The New Japanese Class: the Poor and Hungry

As an exchange student, I walk through a city park several times a week to get to school. Several homeless people live in this park. In the US, there is a food bank-pantry system plus other services to help provide food to the poor. However, I knew very little about the Japanese system. I did a little internet research and found only one organization for Tokyo: Second Harvest. This is a charity organization that has no direct government support and started this millennium. They do good work for their scale, including their food bank system. But I do not think most Japanese really understand poverty yet or those who do are aging out. People who personally experienced the squallier after WWII are slowly passing away and the younger are too accustomed to the post war boom. Even a decade later, Japan seems to still coast on the steam created decades ago. Mostly the homeless are left to fend for themselves in terms of food.

I am including a link to a blog entry of someone who talked to the homeless in Ueno park.

Also, please check out my bilingual video post.