cc wrote:

> "Eric Takabayashi" <etakajp@yahoo.co.jp> wrote in message
>
> > 60 yen per kilo of empty cans in Fukuyama, or 2 yen per kilo of cardboard
> in
> > Tokyo in one documentary is hardly a productive or rewarding form of work.
>
> Even cheaper in France. Well I did it when I was a primary school kid
> (recycling newspapers).

My classmates who needed money baby-sat for decent money, considering they were
also as young as elementary school themselves. You did not have such an option?

> That seemed better than nothing. Our teacher was
> always telling us "Les petits ruisseaux font les grandes rivieres." (little
> brooks make big rivers) Money has more value in certain hands. 10 kg of
> cans, for 600 yen, that's feasable and they can make maybe 4 meals.

I watched one feature on homeless, showing how a Shinjuku man was at work 14
hours per day, with nothing but the two eiyou biscuits some charity gave him
for lunch, to get 60 kg of cans for the week, and about 3,500 yen in return
from the traveling scrap dealer.

3,500 yen a week, for 14 hour a day work. The man who took good magazines out
of the station's trash and sold them to the street dealer got about that much
for each single day's work of three hours.

> But I
> agree they could give them more. I've seen a web page saying homeless in
> Osaka had their income between 5000 and 80 000 yen /month, in average 30 000
> to 40 000 yen. That's not enough to lead a normal life, but more than I
> thought. That's about the allowance poor people receive in France. With a
> little help, they could get a modest stability.

With no regard to nutrition, I believe I could maintain my caloric intake on
less than 5,000 yen per month by eating mainly noodles (600g packs of
spaghetti) from the 100 yen store.

With most of the homeless I see, eating is not the main problem. It is the
condition of living outside without the proper clothing or shelter itself. I
can be sure only one homeless man has a normal job. I believe he is living on
the street to help the other two men he lives with, in a tarp and cardboard
tent. He is able to have a large portable TV and smoke cigarettes. They buy
food at the supermarket. They also visit the bathhouse.

The cheapest rent here I recall offhand, is 38,000 yen for a one room
apartment.

Beyond reach of your average Osaka homeless or what I see of can collectors. In
Hiroshima City before I came to Fukuyama, public housing for low income
families was somewhere above 20,000 yen, but I believe it was for families.

> > If only that were true. No, we are talking about trash.
>
> So what ? Handling trash can be a job.

For those who are paid for it. I don't see nice trash often enough (like on
oversize trash day) to justify patrolling a wide area to find something to fix
and sell, and carry them  by bicycle. Cans and cardboard are common enough,
though.

> Do you know the story of the Emmaus in France ? That was a group of guys a
> priest was trying to reinsert after picking them up in the street. He meant
> to do it with charity money, but the homeless themselves told him they
> prefered doing the chiffonniers (that was the traditional job of recycling).
> Well, they have not eradicated misery in the country, that organisation has
> helped many homeless to go back to normal life.

I like the idea of homeless selling magazines, and keeping 50 yen from each
issue sold, while also required to look and act presentable.

> > > Everybody around me is aware of the existence of homeless.
> >
> > Good. They don't deny their existence like a sizable proportion of people
> I
> > have known in seven years here.
>
> You have a certain way to ask questions. When people are embarassed they are
> able to deny the existence of the moon to make you abandon a topic.

Denial and ignorance, real or feigned, are some of the poorest ways to attempt
to make me abandon a topic, particularly one practically in their face.

>> Fact: For whatever reason including possible total lack of personal

> > responsibility, there are people laying on the ground in broad daylight in
> the
> > busiest part of town. Observation will confirm that a number actually lack
> > decent food and clothing, with winter fast approaching.
> >
> > If social services, local employers, any friends, and family do not act,
> what
> > other way is there to attempt to improve the situation?
>
> I don't have the answers. That's good you're here. Maybe try to shake social
> services, influent people that can create new services, people that have
> closer relations with the homeless, the homeless themselves....shake them as
> long as they don't react.

Now we are getting into why I am not an activist again. I need my visa, and my
job. I'd like to live in Hawaii again, but getting kicked out of the country or
losing my job while accomplishing nothing, is not the way I'd like to do it.

> > > Do we live in the same Japan ?
> >
> > Yes. But you and Raj seem to know different people than the rest of us.
>
> I don't think so. Maybe I see them under a different light. They are not
> good, not bad, they be both.
>
> > It's good you can afford 500 yen cups of coffee.
>
> Not all the time. I drink a lot of water.
>
> >I pay about 980 for a jar of instant
>
> Yuck, I prefer water. For the taste and for not fattening the nescafe stock
> owners. The question is not to spend more/less money, but to spend it
> differently. I didn't do that before.
>
> > I am well aware that Bubble Era spending was one reason for Bubble Era
> > affluence for many, and tell people so.
>
> That's the logic. How much do you ask for your work ?

I take what people pay me or what was advertised or offered. I make no demands.
I have never demanded money or raises at any of my jobs.

According to people in Fukuyama who sit around teaching English on their own,
they ask for 2,000 yen per lesson, per student. Over 400,000 yen per month is
possible.

Wow. I don't like asking people for money.

> You have to be willing
> to pay as much for services, at least for a part of your money. A world with
> everything cheap except your salary is not possible. The French restaurant
> employees buy my lessons, I sometimes buy their meals. We both get richer
> than if both saved.
>
> > > Japan has been idiot to obey the American ultimatum on foreign trade a
> few
> > > years ago.
> >
> > What ultimatum?
>
> Complete deregulation of foreign trade.

Is that what Japan did?

> You don't remember the GATT  and all
> the accusations against bad Japan blocking foreign imports ?

I recall it. And much of the accusation was true. Such protectionist practices,
except perhaps on food, should not be permitted.

> > Considering the small scale of the problem in Fukuyama (perhaps 80
> homeless),
> > and considering that it is little nobody me and my monthly allowance
>
> I don't think you can do anything for these guys on the long run,

Again: I know it. I knew it from the start. But it is the last resort when
people are laying on the ground or standing around in the cold sharing a single
pack of ramen or almost completely without food.

> even if you had more money.

If I had more money and cared about such appearances, I would hire people to
keep my car clean.

> Associations may direct your homeless friends to a
> better situation, probably not a reintegration but a more civilised life, a
> middle term goal.
> You can probably find useful adresses and tips on "nojuku" associations'
> homepages . If you show you have 10 persons with you in your action, it's
> possible you'll get 200 other volunteers. Japan lacks of leaders, rarely of
> followers. You're not a leader now as you can't tell people where you're
> leading them.

I used to keep a kind of journal detailing aid and expenses and keeping
receipts for just the purpose of becoming organized, but no, I do not want to
be a leader.

> The fact you don't know what you are going to do of your
> homeless next month

I don't know if any particular group of homeless will be anywhere throughout a
month. If they were allowed to stay in a set place*, and I didn't have to worry
about them keeling over from starvation or some health condition in the
meantime, it would be much easier. My main aim was to help them against the
cold.

* Over the course of about four days, the city or workers on behalf of the city
have completely cleared the playground under the train tracks near the station,
including the old woman on crutches and the man who simply sat in a daze. They
also painted over all the graffiti. Even the lingering smell of urine is no
longer proof that five or six homeless actually lived there. I do not know
where any of them are now. I now know only seven settled homeless.

> is enough to deter people with not too much courage to
> give a hand.

No courage is necessary.

--
"I want to meet my father and say, your sperm became me."

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