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Homeless Japanese
Japanese wisdom ? Japan is the country that probably best controls its image abroad. To the world, it offers a particularly seductive window that seems to solidify the economic and cultural ideal for each display that is as vast as it is diverse. High technology consorts with traditional handicrafts. The utilitarian mixes with the pleasurable in a wash of colors to create luxurious fashion inspired by esthetic concepts that are Japanese as well as western. Refinement and service are so polite and respectful that we bow down with admiration. The exploitation of the cultural heritage does not escape this rule. Everything is organized down to the last detail so that the traveler is wholly satisfied whether it is for performances, tours or dining experiences. Disorientation is guaranteed and to experience all of it, you just need a nice stack of yens. However, he who looks away from this beautiful display risks seeing another reality, one of misery that the government has a harder and harder time of dissimulating. Effectively, in big industrial cities like Tokyo and Osaka, the passer-by can brush up against a new class of Japanese that are the shame of the country, the homeless. To refer to the homeless, the Japanese prefer to use the English word rather than a word in their own language... These men and a minority of women are settled in on the street, in metro corridors or in public places. Some have built their space out of a patchwork of boxes which are more or less decorated and painted by their “owner”. Most of the homeless are clean and decently dressed. But sometimes there are certain individuals who display an extreme decrepitude and their particularly off-putting aspect seems to want to shock the passer-by. However, none of these people are aggressive. They never approach anyone and they don’t solicit. They are in no case beggars. They refuse to beg to maintain their dignity, which is the most precious thing they have. The homeless communicate nearly exclusively amongst themselves. They seem to have made exclusion a privilege and they have created a tightly knit community isolated at the heart of Japanese society that can no longer keep its promises. The world economic crisis casts its shadow on the Land of the Rising Sun as we see with the mass of homeless. The precarious situation of these “salarymen” linked to an abundance of manpower and the elevated cost of productivity isn’t the only reason that pushes some Japanese to take to the streets. Japanese society imposes responsibility and discipline so heavy that the traditional sense of honor, the safeguard of Japanese dignity, isn’t enough anymore to maintain the individual in his role of model citizen. Many envy the European way of life that seems to take advantage of a larger sense of moral and individual freedom. These homeless try to conquer this fundamental freedom by throwing their administrative papers into the river, symbols of the hold the Japanese culture has on their existence. This age-old culture is certainly very rich in many ways, but its protocolic complexity linked to its rigid hierarchy can also create harmful prejudices for tolerance and openness. The homeless are victims of these values; however, their desire to remain master of their lives protects them from the disdain of passers-by. For many who choose the streets, it’s more about a resignation from a principle with which they are not in agreement than the result of a rejection from society that does not tolerate insubordination. It’s a proof of wisdom and not weakness. Today, the Japanese media is beginning to take an interest in these silent warriors whose only weapon is the sacrifice of a model of a social life. Now it is possible for them to get their message across. For them, the quality of existence demands more than the simple possession of all the products of the beautiful window displays and needs something other than the badge of a model citizen. They dream more of a social policy for which the individual has the possibility of consecrating more time and assuming his own convictions. These men think they have the right to live for themselves and not to satisfy the needs of the group. Today, Japan is not only passing through an economic crisis, but above all, a conscious crisis. The challenge will be to determine the equilibrium of a country that has, to the profit of the economic dream, far too long “omitted” to put in place the conditions to help each person realize their dreams. In other words, all the energy consecrated to making the best brand image of the country does not seem to be a priority in regard to these champions of Human Rights.
Of course, all homeless are not heroes, they didn’t all deliberately choose their condition. Some are simply victims. For now, thanks to their determination, organization and solidarity, they question and disturb the good Japanese conscience that, in time, will have no choice but to unmask itself. JMC
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