This is what most people don’t know about Japan.

Homelessness was largely unknown in Japan until the economic bubble burst in the early 1990s and unemployment began to rise. – BBC

At the beginning of the 1990s, the homeless in Japan were viewed as nuisance. The government tried to get rid of the street people “because the environment there needed beautification”. – Wikipedia

According to street-papers.org, there are 25,296 homeless people in Japan.

Some of these homeless people live in the side of the street with their card-board houses.

Some in tunnels and underground stations.

The homeless prefer to freeze outside rather than be frozen by officialdom’s coldness.  – share-international.org

Note: The photos were taken in Fujisawa, Ueno, Yoyogi and Shibuya.