Sunday, January 3, 2010

Tiny 'capsule' hotels house the homeless in Japan

The [Japanese] jobless rate, at 5.2 percent, is at a record high, and the number of households on welfare has risen sharply. The country's 15.7 percent poverty rate is one of the highest among industrialized nations.

The government says about 15,800 people live on the streets in Japan, but aid groups put the figure much higher, with at least 10,000 in Tokyo alone. Those numbers do not count the city's "hidden" homeless, such as those who live in capsule hotels. There is also a floating population that sleeps overnight in the country's many 24-hour Internet cafes and saunas.

Nation & World | Tiny 'capsule' hotels house the homeless in Japan | Seattle Times Newspaper

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