A Modesto Proposal

[Mulboyne]

[floatr][/floatr]Modbee.com: Japan reveals cultural uniformity's advantages, drawbacks
...Halfway around the world is a place where diversity is unknown and people prosper despite (because?) of it. Japan, which I and a small group of Modestans recently visited, is downright xenophobic...Yet what it has achieved is truly amazing. Surrounded by a protective sea...and with essentially no oil or natural resources, it has achieved general affluence and the world's second-largest economy. The streets are swept and clean. I never saw a beggar in three weeks and signs of the homeless were few. People were well-dressed, uniformly civil and polite. By Western standards, crime and drug problems are minimal...The government governs with a minimal presence and, all in all, peace, civility and rationality reign. There are some downsides to this nondiverse uniformity. Dullness, for one. And when a society uniformly decides to march in a certain direction, it helps to pick the right direction. Think World War II...more...

[kamome]

No homeless? I still remember playing football (US football) in Yoyogi with GuyJean and Captain Japan and nearly tripping over homeless guys sleeping in the park.

[Taro Toporific]

. I never saw a beggar in three weeks and signs of the homeless were few.

No homeless? I still remember playing football (US football) in Yoyogi with GuyJean and Captain Japan and nearly tripping over homeless guys sleeping in the park.

Homeless figures for Tokyo are quite high ---dozens of times higher than the "official" figure of 8,000. Begging is impossible in Tokyo nowadays---the concept of individual "Charity" is not part of heartful Japanese life.

[dimwit]

It is somewhat difficult to notice the homeless in Tokyo when you are 50 floors up in the Mori Tower. Hell there ain't no homeless people there!

[GomiGirl]

Sadly, many locals deny there are any homeless in Tokyo as well. I spoke to a few housewives about donating clothes to charity and they asked "Why? There are no homeless in Tokyo!!"

I offered to take them on a stroll through the tent cities in the parks or even to Shinjuku station at midnight when the even more impoverished are bedding down for the night. I guess when you live comfortably in the suburbs, what you don't see doesn't exist - especially if it is unsavoury.

Sure there are no beggars and pan-handlers to disturb the wa but it makes the problem easy to overlook.

[Mulboyne]

There are some beggars around. They don't get much out of the locals so they target foreigners. JR Shibuya station seems to be their main HQ in Tokyo. A few of them hang around the ticket machines because that's where people generally have money in their hand (on the same principle, London beggars wait by ATM machines). On seeing one wizened old woman for the umpteenth time, I moved for a quick getaway but missed my pocket and dropped all my money on the floor. As she scurried around picking it up for me, I realized I faced a minor ethical dilemma.