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Ojisan





Last year, statistics released by the Japanese bureau of national statistics* revealed that one in three single women is living in poverty. The news left the country in shock. It was so unusual; there was not even a word for it. The term 'Hinkonjyoshi', which translates as 'girls in poverty' has since been added to the Japanese vocabulary.




Although the study also revealed a high proportion of single men living in poverty (a quarter of all single men between 20-64), it was the single women's poverty rate of 32% that sent shock waves through the country- particularly because it was previously unknown to most.

Experts say the signs were all there. The outdated Japanese social security system is built on the very traditional family model in which the father is breadwinner and the mother cares for the children. Despite obvious changes in society, with increased numbers of divorced and unmarried women, the benefit system has not been amended.




Further clues can be found in employment statistics. Whilst temporary jobs account for less than 40 per cent of the country total, more than half of all females are in temporary employment. And wage distribution tells its own story. Although 42 per cent of Japan's total labour force is made up by women, they earn almost a half of what men workers do. Many say signs were simply not recognised because of the popular belief that women should stay at home once they are married.

When it comes to homelessness, it is easy to ignore the problems women face, simply because they are harder to find. The number of female homeless is fewer than that of men. They are more 'invisible' in the streets, but they do exist. The reason many homeless women are unnoticeable is because they try not to be recognised as homeless in order to keep themselves safe.

It is the homeless shelters that see the real picture. During the New Year holidays, traditionally a family time, emergency shelters took in single women, some of them only in their twenties. I interviewed some of them to try and find out what underlying problems drove these girls to the streets.




One girl told me she could not rely on her family and became homeless after flat-sharing with a friend ended with a dispute. She said: "I tried everything to conceal myself at night."

Another lady told me that she was so scared to be in the streets at night that she went around internet cafés and 24-hour restaurants to spend the time until dawn. She is in her 40s and had suffered from mental illness for a long time. She used to make a living on a part-time job but lost her job and subsequently her own home.

When she went back to ask for help from her family, her parents were not happy about the situation and eventually kicked her out. She got together with a man she met on the street, but once he moved in to a temporary male shelter, she was alone again. Nowadays, she makes ends meet by taking on small day jobs where she can, and makes a tour of fast food restaurants during the night. She hardly lies down and gets little sleep. Yet, no one in Japan would imagine that a lady sitting in a fast food restaurant at night could be homeless.




And then there is the factor all too often intertwined with homelessness in Japan: prostitution.




Kanae is in her twenties and has been in the industry 'for a long time'. She has a bad relationship with her family and had been thrown out of home when she was still a teenager. She moved to the city and soon convinced herself that working as a prostitute was the only job she could get with an immediate pay in cash and accommodation.

After a while, she met her boyfriend and they moved in together. But things did not go well for Kanae as she soon found herself exposed domestic violence from her boyfriend. She chose to stay with him and tolerated abuse for some years, because: "I had only three paths to choose from: putting up with him, returning to prostitution or becoming homeless."

In the end, she put an end to the relationship and went back to prostitution. However, depression hit her, making it impossible for her to continue work and pay for the guesthouse she stayed at. Kanae eventually ended up on the streets. Luckily, she found access to a livelihood support programme and she is currently receiving treatment in a mental health clinic.




Female poverty and homelessness has many causes. The economic issues of unstable employment and unequal pay rates go some way in explaining the problems. The lack of a safety net for single women in particular is also proving to play a huge part, and in some way has become a breeding ground for prostitution and domestic violence.

Even if women overcome these obstacles, there are hardly any social security such as support centre for women or stable employment ensuring proper sustainable living afterwards. What is more, they tend to deny and hide the fact that they are homeless for their own protection and this makes them blind to any potential help.

These stories of young, single homeless women remind me of the tragic case of Sanae Himomura, who was accused of letting her own children die of starvation. Without any work experience, the only job she could find after a divorce was prostitution. It is in this shocking reality, where women have very limited choices when hit by difficult times, that the problems of female poverty in Japan are really laid bare. And I should not be the only one to feel this way.




*The report by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research showed that one in three single household women aged between 20 and 64 years old live in poverty.




Translated into English by Aya Kawanishi