Year-End and New Year Period without “Haken-Mura” By TAKEDA Tsutomu

Setting up “Haken-Mura (Tent Villages for the Homeless Temporary Workers)” has become an annual event during the year-end and New Year period, after the Hibiya Haken-Mura in 2008-2009 and the Publicly-run Haken-Mura in 2009-2010. However, over the year-end and New Year of 2010-2011, both the national and Tokyo governments refused to acknowledge the need to set up another “Haken-Mura”. But was it really unnecessary? The reality revealed through the series of “consultation activities” by Min-Iren has proven otherwise, and the employment and economic situation has not at all improved.
On December 25-27, 2010, a “Year-End Consultation Meeting” was held at Japan Judicial Scrivener Hall. Lawyers, judicial scriveners and members of support groups met and gave advice to the jobless and homeless people. About 170 people visited for consultation during the three days.
Medical consultation was held on the second day, where many Min-Iren medical workers and the members of Sumida River Medical Consultation, who carry out support activities regularly to the homeless, took part.
On that day, 37 out of 60 visitors sought for medical consultation. Most of them were found to be in need of some medical treatment, and were issued letters of introduction to medical institutions.
Some of them had their hypertension or diabetic condition aggravated, as they could not afford to go to the doctor. One of them had too much stomach pain even to talk, and was immediately sent to hospital.

No jobs, no health insurance card
A man in his fifties had his blood pressure taken. It was above 210, and he was required to see a doctor immediately. However, he hesitated, saying he did not have any money. He used to work in a bookbinding company, but since he lost his job due to the economic downturn, he could not keep paying the health insurance fee.
Mr. Oba Kiyotaka, General Secretary of Yoyogi Hospital (Tokyo) spoke to him, whose health condition has deteriorated since he stopped going to the hospital. “Let’s go to the hospital first, and don’t worry about the medical fee”, Oba said. “No, I don’t want to give you too much of a trouble”, he declined, but Oba repeated, “You have come all the way to meet us. Let us help you in some small way.” Oba’s insistence led him to consult with Yoyogi Hospital.
Mr. Kokubun Kazuhiko (fictitious name, 46 years old) from Kagawa Prefecture happened to learn about this consultation meeting on the radio aired on the day before, and visited the site.
His blood pressure was 180 above 122. “Sometimes I have numbness in the left leg or head. I am afraid it’s because of the high blood pressure.”
Kokubun used to work mainly at construction sites. His company went bankrupt in 1995 and he had to leave the company dormitory. Since then, he has managed to lead his life, repeating short-term contracts of 10 to 15 days working at one construction site to another, where barrack-like accommodation was provided.
However, recently he continued to be refused to work, due to his high blood pressure. Increasing number of construction sites are now equipped with a simple tonometer, and they check blood pressure of prospective temporary workers.

“I want to live a little longer”
Next day, Kokubun visited Nakano Kyoritsu Clinic (Tokyo) and saw Dr. Tanigawa Tomoyuki. “Let’s try to lower the blood pressure using medicines with less side effects,” Dr. Tanigawa said. Kokubun said, “I want to regain my health and work again. Facing the hypertension count, I was moved to think I want to completely recover… I want to live a little longer.” Dr. Tanigawa responded, looking into Kokubun’s eyes, “No, you should try to live a lot longer.” Kokubun was moved to tears, saying, “I have never met such a doctor who would take up my problem so empathetically.”
Kokubun was accompanied by a staff of the consultation meeting to visit a local municipality office to apply for welfare benefits. Later, he gave a phone call to the author, saying, “The local authority helped me to stay in an accommodation facility for the time being, so I can sleep with a roof over my head during the year-end and New Year days. Thank you. I wish you a happy new year.” His voice sounded a little brighter than before.

“Publicity” activity on behalf of national and metropolitan governments
During the end of 2010 and beginning of 2011, the “Haken-Mura” as in 2009 was not established, due to the “improvement observed in the employment situation” according to the Ministry of Health and Labor. However, as seen in the record low 68.8% of the prospective employment rate of university/college graduates, it clearly has not “improved” at all.
The only measure the government took this year to help homeless workers to survive the year-end/New Year days was to open the public employment offices (called “Hello Work”) for the extra period from December 29 to 30 at 19 offices in 11 prefectures (5 offices in Tokyo), where they provided these workers with accommodation facilities.
However, official effort to let such measures known widely was vastly insufficient. That was why the “One-Stop Service Center (Center for One-Stop Service System that will make year-end tent villages unnecessary; headed by Lawyer Utsunomiya Kenji)” took to the street in front of Shinjuku Railway Station to open a “Year-end Emergency Consultation Station”.
The consultation station gave advice to homeless workers on how to rebuild their lives and referred them to employment offices. Staffs visited the homeless taking shelter at railway stations or public parks, and delivered leaflets with information on official measures, which the national/metropolitan governments did not do. 153 people visited for consultation on the two days and received help to secure food and accommodation during the year-end and New Year days.

Employment situation has not been improved
From December 31 to January 3, Yuasa Makoto, former “Haken-Mura” organizer, and others set up a “New Year Eve SOS Telephone Counseling Hot-line.” They received 105 phone calls during the 4 days.
A man in his thirties barely managed to find this SOS Hot-line, after searching desperately for help online at an Internet cafe, using the last several hundred yen in his pocket during the wee hours of the morning on the New Year’s Day. He said in tears, “I went to a local social welfare office, but they turned me away, saying ‘You are still young and healthy.’ I was desperate, thinking no one would help me. If I had not received any answer on this phone, I would have committed suicide, giving up any hope to live.”
Inoue Hisashi, Assistant General Secretary of the National Confederation of Trade Unions, who also serves as a Secretariat member of the “One-Stop Service Center” says, “We have increasingly diversified cases for consultation. Some of them are more complicated, involving debts or poverty business industry.”
Inoue says, “Apparently the employment situation has not been improved at all, as many say they cannot find any jobs, or they cannot be hired however many applications they may make.” “If they are out of job for a long time, they will be psychologically cornered, feeling that they are regarded un necessary in the society. Compared with last year, those who have a mobile phone have drastically decreased in number. Many of them have their back against the wall so badly financially, that they even cannot maintain their vital lifeline to secure information for employment”, Inoue emphasized.

Tokyo Metropolitan Government refused to cooperate
The biggest reason for the government not to set up the Haken-Mura this year-end has been reported as the “refusal of Tokyo Metropolitan government for cooperation.” In November 2010, Tokyo Governor Ishihara Shintaro declared, “This year, we will not hold the Haken-Mura for the homeless like last year.”
Behind his refusal were the press reports, which claimed that some of the users of Haken-Mura, immediately after they received one-time allowances of 20,000 yen, left the village and went missing. Some media reported loudly, saying, “They freed with 20,000 yen in the pocket” or “200 users stayed out overnight without notice.”
However, these press reports were groundless. One-Stop Service Center officially notified the Governor that large majority of the users were serious about securing jobs, and such wrong press reports should not be left unattended. The Governor neither accepted the claim nor conducted factual investigation on the matter, and simply decided that he would not give any help to the Haken-Mura.

Politics should fulfill its responsibility
Inoue says, “Whatever the Governor might say, the Metropolitan government was forced to deploy its workers at employment offices during the year-end/New Year period and extra measures. Though it did not take the form of an official Haken-Mura, those workers in the field recognized the need to take some countermeasures.”
Further, he pointed out the difficulty in grasping the real situations of the homeless people’s lives. “During cold winter nights, they cannot stay at one place to sleep, but have to roam around from one place to another to keep warm, which makes it difficult for them to be recognized as homeless. On the New Year’s Eve, long queues were observed in front of sauna bathhouses in Shinjuku area. There may have been many people in the queue, who did not have a house to live in, but wanted to ‘stay warm under a roof at least during the year-end/New Year period.’ Two years ago when we set us the first Haken-Mura in Hibiya Park, even Prime Minister Kan (then the Deputy President of the Democratic Party of Japan) came to encourage the homeless workers. Coping with the current situation, politics should fulfill its responsibility for the people, including putting tougher restriction on the Worker Dispatch Law, which the government promised at that time.”

Toward a society where people’s modest wish will be met
After the series of interviews, a bleak reality of current situation came home to the author. Now, even ordinary people’s modest wish to “just work and live” cannot be met in this country. And the public administration, which should serve as a vital lifeline, is not playing its due role sufficiently.
Aforementioned Mr. Kokubun was a very earnest man, which was so apparent in every word he spoke to describe his own life, in which he had tried his very best to the limit not to be dependent on anyone or on any official measures. Last year, while reading about the “official Haken-Mura” in the media, he “worked hard even during the New Year holidays to solve the problem on my own.” However, he eventually lost the way to support his life, due to the high blood pressure he suffered.
We need to establish a social system to prevent a small “stumble”, which may happen to anyone, from developing into a “major injury”” or “downfall” in one’s life.
To achieve a society where people’s humble wish “to live and work humanly” will be met, what is urgently called for is to improve and enlarge in scope the current safety nets and to fundamentally revise the Worker Dispatch Law.