Gov't study finds only 3,065 homeless people in Japan

This number is most likely an under estimation.

Also, the number of homeless people fluctuate throughout the year

And how about that enclave of the homeless which isn’t even on the map in Tokyo?

Poverty is on the increase in Japan and whatever the number, it is sure to increase

Criminally incompetent gov’t study finds only 3,065 homeless people in Japan

Fixed it.

Gov't study finds only 3,065 homeless people in Japan

They didn't look very hard.

Because they don't care.

Look at the pandemic response which totally left out the majority of workers on contract, zero-hour, "part-time" work. Suga asking them to practice "self-reliance" which subsidizing businesses which laid off staff.

Go to Okubo near Kabukicho and you could probably find near that number of homeless, many young, on a night.

Yeah NUMBERS in today's world shouldn't be trusted no matter from which source.

Every day, early morning in Ikebukuro underground passage there are plenty people sleeping on the floor. Some of them look homeless, but there are also people that looks like average Piko.

Go to Shinjuku and other places Tama river etc. And I can assure you there will be more than 3650 homeless or whatever was the number just in Tokyo.

This is the problem those numbers don't add up like inflation is 3% but prices went up 30% and so on.

3065 = A gross underestimation.

Hard to believe!? but possible if we are only talking about people sleeping on the streets. There are many more who shelter with relatives and friends so they are not frozen to death or kicked and abused and they do NOT report their status bcz. they are ashamed.

That number sounds about right. Japan has made a solid effort to move homeless folks into housing, get them on UBI and transition them to micro apartments and employment. Also,, unlike North America which abandons people suffering from mental illness onto skid row to fend for themselves, people suffering mental illness in Japan are given a warm bed, warm food, warm bath and the help they need by expert staff in institutions.

Only 3,000 odd? Seriously? There are more than that living along the riverbank at asakusa and in Harajuku park. It’s not unusual to see Japan fudging numbers.

Add at least two zeros to that number and you'd be closer to the correct value.

Well if you want to know the truth, there are plenty of youtube videos by influencers showing some of the rougher areas of the big cities here and the extent of the homeless issue. It's ironic that we have to turn to YouTube and social media now for the truth.

I wish the media here would delve a little more into some of the serious social issues in Japan instead of focusing on things like the unusually warm spring, how dangerous foreign countries are, or that Japan is being invaded by foreign tourists again since COVID restrictions have been relaxed.

The serious issues are swept well under the carpet and Japan is portrayed as the perfect utopia.

I know some homeless people by the Tama River banks on the Fussa side. Whenever I could I would bring them food, clothes, utensils, tools and seeds so they could plant.

20 years ago, the figure was more like 30,000. The 2023 poverty rate is 1.4%. Other groups put it at higher levels.

"Japan’s poverty rate stands at 15.7%, according to the latest figures from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. That metric refers to people whose household income is less than half of the median of the entire population."

“The middle class is disappearing in Japan, albeit gradually,” Nagai warned.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/03/japans-middle-class-is-disappearing-as-poverty-rises-warns-economist.html

28 million people are in poverty.

Every New Year's an American friend and his Japanese friends go out to feed the homeless at one of the big parks in Tokyo and I can assure you this number is so much higher. Does the government feel if they under report this number it can relieve them of shame? In addition, if the number is so low why is the government not finding housing for these individuals and bringing the number down to zero? Sincerely, it would not break the government's piggybank by locating housing for these individuals and providing these individuals with a life of safety and security.

If the homeless number is correct then that's amazing in such a grossly over -populated country like Japan.

That people got paid to come up with these bunk numbers just beggars belief! 3000 probably in Tokyo alone and more like 20-30 times that figure Japan wide

I see one everyday in Shinagawa Station. There used to be more homeless. I think they have reduced due to covid.

Might as well ask people to count clouds for all the substance and validity this government 'study' has.

While this number is certainly an underestimate, compared to purely capitalist USA - a nation with zero safety net - Japan compares very well. In small sized US cities there are more than 3000 homeless. Tragically, many are women and kids.

Did they include the four homeless camped out under the overpass of Akihabara, between Yodobashi and the station? Those guys have been there for years in their cardboard boxes.

While this number is certainly an underestimate, compared to purely capitalist USA - a nation with zero safety net - Japan compares very well.

True, even accounting for the more peaceful nature of homeless people in Japan, there are definitely far fewer of them here than in the US or the UK. The difference is all down to widespread hard drug use, I think.

The problem in my own country's capital has gotten so far out of hand that I don't think it'll ever be fixed.

Especially recent japanese government always try to make political misstep looks smaller than actual state.

If you don't want to see it you won't see it. See no evil. Doesn't mean it's not there.

"So any homeless person out of sight, or out of the park at the time of the site visit, was not included in the tally." Why even bother with doing it then?

There's a lot in Nagoya for sure.

Many are working during the day, many are sleeping under railway lines, I see many every time I go through some places in Tokyo where they spent the day. Figures must be at least ten times more

That said, it’s not as if there are absolutely no the number of Japanese homeless people

What?

JT, do you even have an editor?

Moderator: Thanks for pointing that out. It has been corrected.

“Roughly 91 percent, were men, about 6 percent women.” Down with the patriarchy!

People including children who reduced amount or number of times of eating, people who avoid to get medical service or people who reduced to use electric power even if winter coldness or summer heat, such poverty people are increasing in present Japan.

But LDP government prioritize authoritarianism or buying costly weapons or benefiting large corporations than rescue general citizen from tough life.

I saw over 3000 homeless in Nishinari-ward, Osaka just the other day. Maybe these govt. bean counters went to Roppongi Hills instead.

Many foreigners are also on welfare. It is worth trying to apply.

In these days of global economy in toilet, it's a miracle, especially compared to what's happening in the western world.

Criminally incompetent gov’t study finds only 3,065 homeless people in Japan

Fixed it.

Very accurate sentence.

On the surface, this would be an applaudably low homelessness rate, given Japan’s current total population of somewhere around 125 million people. However, aspects of how the study was performed may have resulted in lower figures than the actual reality of the situation.

Unfortunately this is terribly common in the way that the Japanese government conducts surveys, suspiciously more so when they are about things they want to undercount. Of course this still can be useful, just not taken as a reliable count by itself.

Was this REALLY a study?

I always thought that a study was when a person acquire knowledge of a subject by means of "reading a book" in this case they say they observed. Would this be more of what is called research where you go out and perform an investigation and provide statistical analysis based on your findings? LMFAO so you go out an see a body in the middle of the night who could perhaps just be sitting on a bench in a park. Do you count that person as homeless. What is the margin of error? Give me a break!!! We read daily about average people complaining about the cost of goods and services on the rise in japan. I say there is not improved social support or economic improvements allowing more homeless people to secure housing, if anything I could agree with is the drop is the grim result of homeless people passing away. Perhaps they should include that number in the homeless count.

The counterpoint to that, though, would be the question of why the observed homeless population decreased, specifically whether it’s the result of improved social support or economic improvements allowing more homeless people to secure housing, or whether the drop is the grim result of homeless people passing away.

If you ever want to see what a real homeless problem looks like, take a drive through the east side of Vancouver Canada, Downtown San Francisco, Portland or any other large city in North America; shocking!

Japan is doing very, very well.

I think the numbers are right, if you’re counting the ones sleeping in subway stations and outside.

Having a blue tarp or cardboard box is probably considered a home by bureaucrats.

San Francisco has almost 8000 homeless in a city with a population of less than 1 million people.

Japan is doing quite well.

Was this after harassing all of the homeless to move their tents before the researchers came through?

people suffering mental illness in Japan are given a warm bed, warm food, warm bath and the help they need by expert staff in institutions.

"while locked in institutions" more like it. I remember seeing a documentary about nonthreatening people waiting decades to get a doctor's signature for release in Japan.

San Francisco has almost 8000 homeless in a city with a population of less than 1 million people.

More like a population of 10 million. People like to use the fact that San Francisco is a peninsula to highlight the fact that surprise, surprise, downtown cores have a lot of problems.

San Francisco has almost 8000 homeless in a city with a population of less than 1 million people.

Japan is doing quite well.

What a big difference..

Well done Japan..

“Roughly 91 percent, were men, about 6 percent women.” Down with the patriarchy!

I salute you, sir.

Are they counting blue tarps and cardboard boxes as homes? Then maybe.

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