China's economic boom mean iPods and leather jackets for Tokyo's homeless

It’s a good time to be homeless in Japan, Tokyo Sports (Feb 27) finds. Why? Because of this summer’s Beijing Olympics.

What’s the connection? The Olympics are feeding a Chinese building boom. The building boom has created a demand for metal. The price of metal is surging. Among the beneficiaries are collectors of metal trash — aluminum cans and so forth. This is a prime occupation of Japanese homeless people. We’re seeing in consequence, Tokyo Sports alleges, a dramatic rise in “iPod homeless.”

“Around Shinjuku and Shibuya stations,” the tabloid claims, “you see homeless people with ratty clothes, matted hair — and iPods. An Apple iPod can run anywhere from 5,800 yen to 50,000 yen — plus the music you have to buy for it.” Not a poor man’s toy, ordinarily, but is anything ordinary these days?

It’s not just iPods. Check out some of the stylish leather jackets sported by these same homeless. The phenomenon seems to give a whole new meaning to the word prosperity. “I go round to the apartment buildings early in the morning on days when metal trash is being picked up,” explains a homeless man based around Shimbashi Station. “I can collect 1,000-odd cans, roughly 20 kg, that way. Or I ride around Kawasaki on my bicycle and in a few days, I’ve got 10,000 yen worth.”

A steel company executive explains: “There’s a factory in Kawasaki that takes in aluminum cans collected by homeless people. They go around on their bikes with garbage bags full of cans — maybe 75 kg, which the factory will buy for 13,000 yen. Two years ago, it wouldn’t have been worth more than 5,000 yen. Some 800 people a day converge on that factory with their cans.”

The Olympics may be the most visible symbol of China’s meteoric rise, but it’s by no means all that’s going on there of significance to Japanese homeless. An expanding Chinese middle class wants more cars, more and better bicycles, even more soft drinks, all requiring aluminum.

Until recently, China had enough aluminum of its own. Suddenly that is no longer true. Last year saw the first imports, and since then, the price has roughly doubled. It just goes to show what an impact economic developments overseas can have on the street here at home.

“Thanks to China’s aluminum demand,” concludes Tokyo Sports, “homeless people in Japan are leading richer lives.”