Less a Home

Homeless in Japan.

Not me of course.

Many people in Japan do not have a home, by choice or by other circumstances that are known only to them. Actually a pretty good book called the Devotion of Suspect X, highlights Japan's homeless in pretty good detail and gives a potential grim outcast. I won't go in o further details in case of spoilers. It is a good book and a pretty quick read, you should look into it. 

Anyways, one of the popular spots for the homeless to live is by the river. Any river. I am not really sure why this is, if it helps to carry away their bodily wastes, or if it functions to help bathe themselves and their clothes, or for drinking, or maybe all of the above. In any case, they are usually there. They actually remind me of the hoarder I posted about a bit ago. They have a large accumulation of stuff near their locations, often covered with a large blue tarp. Others who live in a more permanent locality, will even set up their own little hand built shack made of wood or cardboard or scraps of metal. Those people will usually be a bit away from the bustling of a city where people or officials would be less likely to hassle them and tell them to remove their structures as they are not really in the way of any one or thing. They set up their camps along the under sides of bridges which can't help but remind me of the trolls in Billy Goats Gruff. But they do it not to frighten poor little goats, but for the over head streets to act as a shelter from the rain. They will then camp themselves on the inside of the pillars that hold up the bridge so as not to be seen or stared at by too many passersby. You know privacy, but also I suspect it is also part due to the Japanese sentiment of not being in other peoples way. 

can collector

So what do these people do to get by? They do not busk. They do not beg or hassle you for money. Many of them collect cans. They ride their bikes around and go through garbage bins and those recycle spots right next to vending machines in order to draw out the aluminum cans to collect and turn in for mere pennies a piece. Others will go in search of daily employment. There are facilities that hire people based on a day to day basis. A lot of these places are places like construction sites, and they will pay you by the day for your work. This helps to keep mouths fed and people from begging. However, there is also a bit of a shady aspect to them. A few known killers have flown under the radar for months and years working for daily job sites like this before being apprehended. That is because these places don't require too much information about you and it is easy to get employed with very little effort. It is a double edged sword allowing the homeless to work by not requiring too much information like addresses and such, but also potentially letting not so good men into your presence; however I think this system does more good than harm. 

among the places you will not see on house hunters