First post from Japan

Well here I am two weeks into my life as an official Tokyoite. Actually that’s not true, I’m a Kawasakiite, official or otherwise. I’ve never actually lived in what is technically known as Tokyo. Last time I lived in this part of Japan, I lived a 15 minute walk or so east of Tokyo in Ichikawa which is in Chiba prefecture. This time I’m a five minute walk across the bridge just south from Tokyo. Anyway, you’d never know you were in another city in either case. One city just sprawls into another. Apart from a river here or there, there are no borders or green areas between them. I think the official population of Tokyo is about 14 or 15 million, but if you were to include the whole conurbation of 'Greater Tokyo' you’d be talking about something like 36 million people...all in the space of maybe county Dublin, or maybe county Waterford, but I doubt it would be much bigger than that. Anyway, as you can imagine it’s pretty crowded. Houses and apartment blocks are jammed up against each other, and you have to be alert all the time or you’ll bump into someone.

Anyway, all this overcrowding makes me ever so slightly envious of the residents of the houses shown in the pictures. These houses are on the riverbank of the Tama river, on the Tokyo side. As you might be able to make out, it’s a little homeless community. That might be a bit at odds with most people’s impression of Japan, but there are an awful lot of homeless here. They tend to be middle-aged men, and often live in what would pass for houses in some parts of the world. The shacks they live in are usually made out of cardboard and blue plastic sheets, but sometimes wood too. They seem to be tolerated by the authorities, and aren’t moved on at the drop of a hat. Having said that, I don’t think most people would be very happy to have a load of these shacks put up in their neighbourhood.

So why the envy?! Well, they seem to have a bit of freedom and they even have gardens with vegetable patches! Not too many people in Tokyo can claim to have a garden after all. But do they have toilets and showers? Well maybe not. And of course the shacks are situated on the riverbank so could be swept away in a flash if a typhoon came. And the homeless have often been victims of stabbings, and have even been set on fire. Who would do such a thing? You might think it’s other homeless looking for a better patch, but actually it’s often bored teenagers. Most Japanese kids are well-behaved and seem a lot more gentle than the ‘hoodies’ back in Ireland, but there’s always going to be some wicked little shits too.