Any visitor to Tokyo will step into Shinjuku at least once. It is where the world’s busiest train station accommodates 2.7 million passengers per day and where the Tokyo Metropolitan Government manages GDP as large as the Netherlands’. It is also...
Japan is rarely associated with poverty. Its nominal GDP remains the world’s fourth largest after the U.S., China and Germany, and it has the lowest unemployment rate among the top seven advanced economies. Yet Japan slips to the 24th spot when...
Homelessness is a difficult situation anywhere. Many people who lose their homes have problems getting their life back on track. Far from being a problem of individual responsibility, homeless people are often those who have been laid off from their...
The Big Issue Japan, a social magazine sold by homeless people on the streets, is now taking up the issue of food waste by running a bakery that only opens at night. Yoru no Panya-san (Night-time Bakery) procures leftover bread from popular bakeries...
Being homeless is stigmatized in Japan and much of the world. Fortunately, homelessness is not as prevalent here as in other countries. The official number from the National Survey of Homelessness in Japan states the homeless population nationwide...