Tokyo –
In Japan there are people who live hard. But some of them choose not to be on the streets and live ini cafe or internet cafes. Why is that?
According to Tokyo government data, the city has 5,126 homeless people of which 4,000 live in internet cafes. The rest are under bridges or in city parks like the homeless in general.
As quoted detikINET from CNN, Saturday (6/24/2022) those who live in internet cafes usually have an income, but not high enough that they can’t afford to rent let alone buy a house or apartment that is more comfortable and appropriate.
One of them is a construction worker named Takahashi who usually lives in an internet cafe by renting a private room. But when the pandemic hit yesterday, he lost his job and was forced to wander on the streets.
“Many companies went bankrupt because of the pandemic. There are a lot of people like me so they don’t have jobs,” he said.
Actually, not everyone who stays at the internet cafe doesn’t have a home. Overall, about 15 thousand people choose to stay at the internet cafe, many of whom are employees who are too tired to go home or miss the train.
One of them is named Masata, an IT worker. “Room in cafe here is not completely private, there is no ceiling. I can hear people’s voices or snoring,” he said of the experience of spending the night at an internet cafe.
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