Slums in Japan

Tokyo may share the distinctly dysfunctional appearance that characterizes slums the world over, but it falls considerably short of actually being one. Part of this, of course, is based on recognition and perception. What differentiates, for example, two wooden structures, one deemed a slum, the other a building of grace and charm? Perhaps part of the answer is that the latter improves with age while the former succumbs to it. But there is also the question of aesthetics. To the untrained eye, a traditional Japanese teahouse, with its clay walls, paper windows and thatched or tiled roof -- a costly luxury in today's city -- is easily dismissed as a humble potting shed.

Although first impressions -- stagnant canals, serrated rows of under-maintained public housing apartments stamped with giant letters of the alphabet, their balconies bedecked with laundry and drying futons, ubiquitous cinder-block walls -- are unlikely to be favorable, there is a dynamism, perhaps even a hidden order, to Tokyo's shambolic macram�Eof high-tech, high-cost modernity, and its wooden buildings, corrugated walls, roof boxes, petro-incinerated concrete, rising damp stains and rusting water drums.

The poorest of the poor in Japan include homeless who live in the cities in tents and under bridges; single parent families; elderly people with small pensions; and temporary workers who sleep in Internet cafes. There are few slums in Japan, but even the ones you do find are nothing like those in India, Brazil or even America. Still, they often have no furniture, only cushions, and no bathrooms; families must use a public bath down the street.

More than 40 percent of those receiving welfare are elderly. A large number of young people are also poor. According to the OECD 1 in 7 Japanese kids under 17 lives in poverty. Many are children of parents who are unemployed, don’t have steady work or are temporary employees.

Housing complexes for the poor are often filled with elderly people. Almost half of all welfare beneficiaries are 65 or older by contrast in the United States one in 10 are. Some receive nothing because they are homeless and the government requires them to have a fixed address to get assistance. Others are too embarrassed or ashamed to apply for it.

The elderly have been hurt by welfare cuts. Some get by on rice and noodles, keep the heat off even in mid winter to save energy costs and have given up going to weddings and funeral because they can’t bear the shame of not being able to offer a present.

In Osaka many used to live in tents set up in the park around Osaka Castle. In the Tokyo area, many live in a neighborhood called Saya and in Kawasaki, an industrial town that has fallen on hard times. In Japan the homeless are known as those who “sleep rough.”