Number of Net Refugees Above 5,000: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare

August 29, 2007
By Ken Worsley

On Monday, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare released a report stating that approximately 5,400 people in Japan are staying at 24 hour Internet cafes rather than in a home or apartment. The ministry stated that 80% of this group is men, and that their average income is about 113,000 yen (about $1,000) a month.

The foreign media has naturally pounced on the story, though their reporting has been much more tame than the sensationalist expose pieces that Japanese TV news has been airing recently. From the TV, one would hardly know that men count amongst the population of “Net Refugees” at all. Television pieces tend to focus on girls in the late teens and early twenties who have come on hard times and turn tricks in Internet cafes in order to pay the fees to stay the night.

We have to wonder if the MHLW’s numbers are accurate (and how they even could be), and whether this is a symptom of something larger. The Japanese government, of course, says it will do something about helping these people, including having job counselors assist them in finding work and managing budgets.

The question is: Do these people have a jyuminhyou (a certificate of residence)? Many homeless in Japan do not, and without one, finding employment often becomes difficult, since they are proof of a fixed address.

Filed Under Japan, Labor and Wages