homeless
The “Harlem of Japan” may be losing the very thing that made it so popular in the first place.
Not having enough money to pay rent each month isn’t their biggest problem is securing permanent housing, though.
When store manager refuses to call the cops, man who can’t pay for his meal does it for him.
Revealing newspaper costume draws eyes and puzzled comments too.
After living in Tokyo for ten years, our Osaka-born writer Seiji Nakazawa shares some experiences from his hometown he thought were normal but actually weren’t.
For this fortunate man, honesty has paid off in the most beautiful way.
When you hear the story of Hachiko, the dog who waited for his owner outside of Shibuya Station for 10 years, your heart wrenches in pangs of sadness, yet is warmed by the thought that such love and dedication exists in this world. But, what if Hachiko had been a man and his owner was some girl who stood him up, is your heart still warmed?
You don’t just have to imagine this situation, because it actually happened, or, should we say, is currently happening. A Taiwanese man has been waiting outside of Tainan train station for his date who never showed up… 20 years ago.
When we picture homeless people, the images that usually come to mind aren’t exactly pleasant. While the social stigma of homelessness is brutal to say the least, the fact remains that being homeless is not something most people would choose for themselves.
And while most homeless people probably haven’t “chosen” their life, they’re not all necessarily suffering either. Some homeless men in Japan have a yearly “salary” that is down-right respectable!
Multimillionaire Chen Guangbiao, the self-proclaimed “most influential person of China,” held a massive event in New York City on Wednesday during which he handed out $100 bills to 200 homeless people at the Loeb Boathouse in Central Park.
“He’s the man! He’s the man!” one man shouted, throwing his arm around Guangbiao and waving the three $100 bills in the air.
“I wish and hope that you will put the money into good use,” Guangbiao said in remarks delivered through a translator.
“I hope that you will use this money as seed money for whatever job training or job education you will receive so that you can help yourself,” he said.
Guangbiao, 46, then told the crowd that he would like to do this every year. They began to cheer and whistle.
Japan has an unspoken problem with homelessness in its cities. It’s not uncommon to see tent cities along the edges of recreational parks or to see leather-skinned men sleeping on newspapers around the train stations. These people are largely ignored by the public and will keep to themselves unless provoked by some means. The vast majority do not even beg.
Unfortunately, the problem of poverty is not the only issue that these people face. Mental illness is not uncommon amongst the homeless, and the combination of hungry people and unstable mental states can lead to some especially unfortunate circumstances.
Something attracting quite a bit of attention on the net at the moment is an incident involving a 25-year-old homeless man in Japan who put himself up for sale as an “item” on the Yahoo! Auctions website. Anyone winning the bid would in theory have been able bring the man into their home and provide him with accommodation.
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