Citizen groups support unemployed homeless people in 3 prefectures-JAPAN

http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/citizen-groups-support-unemployed-homeless-people-in-3-prefectures

Sunday 22nd March, 06:39 AM JST

TOKYO —
Citizen groups kicked off campaigns Saturday in Saitama, Aichi and Osaka prefectures to throw support behind people faced with the dual hardships of losing their jobs and homes as the Japanese economy sinks deeper into recession.

At the two-day events running through Sunday, doctors, lawyers and representatives from labor unions will give advice on issues concerning health and day-to-day life, the organizers said.

In January, hundreds of homeless people, including laid-off temporary workers, flocked to Tokyo’s Hibiya Park, seeking shelter at a ‘‘temp worker village’’ to stay through an uneasy New Year’s Day.

‘‘The only food I got last night was popcorn at a pachinko parlor,’’ a 37-year-old man from Kawaguchi, Saitama Prefecture, said at the Saitama event.

He was thrown out of his dormitory after losing his job at a car factory last November and has been sleeping at train stations.



Unlike the temp worker village in Tokyo, the organizers are not offering shelter to spend the night at the venues, but they will offer advice on other accommodation, they said.

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare estimates that the number of temporary workers who will lose their jobs during the period from last fall through the end of this month could reach more than 150,000.

The citizen groups organized the events after similar ones were held in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, and Kyoto, amid growing concern that more part-time workers will become unemployed at the nearing end of the current business year.

‘‘I’ve been looking for a live-in job, but to no avail. There are few job openings now,’’ said a 43-year-old man who has spent nights in his car since early February after he got fired from a warehouse company in Toyota, Aichi Prefecture.

‘‘Even if I see an opening, the next minute it’s gone,’’ he said.

On Saturday, the events were held at three venues in Omiya, Saitama Prefecture, near Tokyo, Okazaki, Aichi Prefecture, and Kita Ward in Osaka.

‘‘When I went to a job placement office in Aichi with no identification card at hand, one of the staffers said to me, ‘What are you doing here?’’’ said a 46-year-old man who visited the event in Osaka. He lost his job in January at a car company in Aichi Prefecture. Aichi is the home of Japan’s auto industry, with Toyota Motor Corp. and its affiliated parts suppliers based in the central Japanese prefecture.

‘‘After that, I gave up looking for a job,’’ he said.