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TOKYO: Yuichiro broke out while picking up a food package at an outreach event in Tokyo offering aid to the growing number of Japanese pushed into poverty by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There is no work. Absolutely none,” said the 46-year-old, until recently a construction worker, as he clutches a small plastic bag of essentials on a cold winter street in the capital.
“This is not widely reported in the media, but many people sleep in train stations and in cardboard boxes. Some are starving.”
Volunteers from the Tenohasi relief group provide consultation sessions to those in need in a park in the Ikebukuro district of Tokyo. (Photo: AFP / Philip Fong)
The world’s third-largest economy has seen a relatively small COVID-19 outbreak so far, with around 4,500 deaths and largely without the drastic lockdowns seen in other countries.
With an unemployment rate below 3% and a reputation for having a strong social safety net, Japan also appears to be well placed to weather the economic fallout of the pandemic.
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But activists say the most vulnerable have still been hit hard, and the statistics mask the high rate of underemployment and low-paid temporary work.
“The pandemic, rising unemployment and falling wages have directly affected the working poor, people who were barely getting by before,” said Ren Ohnishi, who heads the Moyai Support Center for Independent Living, a group against poverty.
The shame and stigma of being a welfare recipient in Japan makes many people reluctant to seek help, activists say. (Photo: AFP / Philip Fong)
About 40 percent of workers are in vulnerable “non-regular” jobs with lower wages and contracts that can be easily terminated. Many also struggle to access social assistance.
Yuichiro, who did not give his last name to AFP, said he was sent from one government office to another before he was told that the assistance was only for people with children.
“But there are many adults who cannot eat,” he said.
“THE ROPE HAS JUST BROKEN”
More than 10 million people in Japan live on less than $ 19,000 a year, while one in six live in “relative poverty” with incomes less than half the national average.
Economists say that half a million Japanese have lost their jobs in the past six months, and activists say the domino effect is spreading to the entire population.
“I know for sure that the middle class is collapsing,” said Kenji Seino, who runs the nonprofit aid group Tenohasi.
Yuichiro, 46, says there is no job for him in Japan’s capital. (Photo: AFP / Philip Fong)
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Around 250 people lined up in Tokyo’s bustling Ikebukuro district to receive food, clothing, sleeping bags and medical help from Tenohasi’s team of volunteers, who also provide free advice on job search and government services.
“People who were already struggling faced the coronavirus. They were on the tightrope and the rope just snapped.”
Experts warn that economic pain may be contributing to an increase in the suicide rate seen towards the end of last year.
A 1 percent increase in Japan’s unemployment rate translates to an additional 3,000 suicides a year, according to Taro Saito of the NLI Research Institute.
Experts say that women are often hesitant to seek help or join men in queues for food. (Photo: AFP / Philip Fong)
Women, in particular, face financial difficulties as many work on temporary contracts in retail, restaurants and hotels, all industries affected by the pandemic.
Experts say that women are often hesitant to seek help or join men in food lines, but even so, they are now seeing more women and mothers with young children at outreach events.
Seino said that less than 20 percent of the people he helps are women, but he believes “many more” have not come forward.
“Some women feel that their children will not be able to walk with their heads held high if they receive social assistance.”
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A “VERY JAPANESE SYSTEM”
While statistics show an increase in applications for public assistance, Ohnishi of the Moyai Support Center said the shame and stigma of being a welfare recipient made many reluctant to seek help.
“The system itself has rules that state that the assistance of family members should be the priority. That is why families receive notices that say things like ‘your child is applying for welfare,'” he said.
“It’s a very Japanese system. Everyone has the legal right to use it. But society doesn’t necessarily tolerate it.”
A food package produced by the Moyai Support Center for Independent Living. (Photo: AFP / Philip Fong)
Activists admit that the scale of poverty in Japan is dwarfed by that of many nations, even among other developed countries.
But that means little to the Japanese struggling for food and shelter.
A man who received help in Ikebukuro said his monthly income from construction had fallen to less than $ 200 and that he only had enough cash left for one more rent payment.
“I don’t want to go outside. It’s too cold,” he said, refusing to give his name. “I don’t know exactly what I’ll do now.”
