re: Just got back from Tokyo and didn’t see any bums…

So diversity isn’t their strength?

Never saw bums lying around parking lots, or freakazoids under underpasses when I was young, here in America, either. The vast majority of towns and cities just didn't put up with that kind of culturally decrepit activity.

quote:

---

Japan spends 21.5% of GDP on social welfare systems that include universal health-care, public assistance that covers living and housing costs, a national pension, and elderly care

---

We spend more and get less, any other theories? The problem is very obviously cultural.

It helps when you keep traditions up, dregs out and have an underworld that understands that too. In it’s height Chicago, NYC and even New Orleans had decent street activities with a sense of community but now it’s a sewer

I’m definitely going to live in Japan for at least a couple of months.

Japan actually does have a homeless population, but one way they hide that is by having a lot of inexpensive places one can spend a night that offers fewer amenities than a hotel. They have 24 hour internet cafes that people sleep in with restrooms. This is just one example.

By having a cheap place to stay, folks who are working menial jobs but fall out of having housing temporarily have a place to go. They can give the cafe as an address for government benefits. This keeps people from falling completely out of the system’s ability to handle or help them, and keeps them from getting desperate to the point that they lose all semblance of hygiene.

The reality is that homeless people are all around you in Tokyo, but you would never know it because they aren’t filthy drug addicted vagrants like here in the states. In the U.S., our low trust society combined with the epidemic of drug addiction and lack of jail time for petty street crime means that any public spaces accessible to homeless people will immediately be destroyed and rendered inhospitable to normal people.

In Japan, they lock up street criminals, they don’t tolerate drug addiction, and the people themselves feel much more responsible for their surroundings. They feel shame about using resources available to them rather than destroying everything they can because it’s free. The people in Japan who do that kind of stuff get locked up and stay that way. We absolutely should do the same here.

quote:

---

So spending over 20% of GDP on social safety nets has nothing to do with Japan's homelessness rates? It's all just culture?

---

AI Answer

Homelessness in Japan is exceptionally low—roughly 0.003%—but not non-existent. It appears invisible due to a combination of strict anti-camping policies, intense social stigma, and cultural preferences for self-reliance.

Went there for a month when I was on sabbatical, and it was clean, safe, and vibrant. I loved the efficiency and the order, along with everything being so friendly and clean.

quote:

---

It’s all just culture

---

Yes

You aren’t very smart, are you?

quote:

---

So spending over 20% of GDP on social safety nets has nothing to do with Japan's homelessness rates? It's all just culture?

---

That is exactly it. Look at the ones in America who are on those programs and tell me how you can disagree.