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- Thread starter MetroMan
- Start date
W. K. Lis
Superstar
DSC
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AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
W. K. Lis
Superstar
Northern Light
Superstar
With the appropriate caveat that all the 'ranking lists' one sees published on the internet are inherently subjective and to be taken with a large grain of salt.
What would stand out on that list is not where we scored highly and in line with our overall 'rank'; but were we seemingly miss the mark.
The worst rank was #14 for 'digital security'; followed by personal security at #8 in the world.
Looking at the underlying data on both those and some others.........there really are some arbitrary choices in the methodology.
EddyMCD
Active Member
Where do we rank with the homelessness problem? Is there a scale for that?
picard102
Senior Member
Can't imagine all the associated crime wouldn't fall under personal security.
Northern Light
Superstar
In this particular list, I don't believe so.
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In terms of comparing Toronto to other cities....
Toronto has about 10,000 homeless people who represent about 0.3% of the population of the City.
That would be roughly in line (to my understanding) with numbers for Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary when considered on a per capita basis.
When compared to NYC, the latter has 78,000 homeless who represent about 0.8% of the population
For L.A. its 71,000 people who represent 1.7% of the population
For Seattle its 11,000 which is 1.5% of the population
For Sanfran its 8,000 which is 0.8% of the population.
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Paris, France is 30,000 which is 1.4% of the population
Rome, Italy is 7,000 which is 0.24% of the population
Milan, Italy is 12,000 which is 0.8% of the population
Madrid is better than the global norms at 3,000 or 0.1% of population
Tokyo is a world-beater with only 2,700 homeless in a population of 14,000,000 for 0.02%
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Towered
Superstar
Of that list then, Tokyo is the model to follow - what are they doing right?
Northern Light
Superstar
A complex question/answer.
One that starts by admitting the homeless are probably under-counted in Tokyo, for a variety of reasons. The number is still likely quite low, relative to other major global centres, but a bit worse than statistics indicate.
The reasons for this are that begging (panhandling) is illegal in Japan. There is also a strong element of social shame in being homeless, for those two reasons, the homeless are a less visible population in Tokyo.
You see very few people, if any, sitting on a sidewalk with a cap out. When the homeless sleep, outside, it tends to be in nature, and as well hidden as is practical for an urban area. Not in a door-stoop or a park.
The internet cafe culture, pre-pandemic also masked the extent of the problem with ubiquitous cafes operating 24-hours a day, and many, yes, many offer showers, in addition to food, drink and washrooms.
Now that said, there is a real, if smaller than typical, homeless population.
Again, part of that is panhandling is illegal; there is also very little tolerance of homeless people in the public realm, so the dis-incentives are strong.
But its also some of the positive programs as well.
The above is taken from: https://tomorrow.city/a/homelessness-in-japan
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Additionally one has to factor in the different way families are enculturated in Japan. There is a strong sense that the under-performer/black sheep is your problem, and you must accept that burden.
So Japanese families are more likely to house a problem child/nephew/brother than might be the case here, or to employ them etc etc.
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I think we could learn from them on the employment side; I'm not sure that most of the other unique ways in which Japan addresses this type of problem would translate to our own society.
But its not as if we don't know the answers.
We need greater institutional care, and supportive (semi-institutional) care for people with mental illness and addictions.
We need a social assistance system that focuses on getting people the housing and benefit they need, not on generating paper work and throwing up obstacles to success.
We need more deeply affordable housing; and better mental healthcare and addiction treatment services.
That along with tackling poverty would go some distance on tackling these issues.
So would setting up even a couple of high school classes (not courses but days) of programming where kids are given the info on where to get help if they need it.
We could certainly consider the more punitive aspects of the Japanese system; but it would be terribly unfair and unkind to do so if we haven't first put the supports in place for a more compassionate approach.
I hasten to add, however, the Japanese would never tolerate open encampments that we've seen here, and I imagine protests might be something of an issue if we began to take a harsher line.
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zang
Senior Member
Unfortunately, it's not as easy as that. Japan has had a history of hiding "undesirable" parts of society. It's part of their concept of "face". Homelessness and disability are often hidden, and so they can be hard issues to get an accurate number on. As well, the Japanese definition of "homelessness" is quite narrow in comparison with others, and basically only counts those living in outdoor/public areas.
Northern Light
Superstar
True.
Also an issue in that definitions similarly vary from city to city and country to country. When I posted the stats above, I was looking for a consistent definition of those who 'slept rough' or made use of the shelter system.
There is obviously an additional layer of people more sizable than that who couch-surf, stay with family or find other ways to stay out of the latter category even though they lack a home of their own.
Beyond that, we have all those who are homed, but find themselves in extremely precarious finances in order to do so.
Comparing 'Apples to Apples' can be hard across jurisdictions.
afransen
Senior Member
Since Tokyo was mentioned, I thought I'd share this video I recently watched showing what a Japanese neighbourhood is like, made by a Canadian who immigrated to Japan. He talks about why Japanese neighbourhoods tends to be safer, largely due to urban form.
Johnny Au
Senior Member
Don't forget that Japan has a very communitarian culture, as compared with the more individualistic culture of North America, especially the United States, with Canada being more communitarian than the United States, but nowhere as communitarian as Japan.
In Japanese culture in general, if one is homeless, it brings shame to the entire family. In North American culture in general, if one is homeless, then that's the problem with the individual, not the family and not with the economic system.
In reality, the lack of government intervention on public and/or affordable housing, as well as the lack of meaningful employment opportunities, is a major cause of homelessness as it's not the actual fault of those who are homeless. Right-wingers often perpetuate the myth that homeless people are lazy spendthrifts who squander their life savings on alcohol, drugs, and lottery tickets, yet there's plenty of evidence on the contrary; it has been proven that the vast majority of homeless people are willing to work but cannot find meaningful employment opportunities. Talk about victim-blaming.
In Japanese culture in general, if one is homeless, it brings shame to the entire family. In North American culture in general, if one is homeless, then that's the problem with the individual, not the family and not with the economic system.
In reality, the lack of government intervention on public and/or affordable housing, as well as the lack of meaningful employment opportunities, is a major cause of homelessness as it's not the actual fault of those who are homeless. Right-wingers often perpetuate the myth that homeless people are lazy spendthrifts who squander their life savings on alcohol, drugs, and lottery tickets, yet there's plenty of evidence on the contrary; it has been proven that the vast majority of homeless people are willing to work but cannot find meaningful employment opportunities. Talk about victim-blaming.
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