Homelessness and its measures in Japan
In Japan, it is widely accepted that the major source of (street) homeless population* had traditionally been those who engaged in the construction industry. The industry employed many day labourers to meet the growing market needs during the high economic growth and these labourers typically lived in a shanty town built around a market where labourers were picked up every morning by construction brokers. Homelessness was common among such day labourers since their forms of employment and housing were unstable – for instance, when a day labourer got so injured that he could not perform heavily physical work, he could easily lose his housing that was rented on a daily payment system.
While homelessness among this population had been relatively small or geographically concentrated in a hidden area during the economic growth era, it suddenly soared in the 1990s when the bubble economy collapsed and the availability of construction work shrank considerably. Homelessness was now a visible issue for major cities such as Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and Yokohama. Because of this historical context, even today, homelessness in Japan is regarded as a problem common for single male adults. It is sometimes pointed out that youth and women’s homelessness in Japan has been overlooked, though there is not much evidence to prove it.
In terms of public measures to address homelessness, the first Japanese law specifically targeting street homeless population was established in 2002. The Special Law concerning the Support for the Independence of the Homeless has provided able-bodied homeless people in major cities with short to medium-term shelters focusing on employment and skills services. Partly because of this provision, the number of street homeless people has decreased from its peak of 25,296 in 2003 to the most recent figure of 7,508 in 2014. However, this official figure only counts those who are seen bedding down on one day (sometimes the count is conducted during the day) and some homeless service providers claim that there actually exist twice to three times of rough sleepers. Also, there are no comprehensive statistics on broader homeless population who, for instance, stay in 24-hour internet cafes or in temporary accommodation provided by the government. The lack of a database system contributes to the difficulty of capturing the overall picture of homelessness and rough sleeping in Japan.
In recent years, the impact of the global financial crisis and long-lasting recession seems to have produced new types of homeless people – those who are much younger than their counterparts in the early 2000s and have never worked in the construction industry. The existing public homelessness services are inclined towards employment assistance but we are feeling that we need to look at complex needs of long-term rough sleepers and share the ownership of the problem with the housing and urban development sector as it is currently dealt with by the human service sector.
[*] In Japan, the word ‘homeless’ (pronounced as ho-muresu) usually refers to rough sleepers.