2015/12/08 22:11Rebuilding the foundation: how communities must address root causes for society’s outsiders, the homeless Part2 | Japan NPO Center

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Rebuilding the foundation: how communities mustaddress root causes for society’s outsiders, the homelessPart2 Tohoku Interview: Social Inclusion

Home (http://www.jnpoc.ne.jp/en) / Stories from Tohoku (http://www.jnpoc.ne.jp/en/stories-from-tohoku/)

/ Rebuilding the foundation: how communities must address root causes for society’s outsiders, the homeless Part2

Posted on December 07, 2015

Social inclusion: Empowering the isolated in localcommunitiesA priority of social care within any society is the struggle to include the isolated:

the disenfranchised, the disabled, the mentally ill, the elderly or the homeless. In

the Tohoku area, over four years since the triple disasters of March 11th, the

struggles for those living on the edge of society continues. With so many people

within society still needing assistance, from the demands of temporary housing

to rebuilding, from compensation issues to the dearth of medical professionals,

how are the affected areas ensuring that the voiceless are being heard?

“Homeless” is emergency evacuation state, so we’ve always believed that the

problems of the homeless can’t be solved without finding out the reason for poverty,

as simply helping the homeless who came to the last stage cannot be the

fundamental cure.” Seiji Imai

(http://www.jnpoc.ne.jp/en/wp-content/uploads/2homeless1.png)Offering warm food in a

park in Sendai is another way Yomawari spreads community to the homeless. n the past twenty

years, the number of people needing livelihood protection welfare in Japan has more than

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doubled, Professor Tom Gill explains. The number of people on the edges of society has risen,

despite official homeless statistics showing a decline.

Although the government reforms in 2002 with the Homeless Self-Reliance Support

Law surely helped decrease the visible homeless population, there are still many

reforms needed to address the root causes of poverty and poor life skills. As Imai

explains, “the first businesses to move to Tohoku after the quake were Pachinko

parlors, used car outlets, and liquor stores,” Imai continues. “Many homeless have not

learned self-control or how to look after themselves, so when they are given a sum of

money, they end up gambling it away. Those who had been engaged in manual labor

jobs usually lived in a dormitory, so their shelter, food and clothing were automatically

provided. Part of our job is to teach them basic life skills like how to cook rice, or how

to clean up their room. But there is no allocation of governmental funds to provide

this kind of assistance to help them become independent.” Imai also believes

government case workers are overloaded, with one staff member allocated up to 100

welfare recipients to support.

“We used to be have a very different attitude towards the city government,” admits

Imai, “and we worked independently as an NPO, keeping a distance from them.

But at some point of our history, we realized that we needed to collaborate with the

government if we really want to tackle the issues. We now have had monthly regular

meetings with the Welfare Recipients and Underprivileged Citizens Support

subsection, Sendai City, and share the current status of homeless issues, and make

suggestions related to policy making. Also, we lead training workshops for newly hired,

local government staff.”

(http://www.jnpoc.ne.jp/en/wp-content/uploads/2homeless2.jpg)Yomawari (left side) and

other NPO representatives discuss policy with the city government staff working in the Welfare Recipients’ and

Underprivileged Citizens’ Self-reliance Support Section(right side)

Imai believes empathy is vital to aiding the homeless: “It’s important to look at things

through the eyes of the person receiving the aid. Just giving them a place to live, a job

or money doesn’t solve the problem. They need to learn how to get their lives back on

track and think about the future, what it means to have a life, a job and their own

hobbies. All of these people have interests and talents. Nurturing them takes time

and effort, but is a way to bring them back to society.”

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2015/12/08 22:11Rebuilding the foundation: how communities must address root causes for society’s outsiders, the homeless Part2 | Japan NPO Center

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(http://www.jnpoc.ne.jp/en/wp-content/uploads/2homelss3.jpg)Seiji Imai and Yasuhiro

Aoki discuss their work with Yomawari

Imai stresses that follow-up care is extremely important to keep the homeless in

society, and such care demands consistent volunteers: “We often get people asking

about our slogan, ‘Those who can, Do what you can’ but it’s more accurate to amend it

to, ‘Do whatever you can, whenever you can.’ since ‘those who can’ sounds like some

level of ability is involved. any small assistance and any slightest contribution can be

truly welcome; this attitude conveys our basic stance towards outside volunteers.

There’s no set schedule and we welcome volunteers whenever they’re able to come.

　Imai hopes someday, “society will no longer need Yomawari’s help, as there will no

longer be homeless in Japan,” but he admits it is a tough goal that includes eradicating

the root causes of poverty and isolation.

(http://www.jnpoc.ne.jp/en/wp-content/uploads/2homeless4.jpg)“Do whatever you can,

whenever you can”, Yomawari’s motto, as seen with the activities of various volunteers.

2015/12/08 22:11Rebuilding the foundation: how communities must address root causes for society’s outsiders, the homeless Part2 | Japan NPO Center

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(http://www.jnpoc.ne.jp/en/wp-content/uploads/2homeless5.png)High school volunteers

make miso soup for the homeless.

(http://www.jnpoc.ne.jp/en/wp-content/uploads/2homeless6.jpg)Volunteering can also be

showing your service through donations; in this case, sweets sent from south Germany as

Christmas presents for the homeless.　

Writer: Kris Kosaka

Reporter: Kris Kosaka and Yoshiko Ugawa (JNPOC)

Coordinator: Tohru Nishiguchi (JNPOC)

Sendai Yomawari Group is a grantee of the Japan Earthquake Local NPO Support Fund, with its donor the

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited

Sendai Yomawari Group (http://www.yomawari.net/)(Japanese only)

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