One day while walking around Shinjuku, a major hub for government and business in Tokyo, Japan, I noticed a shelter built by a homeless man. It looked semi-permanent, but more importantly, had solar panels on it. I thought this was very different than the homeless I encountered in my former city of Vancouver, Canada, so I started to investigate homelessness in Japan.
I was lucky enough to interview Professor Tom Gill, who has researched homelessness and other societal issues in Japan for many years.
This is part 1 of a series of videos I’m making about the homeless in Japan. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave in the comments. Thanks for watching.
To see part 2, please visit https://www.lifewhereimfrom.com/lwif-ep81-homeless-in-japan-part-2-who-they-are
Support on Patreon
Thanks to all those who support projects like this on Patreon. It really does help me spend the time on topics like this that take time to research and produce.
→ https://www.patreon.com/lifewhereimfrom
Sources
→ UN Drug Use and Health Consequences Data – https://data.unodc.org/#state:38
→ Yakuza by apes_abroad – http://flickr.com/photos/apes_abroad/514272781/, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3423064
→ Horse Racing – By Guilhem Vellut from Tokyo, Japan – Horse racing @ Tokyo Race Course @ Fuchu, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37285704
→ Pachinko By Tischbeinahe – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12746666
→ U.S. Marine Corps By Sgt. Christopher R. Rye – Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20718647
→ https://www.oecd.org/els/health-systems/MMHC-Country-Press-Note-Japan.pdf
→ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/229517.stm
→ http://homelesshub.ca/about-homelessness/topics/mental-health
→ https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/26/opinion/can-there-be-good-mental-asylums.html
→ http://www.npr.org/2015/08/04/427419718/the-u-s-declared-war-on-veteran-homelessness-and-it-actually-could-win
→ http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Closure+Riverview+Hospital+marks+mental+health+treatment/6967310/story.html
→ http://japan.kantei.go.jp/constitution_and_government_of_japan/constitution_e.html
→ https://www.christiantoday.com/article/american.churches.receive.record.114.9.b.donations.in.2014.report/57240.htm
→ http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/mustafa-field-mbe/muslims-ramadan-charity_b_16815380.html
→ https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/giving/religion-the-original-ngo/article4243145/?page=all