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Blog Action Day: 2008 – Poverty

As the title says today is Blog Action Day and the theme this year is Poverty.

Living in Japan, arguably one of the wealthiest countries in the world, you get to see a lot of “In Your Face” poverty. Around the main stations and public parks and in particular at night you will see cities of cardboard and blue plastic sheets pop up out of nowhere.

At first it was easy for me to ignore it and say it’s the governments problem but as time goes I realize it does have an impact on me. As you can see from the picture below this is not a small problem.

I don’t know the official government policy on looking after homeless people, and I am sure like most countries it’s probably ignore it and it will go away eventually. Guess what, it won’t go away.

After a couple of years of treading the same shopping path from Shinjuku station to Yodobashi West Exit, I  came across the same guy selling the “Big Issue”, which I would purchase, he always asks in perfect English if Japanese magazine is OK, yes it’s still OK like last month.. it has become one of my rituals in Japan. In addition to purchasing the “Big Issue” I now give him some  cash every month.. and quite frankly I don’t care what he does with it as long as it makes his existence a little happier. During winter months I also give him a small care package with heat packs, some cold medicine, face masks etc.. Guess it’s my own private charity…

Step back, take a look around and ask yourself, can I spare $100 a month.. the answer is yes..

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This post is tagged blog action day 2008, homless japan, poverty