No. of homeless in Japan falls to 16,000

Saturday 05th April, 06:53 AM JST

TOKYO —

About 16,000 homeless people were living in parks, on riverbanks and in other locations throughout the nation as of January 2008, down 2,500 from the previous year, the welfare ministry said Friday. The results of the latest survey conducted by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare show a continuing downward trend seen in previous surveys carried out in 2003 and 2007, which the ministry attributes to improved employment conditions in urban areas and to local government policies to help the homeless.

The total of homeless in January 2008 was 16,018—14,707 male, 531 female and 780 of uncertain gender. Homeless people were observed in every prefecture, with Osaka Prefecture logging the highest number with 4,333, followed by Tokyo with 3,796. Between them, Osaka and Tokyo accounted for more than half the nation’s homeless, while Aomori Prefecture recorded the lowest number with only two homeless persons recorded.

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8 Comments

some14some at 08:05 AM JST - 5th April

fall due seasonal adjustment (moving to Govt shelters) in addition to suicides and murders by teenagers.
pathat at 10:16 AM JST - 5th April

I think there is a zero missing from the ministry`s calculation.
VoXman at 01:49 PM JST - 5th April

As president of the blue plastic covering association, I want to protest the harassment of my customer base.
notimpressed at 01:53 PM JST - 5th April

yeh i remember seeing statistics that claimed over a million homeless in Japan. SOrry cant remember where it came from, it was while at university.Did they gather thier numbers in a ten metre radius and average it out from there I wonder? no way its only 16,000.
Honne at 06:36 PM JST - 5th April

[humor]When they relocate them from one place to another (i.e. there is no homeless problem here anymore), they probably conveniently didn't bother recounting. So the original homeless number they are basing this off of was probably from several decades ago. Either that or the ministry's abacus is malfunctioning.[/humor]
lipscombe at 11:08 PM JST - 5th April

tghis is absolutely ******** disgraceful!!!!!!!!!! 16,000 nationwide? are you insane????? who do you think you are kidding?
lipscombe at 11:08 PM JST - 5th April

only 2 homeless in Aomori??? STUPID
borscht at 10:50 AM JST - 6th April

I noticed that homeless people tend to migrate. I saw more homeless in Kyushu in the winter than in the summer, for example. So the government agency that was asked to count the homeless might very well have counted some homeless TWICE. That means, yes, there are probably only 2 homeless people running around really fast in Japan. Or someone dropped a 0 at the end of the 16,000 figure.