翻訳 54 (w)
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B9%B4%E8%B6%8A%E3%81%97%E6%B4%BE%E9%81%A3%E6%9D%91
Toshikoshi Hakenmura
Toshikoshi Hakenmura (年越し派遣村), or New Year's Village for Dispatch Workers, was a shelter run by an executive committee comprised of several NPOs and labor unions to support poor people affected by company downsizing and subsequent lay-offs in the wake of the Lehman Brothers collapse over the period of December 31, 2008 to January 5, 2009 in Hibiya Park in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It was a part of socio-political movement that also included the Etsunen Tousou (越年闘争) movement.
1 Overview
2 Executive committee and opening in 2008
2.1 After withdrawal from Hibiya Park
3 Reaction to Toshikoshi Hakenmura
3.1 Government
3.2 Media and Entertainment
3.2.1 Negative response
3.2.2 Positive response
4 Publicly run Hakenmura post-2009
5 Impact
6 References
Overview
The slogan of the Toshikoshi Hakenmura was “survive the end of the year in Hibiya” [1].
According to Yuasa Makoto, The event had its origins in “conversations we had in izayakas in Tokyo and Iidabashi at the end of the previous year with people who had an awareness [of poverty and rough sleeping]” [2].
Executive committee and opening in 2008
Management structure (2008)
Honorary mayor Utsunomiya Kenji (representative of the Anti-Poverty Network and lawyer)
Mayor Yuasa Makoto (secretary general of the NPO 'Independent Life Support Center Moyai')
Sponsor Hakenmura executive committee
Administration Japan Community Union Federation (JCUF)
Toshikoshi Hakenmura was established near Kasumi Gate in Hibiya Park on December 31, 2008. The executive committee, organized mainly by the Independent Life Support Center Moyai and JCUF, distributed rice, offered life and work counseling and provided guidance on how to apply for welfare. Hello Work set up a cheap accommodation that ran until January 5 [3].
On January 2, 2009, after a request from the executive committee, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare offered a lecture hall in its own building to be used as lodging until 9am on January 5, the day when the ministry's offices would re-open [4]. The executive committee requested that the ministry provide accommodation after January 5, which resulted in the decision to establish in total four temporary shelters: two in Chuo, one in Nerima and one in Sanya. On January 5, the Hakenmura was dismantled.
Around 500 unemployed people visited the Hakenmura over the end of year period, 1680 people volunteered and it received 23.1 million yen in donations [5].
After withdrawal from Hibiya Park
On January 4, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and Tokyo Metropolitan Government decided on the provision of accommodation after withdrawal from Hibiya Park. Between the four sites, Keika Square Gymnasium in Chuo, Jisshi Square Gymnasium in Chuo, Tokyo Shakuji Gakuen Gymnasium and Nagisa hostel (used as accommodation relief for Etsunen Tousou), lodging and meals were provided to 500 people everyday between January 5 and January 12 [6].
On January 5, together with the National Confederation of Trade Unions and The Japan Federation of Prefectural and Municipal Workers' Union (JICHIROREN), the 'villagers' of Hakenmura marched from Hibiya Park to the Diet Building.
By January 9, of the Hakenmura residents, 223 had applied for public assistance, with the majority being approved. After January 12, the executive committee decided to rent two Japanese hotels (ryokan) in Tokyo and use them to provide meals and lodging [7].
At an establishment in Tokyo, Hello Work provided employment counseling to people from Hakenmura, connecting people to over 4000 jobs, which mainly consisted of work where the employee lives on-site. By January 9,125 people had registered for a job and about half had applied for public assistance [8].
According to the Sankei Shimbun, “donations exceeded 50 million yen, yet the Hakenmura was disbanded before details of how the money was to be used had been announced,” and, “It was only possible to confirm that 13 people had started work.” [9]
Reaction to Toshikoshi Hakenmura
Government
Various politicians visited the Hakenmura and gave speeches, including Ōmura Hideaki, of the LDP (the ruling party at the time) and Senior Vice Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare; Katayama Satsuki (LDP); Kan Naoto (from the opposition party, Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan); Shii Kazuo (Japanese Communist Party); Fukushima Mizuho (Social Democratic Party); Kamei Hisaoki (People's New Party); and Suzuki Muneo (New Party Daichi). There were pros and cons to this [10].
On January 3, Prime Minister Asō Tarō instructed Chief Cabinet Secretary Kawamura Takeo to “take all measures necessary” when it came to provision after the executive committee's use of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's lecture hall ended on January 5 [11]. Parliamentary Vice Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications, Sakamoto Tetsushi, said, “I also wonder how serious these people are about working,” and, “There are similar tactics at work to those used in post-war student activism.” [12] These remarks drew criticism from opposition parties, as well as from a representative of the ruling coalition party Komeito, Ōta Akihiro [13], and at a press conference held the following day, Sakamoto withdrew his comments and apologized [14]. However, defence of his comments surfaced on anonymous online message boards [15].
On January 5, during his new year's address, Governer of Tokyo, Ishihara Shintarō, said, “The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare did not know how to deal with [this issue], and ultimately achieved results by working together with volunteers and local government. The country is ignorant to this important place,” thereby praising the efforts involved in the Hakenmura and criticizing the Ministry's response [16].
Tanaka Yasuo, from the New Party Nippon, went to help out at the Hakenmura, and said of his impressions at the time that, “the people who had pitched tents were not people who had suddenly been fired from their jobs, but rather a lot worked temporary jobs everyday and had heard that they would be able to eat if they came to Hibiya Park. I wonder if there is more that the unions [that are working together] like the Japan Teachers' Union and the Communist Party unions should do, like opening up their own organization's facilities,” and, “I remember feeling uncomfortable about the fact unions and political parties were participating, and as a result, maybe it went in a different direction to what Mayor Yuasa had in mind.” [17]
Media and Entertainment
Negative response
On his show 'Mino Monta's Asa Zuba!', Mino Monta said, “I've heard (from someone involved in Hello Work) that there are loads of jobs available. But they're saying, 'no, I want this,' 'I want that.'” and, “The government also has to make an effort, but if you're saying your dispatch jobs have stopped, and you've got no employment, you also have to make an effort. We emphasize the rights people have, to housing and food, but if you've got a job, how about doing some work first [even if you don't like it]?” These statements then received criticism of their own [18].
Positive response
Writer Amamiya Karin praised the efforts involved in the Hakenmura highly, and participated in activities there herself [19].
Publicly run Hakenmura post-2009
Across the period of the end of 2009 and start of 2010, the Japanese government made efforts to support unemployed people across the country as a part of emergency job-creating measures. Of these, the so called 'Publicly run Hakenmura' in Tokyo (official name being Provision of Accommodation and Livelihood Counseling to Support Needy People Including the Unemployed etc over the End of Year Period in Tokyo) ran from December 29 to January 4, at the Youth Education National Olympics Memorial Youth Center, offering unemployed people accommodation and meals, with staff from Hello Work also visiting to provide advice on work and housing. Despite that, many did not manage to establish employment and housing, and were sent on to different public facilities to support unemployed people in Tokyo after January 5.
On January 6, Tokyo Metropolitan Government paid out 22,000 yen to cover things like travel expenses to almost all people affected to find work outside the accommodation facilities. However, of 562 service users, approximately 200 spent nights away from the facilities without permission, which was prohibited by the Metropolitan Government. This was due to incomplete communication of the rules. Subsequently, Tokyo Metropolitan Government stated that it was necessary for residents to concentrate wholeheartedly on rebuilding their lives while using the services [20]. Amongst the service users, there were people who used their job hunting expenses to buy alcohol and tobacco, and were banned from the facility, where drinking alcohol was prohibited [21].
Between January 6 and 7, there were a number of thefts of cash that had been paid to service users as expenses. On the morning of January 7, it was discovered that a man in his 50s died in his sleep due to alcohol related cirrhosis [22].
The executive committee that ran the previous winter's Hakenmura and set up the one stop service in lieu of the Toshikoshi Hakenmura, said in response to the incident, “There were a lot of people who are not used to having money, so it was crucial to consider things like handing money over every two or three days, rather than paying it all at once,” although the same committee had also stated that “it is inconvenient to the residents to hand out payments in small amounts.” [23]
The one stop service committee claimed the PR campaign in the city had been insufficient, and so carried out further publicity efforts, handing out flyers in streets and parks, among other things. As a result, service users increased, and operating expenses greatly exceeded the initial estimate of 60 million yen, and ultimately passed 100 million yen. Yuasa Makoto said that no one could have predicted how many service users there would eventually be. Although metropolitan staff insisted they had worked hard on the management of the operation, the committee pointed to the inaccurate estimates drawn up by the Metropolitan Government [24]. A senior official at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government described the committee's activities as heavy handed, as they sent in a batch of public assistance applications all at once over the office's New Year vacation period, though the committee stressed the significance in the group applications, saying, “At the moment, even when unemployment has continued for a protracted period of time, and people have no choice but to seek public assistance, there are many cases of people visiting the government offices and being turned away without being given an application form, instead being told to 'rely on your family,' or being dismissed with remarks such as 'you seem fine.'”[25]
The day before the move to accommodation facilities, it was decided that a number of residents would stay at a capsule hotel, though due to the dissatisfaction that erupted from the other residents that threatened to turn into full rebellion, it was decided that all residents should stay at capsule hotels [24].
Cases of service users using payments to buy alcohol and tobacco and being banned due to drinking alcohol within facilities were widely reported in the media.
Over 70 comments were received in response to a series of incidents, with the majority of feedback being critical, saying the project was “a waste of taxes.” [26] Many service users spoke out, saying things like, “talking to them, around one in three have no desire to work,” “I'm scared of being robbed in the facility, so I don't carry money on me,” and “there are a lot of people who weren't actually laid off from temporary work or anything, who seem homeless and want a one off payment.” [27]
This led to the one stop service committee's response to the media, under the title, “Do you hit someone when they're down?” criticizing their “spectacular fault finding operation,” specifically naming Sankei Shimbun and Asahi Shimbun.
A staff member at the metropolitan government was reportedly pressed to stop discrimination and kneel down and bow in apology by a resident who had received a public assistance application in an area where it was rumored to be difficult to apply for public assistance. The low level of health care support service for sick and injured service users also became a source of difficulties, leading to the one stop service committee requesting that all rooms be patrolled periodically to check on residents, that residents be connected quickly to a medical institution at times when they need medical assistance, and that follow up checks be made on residents in poor physical shape and residents who had seen a doctor. As there had an incident of a staff member who had poked a resident in the chest and said, “you called an ambulance, so take responsibility,” and refused to accompany an ambulance required by the paramedics, as well as staff who had prevented residents calling for an ambulance when they needed emergency medical care, the committee also sought improvements in approach, clarification of how things had improved, for the names of the staff members involved to be revealed and an apology so that the same mistakes would not be made again.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government ended its information and support service on January 15, and its accommodation and meals support program on January 18. By the evening of January 17, there were 298 service users who had completed procedures for leaving the facility, with the routes of the remaining 562 registered users as follows [28].
- 419 people had been approved for welfare measures provided by local governments within Tokyo such as public assistance and housing allowance.
- One person had been approved for a stable employment loan provided by the government (Hello Work).
- 28 people left provided accommodation voluntarily. Of those, 15 people went on to re-employment, and 13 returned home due to a personal connection or unknown reasons.
- One person died of illness.
- Two people were forced to leave due to drinking alcohol whilst staying at the accommodation.
- The whereabouts of 111 people were unknown. These include registered users who did not settle their accounts and did not complete the procedures for leaving the facility on their own by January 17, and were subject to discharge procedures by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.
When the project ended on January 18, 264 people used bus transportation provided by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government when leaving the Nagisa hostel in Ōta [29].
Impact
Suzuki Wataru raises the Toshikoshi Hakenmura when talking about the larger context of a drastic increase in public assistance applications among people in their 20s and 30s post-2009. Suzuki stated that as the Toshikoshi Hakenmura received bipartisan support from important politicians, it in effect authorized government offices to accept applications [30].
