We eliminated homelessness!... by redefining "homelessness" to mean a super specific thing that excludes what most people would consider homeless. Bureaucratic classic.

The article also didn’t count the people that live in manga cafes and such, which Japan does not count as homeless.

1:39 Not trying to defend the US, but I think you read that stat wrong. 11.5% is the poverty rate. You can be housed but still be poor.

This reminds me a lot of how domestic violence/child abuse/mental health was dealt with in the US in the 80s. When I was younger, certain parts of town in my city were overrun with homeless kids who had escaped violent homes.

japan reporting the number of homeless people like finland reporting the number of unhappy people

There's a homeless Japanese man with a KZfaq channel called Nomad Push, it would be great if he could get a shoutout. He travels around Japan on a skateboard and records his experiences. Much love for bringing attention to these topics!

Japan has a history of masking social issues, I could easily see people who live in abandoned proprieties not being counted towards the homeless populations, despite the fact that these buildings do not have either electricity or running water.

Its a shame that adults are the one that are always saying we need to make a better life for the next generation. But in the end they but up a blind eye when things need to be done.

600k people isn´t 12 % of the US, the US has 333 million people. The 12 % is those who fall under the poverty line/existential minimum.

I’ve covered the homeless issue. The Tokyo kids problem is especially hard to talk about and not get into trouble with KZfaq though.

as a youth residential carer for homeless teenagers in Australia... The amount of homeless teenagers is astounding and I don't think people know how bad it is...

I was a run away as well, but in Europe. Unfortunately this problem is everywhere (though I admit it is worse in Japan). Society thinks that kids being abused is often their fault (unfortunately). I got told often "what did you do to make them act that way to you?" and "Maybe you need to be the better person and just accept your parents for who they are?", basically asking me why I couldn't just allow myself to be abused like that. Even had people tell me that "they do love you and they don't mean it like that. They are your parents after all". It is hard to deal with these things as a child. I am an adult now and ever since becomming an adult no one has blamed me for cutting my parents out of my life. No one has told me to go back. As a child, as a teen that just ran away? All the time. I too sought help from an organization. They send me back. They believed my parents (they spoke to us both) and tought that I was just "trying to get attention". I told them I will run away again when I am 18, then they legally can't send me back. And I did. Ran away, never went back. Don't regret it at all. Stuff like this just break my hard. Kids don't deserve this, they are so vulnerable, they need support. And this is how society treats them. Unfortunately parents (especially mothers) are seen as people that can't do no wrong, because they are "supposed to love their children", but things like this happen a lot. Unfortunately there are no good solutions. Not even in my country (and my country is seen as one of the countries with a decent system). I ran away to group home. Started living there. I was surrounded by pedo's, people pulled knives on each other and sometimes someone got beaten up. People abused drugs and were dealing with psychosis. Still I didn't want to go home, because living with my parents was way worse. I just wish people took kids seriously. I wish there were more solutions to prevent this kind of stuff from happening. How many more kids have to die from abuse before stuff like this stops?

I was under the impression Tōyoko Kids meant "beside the Tōhō building" (東宝ビルの横) in Shinjuku, where most of Tokyo's new homeless kids gather.

I think the main problem with Japan that nobody is talking about is about Japan just not talking about things in general. From ghosting as a standard way to break up, to actively not helping out in public, to simply letting Johnny Somali be as he escalates his nonsense. And yeah... the general attitude of keeping the peace by ignoring problems. Because you don't want to be a rabble rousers. Its a country that essentially functions and communicates with backhanded methods and roundabout solutions.

5:50 Am Japanese, トー横 doesn't mean Tokyo and Yokohama, it's the abbreviation of "TOHOシネマズ横" (A kind of "hungout place" right next to the TOHO buliding of Kabuki-cho). I support you content but I guess this was so critically misleading if Tōyoko meant Tokyo and Yokohama combined lol

It does upset me how people turn a blind eye to domestic abuse/domestic violence and leave parts of families suffering in silence without anyone to turn to. Because that feeling of no escape and inevitability to suffering sucks. I do hope that raising awareness does help to improve the way this is dealt with, if I’m allowed to be optimistic.

The golden rule I follow is 'if it looks too good to be true, chances are there's a catch and you're not seeing it'. I love Japan but even I knew that it wasn't perfect. When my sister's in laws went to the country, they were astounded and wouldn't stop talking about how amazing it was. When they said they couldn't figure out why, I had to tell them the dark truth and how Japanese society is a double edge sword (then again, most societies are if you think about it). They just sat there shocked after hearing what I told them, especially about the awful bullying problem the country has - where literally anything different about you makes you a target, even if it's a positive trait.

As a person who grew while being fully expected by people around me, I have started to believe old people aren't innocent as well. I used to believe only children spoils themselves but in reality, this includes parents who only see their children as investments and trophies, and society that turn blind eyes against this issue.

So i was in japan for a vacation for about 7 weeks, where i spent majority in Osaka, followed by Nagoya and finaly Tokyo. The thing i saw was that especially in Osaka when i walked about at random, i did find "zones" or campgrounds where homeless people gathered. And im pretty sure i can confidently say i personally saw more than 3 000 homeless people in Osaka alone? Though of course i might be wrong about that. I tried talking with some of them with my limited japanese knowledge, and according to them they were homeless and chose to make their own little comunities a little out of sight or away from more popular areas where they could be "together". I do hope the children can find somewhere they feel safe though, some kind of "housing" system or something, though that might be wishfull thinking. Great video as always, keep the updates comming. I for one look forward to these kinds of videos ^^

The sad thing is that these kids are victims of abuse/circumstance. Without pressing domestic abuse charges or worse, the police won't intervene. The only solution I see in the short term is the implementation of YA shelters meant specifically for ToYo children. 😢

And you are not even talking about the problem of being a Toyoko kid... I've seen various videos about the issue and those kids are having drug problems (they buy medicine that in huge quantity can cause calmness and other effects), pr*stit*tion problems (girls going to offer services for money...), theft problems, etc. And the police does nothing. It's nonsensical. Those kids needs protection and a proper guidance... it's very sad.

As with many countries and societies, most people choose to see only the problems they want to see.

I'm glad you've gained the platform to talk about these things. I've not heard of this issue until now with your video about it here.

It's always so upsetting hearing about stuff like this, no matter where in the world it is. I experienced mental, physical and emotional abuse at the hand of a step parent for over a decade when I was young, and no matter how many times I refused to go home or went to the police, I was never listened to. I even had an officer tell me that maybe I was just an "angsty teen who needs to stop playing up and go home." No one going through abuse, no matter their age, should hear words like that from someone of authority. No one should feel the helplessness and hopelessness like that. I can imagine people in Japan sometimes find it harder to reach out, which would make the feeling so much worse. I hope these people can find safety and a place to grow and thrive, as like Joey said, they need to protect the youth they have now, especially if they'll be relying on them for care when they're elderly

1:35 11.5% is just the poverty rate in US

Thanks for spreading the word. Appreciated as always 🙏✨

Read about this a long time ago. The real homeless population tends to get buried in more obscure towns like Kamagasaki. It's one of Japan's many dirty secrets.

Thank you so much for talking about this... Please make an other video with more updates! Thank you so much!!!

Exactly on my tea time. Thanks

Anyone who's played the Yakuza/LAD games, you know about Japan's homeless. The thing with the kids is sad. The lockdowns did a lot of damage, especially to youth, that has just gotten swept under the rug. The huge spike in domestic abuse being one of them. IDK man, seems a lot of countries in the industrialized world just don't value children anymore. Japan has its own unique issues, but unfortunately, a lot of these problem are worldwide.

5:49 トー横って東京と横浜じゃなくて、トー横キッズがたむろしてる東宝ビルの横のスペースのことだよ。

Sadly, one of the reasons for low number of homeless ppl in Japan is that many ppl choose to un-alive themsleves when they lose or are about to lose their home.

Yeah… I was still impressed that Yakuza: Like A Dragon addressed homelessness in Japan. It’s definitely swept under the rug and hidden from the world. The USA hides nothing…

Thank you Joey for bringing up these important issues to light! I think it's very important to talk about it, and it's an issue that we should all be educated on. I think it would be very interesting if you could go to where the Toyoko kids hang out and maybe interview them. I think your interview style videos are amazing, and it would be very interesting to watch as well to learn from the kids directly!

Thank you for bringing those import topics into the light. I was always wondering about these conditions in Japan

Joey I’m super interested in hearing more about this topic. I hope you do another video on this subject.

I assume its skewed the same way as crime rates because when people talk about Japan having low crime, it often doesn't include the underreported cases of SA, abuse, and domestic violence.

I used to think that the "high school kids running away from home" was just a weird anime/manga trope, but now I see it is just reality there......

hey man appreciate your sincerity in covering heavy topics like this. good to see people speaking up, and airing out the things that negatively affect their community

This is so sad, but not surprising given that I've heard of similar things in America and seen it in a way through manga, although I didn't recognize it until I got older. Thanks for sharing this, Joey. I hope you do a full video so more people talk about it. The internet has made many countries problems public so now they feel they have to do something about them, so let's make sure they do something for this one especially.

トー横 (To-Yoko) actually refers to the Toho building in Shinjuku. It's "next to Toho Building" or 東宝ビルの横 thus トー横 in short.

As I've been a homeless child my self i know how it feels and anywhere was better than home, even if that meant being homeless, i hope they can find safety out there

So important to talk about this, thank you for that

Wait, this is the first video that I watch from your channel and I just noticed you are TheAnimeMan. I wanted to see I'm glad you are covering more serious topics like this on this channel, this makes you look much more credible to me than you are on your other one. Truly yours

To-Yoko（トー横） doesn't mean Tokyo and Yokohama. It means beside Toho Cinemas in Kabukicho.

thanks for this, hadn't known much about it.

Joey the reporter and activist. Thanks for bringing a voice to these issues

The Profile picture we choose for this year is actually being pretty accurate with all the content themes since the beginning of the year.

I appreciate you making a video like this!

Amazing video Joey,fantastic job.

Keep up the awesome work and videos Joey love the video

America's stats on homeless people are skewed similarly to Japan. What we do in the US is we pick a single night in January and go out to areas where there is a generally high number of homeless people and just count anyone that is visible. Mind you this happens at night and during the coldest time of the year so the chance that homeless people are finding temporary shelter at this time is extremely high. Governments don't want accurate readings of homeless people as it reflects poorly on the local municipality. For us to solve the homeless crisis we are in, we must be honest about how severe the issue is.

Japanese complacency when it comes to anything that's even remotely "面倒くさい" is a cultural issue that honestly needs fixing.

thank you joey for todays video

Everyone deserves safety, I hope you make more videos on this.

I'm sure that people who live in internet cafes do not count as homeless...

Your videos are always on point, keep it going

Joey, muito bacana expor esse assunto, parabéns!

Great video! But i saw it once on the news and I think ToyokoKid means homeless kids often around next to the Toho cinema.

Joey they cleaned up the homeless problem lot. I remember in the 90s, early 2000s there were way more, and it was a very visible problem. Domestic violence has always been an issue. It is only that it is being reported more these days. And yeah, time to get these young children off the streets and more support needs to be given. Heard plenty of NGOs etc are getting in to help out. r

The Japanese economic bubble, it's subsequent collapse and the effects (which still affect Japan to this day) is a subject that fascinates me. This problem can be traced back to the bubble bursting. Japan, despite being pretty stable, has been stuck in economic stagnation for almost 35 years now. I've heard that a massive portion of the workers in Japan are classified as temp workers (happens in the US as well) so there is never a chance for upwards mobility. The loneliness and hopelessness epidemics, which are global problems now, hit Japan first. When people are lonely and lack any sense of optimism, it's easy for them to fall through the cracks of society. And it is especially easy for young people to get stuck in the downward spiral of nihilistic hopelessness that leads to homelessness.

It's vital to look under the surface and see what's really happening in society, especially issues hurting the youth.

On the bright side if these kids are ever able to have kids of their own, chances are they'll make wonderful parents. Hopefully this is a case of things getting worse before they get better.

The homelessness issue is definitely under-reported. Even as a tourist, it's not hard to see some homelessness, albeit it's lower than average.

I thought they're called トー横キッズ because they hangout in front of Toho Cinema in Kabukichou

The only time I've seen anything about this, especially not in just a negative light, was in the Anime Hinamatsuri. Thanks for talking about it, Joey.

One thing they didn't count as well was people living in computer/cyber cafes and i'm sure there is many different types of cafes as well

There is no domestic violence in Ba Sing Se

Great video Joey!

Thanks for talking about this Joey. Recently I started notice a lot of school aged kids hanging out in Kabukicho late at night usually smoking and surrounded by trash, I always wondered what was up with these kids.

トー横 doesn’t come from Tokyo/Yokohama, it’s from 新宿(東)宝ビルの(横) since all youngsters hang out near Kabukicho’s Godzilla building✌🏻 glad you talked about this problem tho bro, peace & luv!

I've seen homeless folk in Kabukicho and Akihabara beside conbinis.

Joey i hope that one of the topics that wasnt not fully discussed and you still researching on is the recent bill on the child custody for divorced parents in japan

It's conserning, and in all honestly I'm glad that you're reporting on something like this to bring awarness in your audiance. If you happen to read any non-fiction books on any of the serious topics you or Aki are reading that happen to also have a translated version of it, could you do a video of book recs that do have translations in other languages? I would like to put them in my TBR, but also suggest some things to some of the booktubers I watch that do read Nonfiction from other perspectives and countries. I started to put on some of these types of books on my TBR when they were brought to my attention, and it would be nice to be able to bring to light some of the topics to the booktube community. Or is it possiable to at least direct me to a booktuber that do non-fiction Japanese books on similar topics? (I know you normally do articals but it was just a thought as I've been trying to expand my horizons through versious books)

In japan in its entirety is most likely 100k + Homeless for the population size, the number increases or decreases depending on how you define your parameters. Example; Add the amount of people living in internet cafe's and the number goes up.

You need to add an addendum on some of thise facts man

My time in Shinjuku was a big shock to the system. I went most of my holiday in Japan not seeing a single person living in the streets, then when I got to Shinjuku I saw literal groups of kids sleeping out front of hotels and businesses It just goes to show that every country has it's dark side, you just need to know where to look

I visited Tokyo for the first time last December and I saw an area of Shinjuku, kind of an open square, where there were a lot of obviously homeless teens. They were sitting around on cardboard at the edge of the square.

トー横 is short for 新宿東宝ビルの横, it's not Tokyo and Yokohama.

im not surprised with how crazy the cost of living in Japans cities are. it seems like everywhere people are struggling to get a roof over their heads

Hi Joey! Thank you so much for making this video, it really hit me hard… I live in the toyoko area and would love to know more about the volunteer organisations out there who aim to help these children. If you make a follow up for this video I would really appreciate if you could shout some of them out!

Man this stuff breaks my heart. Ive had a rough childhood but it never got physical and i could outlast it, although i am now still working on getting over that time i did survive it. There have been monents where i ran away for a short while and those were f* terrifying. I can't imagine how much worse it is for these kids to have had a way worse situation at home and to have this situation for so long without understanding and help from their country. I wish i was in a situation where i could help them. Having them on the street helpless makes it very easy for them to be taken advantage off. Horrible, just horrible

It's even worse considering there are songs about those kids too (portrayed in a somewhat dark manner tho) Like Under Kids by TUYU

Might as well take the vid down and try again. Joey can't read

A french youtuber (louis san have speack in deep of this probleme some mont ago ) and he say it sad that english and japaness chanel tend to avoid problem that hapen in japan glad you speack about it

The topic reminds me of the Sugamo case... Heavy topic indeed but it definitely needs to be continued to called out so change can happen

it's incredible, just today I saw a video by an Italian KZfaqr who talked about this topic. The sad thing is that these kids are forced to commit criminal acts to survive.. I think that videos like this help us to understand Japan 100%, and this is not "look how disgusting this country is" but, it serves to be aware

I was just in the Tokyo - Yokohama area a few weeks ago. I saw about 3 homeless persons in Tokyo (mostly scattered) and about 5-10 in Yokohama, in an encampment in the nearest subway station to the Yokohama Chinatown. If I can see about 10 homeless persons as a tourist casually walking around just around the Tokyo area, there is no way there are only 3k in total across the country.

Don't worry about the haters some people get brave when behind a keyboard when they can be anonymous. You did a good job are researching and getting the information out. We should all rise awareness and try to help in any domestic violence issue.

This is a subject that Nobita-Kun (The Japan Reporter) has reported on a few times, and Oriental Pearl (a polyglot who typically does language videos) has also covered this a few times. It's shocking how long this has been known for.

It's sad that most of these kids rather sleep on the streets and part of the reason is violence i appall too all of you out there violence is always wrong sometimes we can't do without fighting back but it should always be as last resort everyone can feel hurt ur fists are not your mouth so mouth first and anything else last❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤stay safe and i hope we can give more homeless people a warm place

hello joey

When I was visiting Tokyo recently, walking through Shinjuku, near the Government buildings, were a whole row of homeless people living in tents alongside a main road, and most of them were young people.

Joey have you seen Tokyo Godfathers yet? Super relevant to your topic and great art style.

Makes you wonder if Japan has homeless, and what the living conditions are. In a lot of places, homeless people won't stay in shelters due to the deplorable conditions of the shelters.

I may have interpreted what Joey said wrong but when oh my fucking god I had no idea that Japan still considers domestic abuse a “family affair” which at least here in the US was overwritten in the 70’s after an infamous case where a women being abused by her husband set him on fire

Thats sad people need to help each other not ignore it. Its like when people are kids told to clean there rooms they shove it until the closet burst. Hope things can change for the better.

0:20 I was walking around the neighbourhood one day when a tourist couple from Malta (If I remember) asked me for directions. As I was walking them to the place, the lady said she admired how much greenery we had here in Albania. She said that literally while we were crossing near a dumpster with litter EVERYWHERE. Yeah, our neighbourhood doesn't smell OR look nice. I really appreciate that cleanliness aspect of Japanese culture. We all could learn a thing or two.

I've always seen the housing problem in Japan to be quite a huge problem like Tokyo rent is proof enough of that, a literal dilapidated room with nothing in it somehow costs as equivalent to New York rent just because its in Tokyo, its absolutely crazy, and real estate isn't making it any easier even outside of tokyo when a permanent residence doesn't cover a lot for the price you paid when you can literally go to any third world country and buy a mansion with said price, point is it isn't proportional to standards like for the price of a mansion with all the fixings and furnitures in a third world country is about the same price as your generic Japanese house you see in anime and I'm not talking about the bougie ones im talking low income anime mc house and thats what you get for such prices, its crazy that people are only starting to notice now, not to mention these houses arent gonna survive Japanese disaster conditions and people are paying that much for housing in japan like its just crazy and its not really helping that the job market in Japan isn't forgiving to its own people.

I'm from Indonesia. I've actually really appreciated Joey's "realistic" (& grimmer) take on this channel, basically showing the harsh reality that nobody wants to talk about, because maybe it's too 'dark' or too 'negative', whatever that is. Reality IS still a reality. And I'm really glad that Joey now bravely speak out about all these darker truths about life in Japan basically. That's actually the reason why I've recently just subscribed to this particular youtube channel of him (a.k.a the 'other, realistic, & darker side' of him, so to speak). Not many popular youtubers even want to do this type of content.