Saturday, April 20, 2002. 11:02AM.
Imperial Palace. Tokyo, Japan.
After four years of coming to Japan, I finally have a chance to see the grounds of the Imperial Palace. It is a magnificent thing, buildings that have housed the oldest monarchy on the planet. The grounds are well kept, the structures are well preserved. The fact that such ancient grounds can co-exist with the metropolis of Tokyo is astounding.
So why is this homeless guy sleeping here?
Tokyo has always amazed me with its cleanliness. When I first visited in 1998, I met some Romanian women working as hostesses in a businessman’s club. They talked about how safe the city was, hoy they could walk around all hours of the night and not feel threatened. It took three years for me to see a homeless person in Tokyo (that was last September, in a back alley near the Tokyo Dome stadium). Now I see them all the time.
The economy hasn’t been kind to Japan. I saw a local TV station running a special on homeless people last night. Homeless people aren’t that new to Japan, but the government has kept them under wraps for years. Many of them used to stay in a few specific train stations … now it’s more out in the open.
America has been dealing with the problem for decades, but it’s new to the modern Japan. Seeing it on the grounds of the Imperial Palace just amplifies it. This entire area is designed to highlight the difference between the emperor and the rest of the country. It seems to do it too well in this case.
I have great video tape of the palace grounds and the parks that surround it. The actual palace is off limits to visitors, since the emperor still lives and works here. I hope I can get this video on-line for everyone to see. I have no video of the homeless Japanese men I see sleeping in the park. That’s not something I need to record on videotape.
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