No. of homeless in Japan falls to 15-year-low

The number of homeless people in Japan hit a 15-year-low below 5,000, the welfare ministry said, attributing the drop to efforts by local governments to help them become independent.

Wow, for a country with a population this large, this number is amazing! Well done Japan! Nice to see the social welfare working as it should to help those who need it! Thumbs up!

The ministry noted that the actual number could be higher than 4,977, as the survey was based on observations by officials, thus a homeless person would not have been included if he or she was at a different location when the officials went to parks and train stations to look for people living there.

WHAT? OMG, my bubble just got popped! Tell me this isn't true! You mean these people really didn't do their jobs and actually contact the homeless or those that looked it?

Shame!

A quick search on google, really quick, showed that as recently as 2003 there were over 25,000 homeless in Japan, so in the space of 15 years, in a relatively poor economy, aging society, numerous natural disasters, and all the other money wasted on public works projects, the government has been able to reduce the number THIS far, as reported here?

http://kikuko-nagoya.com/html/homeless.html

Government figures are dubious, they say what they wish was true not what is true. It's their job to appear productive in the face of their unproductive day to day lives.

It’s difficult to believe these stats coming from the J-gov. I can smell the bovine excrement from here.

The ministry noted that the actual number could be higher than 4,977, as the survey was based on observations by officials, thus a homeless person would not have been included if he or she was at a different location when the officials went to parks and train stations to look for people living there.

This is the problem with group mentality. If you are unlucky enough to fall outside of the group you do not exist.

So, this report only includes those who were counted living in parks and train stations. It does not include those living on riverbanks or in Internet cafes. Just more fake ‘smoke and mirrors’ statistics. If they are going to make these outlandish claims, they should at least attempt to do an all-inclusive study to get factual data.

Dubious J-gov statistics prompt cynical thoughts: Have so many died?!

I have always taken any stats released by any j-government organ with a pitch of salt.

They are not out to release fact but to give an impression they are doing their job.

Counting homeless is impossible and always politically motivated. Japan reports that 20 million people are living below the poverty level. Reduce that number and you reduce homelessness.

I heard before many homelesses in New York are not intentionally taken care to show people if you are lazy you will become like them. The country gives huge money to sports super stars and to a few successful  businessmen to show America is a country of chances and If you work hard, you can become millionairs like them and like Trump. This is an excuse often used to hide cruelty of a capitalism society.

A quick search on google, really quick, showed that as recently as 2003 there were over 25,000 homeless in Japan,... the government has been able to reduce the number THIS far, as reported here?

Here is what I found as official reports whether you believe it or not.

2003 25,296

2004 (no record)

2005 (no record)

2006 (no record)

2007 18,564

2008 16,018

2009 15,759

2010 13,124

2011 10,890

2012 9,576

2013 8,265

2014 7,508

2015 6,541

2016 6,235

2017 5,534

2018 4,977

 It does not include those living on riverbanks or in Internet cafes. 

Actually the report does include numbers on riverbanks. See

https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/12003000/000330962.pdf

The report shows numbers by locations, and the largest number of homeless were found on riverbanks followed by parks and then streets. It does not specify what "others" category include.

I live in an incorporated 'city' in the countryside - where it is hard to be homeless in comparison to the larger cities. Our population is just 30,000 or so, and I personally know and regularly see three homeless people. I see them on my very early morning walks - one is always looking for droped coins near vending machines, one camps on/in the drift netting of the fishermen, and one 'resides' in abandoned homes. I see them washing up in the public toilets and sitting all day when it rains, in the railway pedestrian overpass. Surely none of these three were counted, and surely there are more whom I have not seen. Less than 5,000? I'd bet at least 10 times that number.

This is the problem with group mentality. If you are unlucky enough to fall outside of the group you do not exist.

I don’t get this kind of comment. Canada’s homeless problem is far worse, and yet it’s hardly a society with a group mentality.

I remember that where I was running near sea shore, there would be a man living under a bridge. No one would ever spot him since hardly no one was using that path although paved and clean.

Homeless Japanese do hide a lot when they can (because easily ousted/despised).

The survey was conducted with local government officials patrolling their communities to spot people living without a permanent dwelling.

haha yeah real accurate I am sure, not slanting this at all for Abe's popularity

Try going to the river side in Asakusa and get back to me....unless they've done as they did after the fire in Shinjuku a decade+ before and ran everyone off, there's PLENTY of Homeless in their own ShantyTown along the river. Used to hang out with 'em a bit, from time to time when I wasn't workin'.

As of January, 4,977 people were living in such places as riverbeds or parks across the nation

Funny. There are more such people living in Tokyo alone. Ueno has thousands by itself, the old Sanya district is still full of the homeless. The city’s parks are still have lots of people living under tarps, boxes, and shelters made of old umbrellas.

The thing with numbers here is who are they actually counting? Homeless you say? But they didn't actually "count" they guess-timated the numbers by "looking" at the people.

Next, what about the people who are transient? You know, the legion of workers that stay in company dorms, or the folks who live on the street, but have an "address" to get their proverbial monthly checks.

The drop in numbers is in the manner they are counted, and by eliminating those who fall through the cracks.

The number has got to be at lest 5x higher.

Even if was five times higher, the number would still be quite low. California with one-third the population of Japan is estimated to have 114,000 homeless. A friend who regularly goes back to Sacramento tells me that some of the cycling trails we used to ride have been colonised by the homeless.

I checked with a specialist on the homeless in Japan, Tom Gill at Meiji Gakuin University. He told me that while the number may be understated, there has in fact been a dramatic reduction in the number of homeless in Japan.

I see this myself cycling along the rivers in Tokyo, especially the Arakawa. There are notably fewer self-built shelters than there were ten years ago.

I wonder how many of them are clearing up the mess Fukushima

Japanese statistics?

What about the recorded deaths of Homeless people per year, are those reported anywhere in comparison ?

Having been in Tokyo in 2003 I can attest that at the very least homeless were a lot more visible back then. They would often form makeshift cardboard shelters inside large train stations, especially in the winter. Nowadays there is not a homeless to be seen near Shibuya station(though there still are plenty under the bridges). Probably due in part to economic progress and in part to being much more harshly treated by police. I remember being near a park in Tokyo and seeing the cops drag off a homeless man, who obviously didn’t want to go to wherever they dragged him off to... I kind of felt guilty about not getting involved (I didn’t have any device capable of recording video), but I knew as a foreigner there was nothing I could do

90000 in temporary housing in Fukushima

15000 in temporary housing in Kumamoto

latest disaster?

Lovestatistics.

ever been to Nishinari in Osaka?

But they didn't actually "count" they guess-timated the numbers by "looking" at the people.

Actually the report contains quite details which cannot be obtained by just looking.

For example:

Job: about 60% has earnings (Waste collection: 70.3%, Construction: 8.2%, etc)

Age (60-64: 25.4%, 55-59: 18.1%, 65-69: 16.4%, 50-54: 10.8%, 70-74: 8.5%, etc.)

Moving (Staying one place: 83.1%, Staying on different places: 16.8%)

Sleeping (Tent or Shack: 39.1%, Cardboard: 21.0%, Sleeping bag or Blanket: 27.6%, etc)

Length of Homelessness (10 yrs: 25.4%, 5-10 yrs: 19.8%, 3-5 yrs: 15.5%, etc)

and so on.

Job: about 60% has earnings (Waste collection: 70.3%, Construction: 8.2%, etc)

Age (60-64: 25.4%, 55-59: 18.1%, 65-69: 16.4%, 50-54: 10.8%, 70-74: 8.5%, etc.)

Moving (Staying one place: 83.1%, Staying on different places: 16.8%)

Sleeping (Tent or Shack: 39.1%, Cardboard: 21.0%, Sleeping bag or Blanket: 27.6%, etc)

Length of Homelessness (10 yrs: 25.4%, 5-10 yrs: 19.8%, 3-5 yrs: 15.5%, etc)

and so on.

Did you read to the end of the article?

The ministry noted that the actual number could be higher than 4,977, as the survey was based on observations by officials, thus a homeless person would not have been included if he or she was at a different location when the officials went to parks and train stations to look for people living there.

Did you read to the end of the article?

Yes. But it was obvious that the report was not by just "looking".

Yes. But it was obvious that the report was not by just "looking".

However, if they are getting their statistics regarding those who are actually homeless, based upon observation, and no contact, that means the numbers in the report are seriously flawed.

The report does not state anything else, so it is pure speculation on where or how they got the statistics they are reporting, which makes it at the least a report based upon conjecture.

The statistics could have been collected through other sources and obviously had to have been, because of their admitting they only observed the people. This is further supported by this line in the article as well;

while the gender was unknown for the remaining 193 as they were bundled up in clothes.

This report was put out in a further attempt to make people feel like things are getting better

More than 90 percent of the total, or 4,607, were men and 177 were women, while the gender was unknown for the remaining 193 as they were bundled up in clothes. Three-quarters were in central Tokyo's 23 wards and government-designated major cities across the nation.

Also, government-designated means inaccurate, as it does not include the entire country. Claims being made, based upon false and insufficient information......sounds rather familiar.