Tokyo Poor Live In Squalid ‘Warehouses’, Reports Newspaper

[Kensuke]

Tokyo Poor Live In Squalid ‘Warehouses’, Reports Newspaper

by Mika on Wednesday, June 26, 2013

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A billboard in the shopping district near JR Kinshicho station. The words “OK For Residential Use” draw in those searching for work: Sumida Ward, Tokyo.
(Part of the image has been altered). [Image source]

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The thought of cramped, unhygienic and illegal housing usually conjures up pictures of Hong Kong’s cage homes or Beijing basement dwellers, but it’s also easy to forget that behind all the glitz, some of the world’s chicest cities also have a high numbers of urban working poor.

Tokyo is one of the world’s most expensive cities but as the economic heart of Japan, it also attracts thousands of workers and employees who would struggle to find a job elsewhere but can’t afford the astronomical prices of Tokyo life. The Mainichi Shimbunrecently shocked netizens with a story on an agency renting cramped and un-safe housing in a warehouse to such residents.

From Mainichi Shimbun:

Illegal housing: 116-Room “Warehouse”, But More Than Half Of Residents Registered At Ward Office

◇ “Essential For Work So We Could Not Refuse”, Sumida Ward, Tokyo

It’s come to light that a so called “warehouse” where residents lived in cramped rooms in Sumida ward, Tokyo, was registered as a “residential building” by the authorities in the very same ward and of the people using the warehouse, thought to number over 100, a total of 69 — more than half — were registered as separate households. The building does not comply with either the Building Standards Act or Tokyo laws but the authorities explained that they “could not refuse applications from the poor people who were trying their best to work”. These dangerous “illegal houses” are gradually becoming reservoirs for the poor and these conditions which can’t be solved by laws alone are only perpetuating themselves.

Converted from an old office space, 116 rooms that were 1 1/2 jō large [about 2 x 1.5 meters] and most had no windows. The advertisement said “OK for residential use” but the fine print claimed that “This means that you can get mail delivered here. It is not a living space but a warehouse.” Despite this, the Tokyo Fire and Disaster Management Agency recognized it as a residential complex which is in violation of the Fire Services Act.

An example of a tiny Tokyo residence.

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There were 69 registered households among the residents, and almost all the households were made up of only one person. On the authorities acknowledged the residents, a manager at the office involved explained that they had “surveyed the building before and ascertained the conditions of the residents”. They said with a heavy heart that: “There’s no rule against registering residents in a building which is against the law. We can’t turn away hard working tax-paying people. It’s painful for us to accept residents once the illegal building has already been approved. It’s a new problem.”

Because the residents were accepted as officially registered ward residents, the letting agency said that “it was under local government jurisdiction and is not a matter for our concern”. They also claimed the building was a “warehouse” to the ward office and the ward’s building office could not just assume that it was a “residential building”.

A manager at another of the capital’s wards explained one of their procedures for registering residents: “(if we have doubts about the residents’ living conditions), we confirm if people are actually living there with the owner of letting company”. Each independent locality has different rules on the specifics of registering residents and Sumida ward does not recognize internet cafes as registered place of residency since they’re “not a permanent living places”.