicate issue with asian people.
Not sure what you are trying to say, kawaiitentaclebeast. It is true that the subject is almost never talked about in history classes. Most Japanese people go through school without learning about Nanjing and other actions by the Japanese during the war - at least, I did. The teachers don’t like it, but they are required to use the textbooks selected and approved by bureaucrats and politicians. Nobody here said this is a good thing, or that we are not disturbed by these facts.
It is true that Japanese aggression before and during WWII is downplayed or avoided in most schools and public forums. Many young Japanese people may be unaware of such atrocities as the Rape of Nanking. But to claim that any significant number of Japanese youths, much less most of them, are unaware that WWII ever took place or that Japan was ever at war with the US is both absurd and ignorant.
Well, this has all been quite fascinating, but now LC has opened yet another can of worms.
And I went, “Hanh? How can they have illegal immigration in Japan? It’s an island, innit?” So I put “illegal immigration Japan” into Google and got this:
So, I guess they do have an “illegal immigration problem” in Japan, but compared to the U.S.-Mexico problem, I have to say that it’s trivial.
And how in the world would illegal aliens, or guest workers outstaying their visas, blend in, in such a tightly controlled society as Japan? Wouldn’t the people you worked with know when you were supposed to leave, and turn you in? Or is that eroding, too?
Lamia, please note that I was only repeating what I’d read. However, this kind of attitude does seem to be a part of the Japanese psyche. A trusted (asian) friend of mine swears that the suicide rate in Japan is far higher than the “official” figures, due largely to severe overwork and related factors.
Well, they (we) don’t blend in to Japanese society, regardless of visa status, and probably never will. On the other hand, the “those people all look alike” effect is pretty strong, which lets illegal aliens blend in pretty easily among the general foreign population.
As for your second question, many employers are aware of their employee’s visa status. Many will either help their employees get legal again, or agree to look the other way. Some will give the workers the heave-ho, especially if it’s for a job that’s easy to fill, and a few will use the employee’s precarious status as a bargaining chip to squeeze more work out of them for less money. This last case probably happens most for blue-collar and “entertainment” workers, while most white-collar workers and people in hard-to-fill jobs would be more likely to get help renewing their visas.
Is this also the case in the US?
An anecdote in response to an earlier point: I was absoutely stunned when I discovered my gf (now wife) had never heard of the kamikaze of WWII. She knew the older meaning (a typhoon that had suddenly blown in during a Mongol invasion in the 13th century, destroying the invading force) and couldn’t figure out why Americans were using the word to mean “an all-out, last-ditch effort”.
Looks like I got my “latters” and “formers” back t’ front. Anyhoo, I guess the thing is, Goosie, they ones seen around bus stations and in the shanty area’s are the ones that haven’t been detained i.e they’re indicative of the numberless. Japan’s not exactly geared up to deal with economic migrants in the way the US is so they don’t catch as many – or, perhaps, wish to acknowledge the scale of the problem.
If things unfold as they do elsewhere, chances are this’ll become a more high profile and politicised issue once the tabloids pick up any perceived rise in the crime rate.
How do they blend in – I guess a blind eye by the employers. Who wants to work for the rates they do and without social benefits ? Someone’s got to do those crappy jobs for crappy pay.
As i understand it, many of the “illegals” originally came during the bubble era (late '80s), to work those crappy jobs. The jobs were called the “3-K” jobs, from the Japanese for dirty, dangerouys, and (IIRC) boring. They then overstayed their visas.
To address the OP, no-one who has ever been thru Nishinari and Tennoji wards here in Osaka could ever say there was no poverty in japan. However, as with many things here, it’s a matter of face to deny that there might be any kind of dark side. I’ve been told other equally absurd things as there is no rape, there is no theft, and there is no crime of any sort here. Blatant truths that can be dismissed by simply looking around.