Tokyo Poverty Women
I don't know where I stumbled.
“I can live day-to-day.
I’m well aware that there are others who are struggling more financially.
But I’ve been living on the edge for a long time. I can’ t even save money even though I don’t have any luxuries.
I wonder what’s going to happen to me as I just keep getting older and older.”
Poverty gets more and more severe, due to a combination of negative factors such as low income, illness, tenuous relationships, isolation, and ignorance of the relief system.
In particular, living in Tokyo, where rent is high and community ties are thin, makes it easy to stumble and fall into poverty.
As I listened to the suffering of poor women in Tokyo, I wondered many times if there was anything that could be done about this situation. But I can only see it getting worse as the calls for taking self-responsibility do not stop.
With the current widespread lack of understanding, even if they send out SOS calls, it is very unlikely that they will reach anyone.
The voices of them must not be irrelevant to any of us since we live in a society where we never know when or who would fall.
A shift may occur so that not only women, but also middle-aged men will fall into poverty.
I was scared because I could see myself in the not-too-distant future overlapping with these women I interviewed.
A university student sex worker struggled with a debt of millions of yen called “scholarship”.
A temporary worker endured unreasonable power and sexual harassment every day at her workplace.
An earnest woman fell into the trap of governmental poverty even worse than that of private companies.
A highly educated single mother couldn't’ see her life tomorrow.
This is a non-fiction book in which the author carefully listened to the cries of these poverty-stricken women as their “personal stories.”
It clearly illustrates the current situation of the underclasses that are growing in Japan.
Click here for inquiries regarding book rights
Overview
A college student, a temporary worker, a single mother…. These are the cries from the hearts of these women living in poverty in Tokyo. The popular series on Toyo Keizai Online is now available in book form!
Table of Contents
Chapter 2: I never want to see my mother again
Chapter 3: Tomorrow, let’s die together. We can die…
Chapter 4: I only have a year and a half left to work
Chapter 5: At 45, I don’t even qualify to apply for a job
Chapter 6: Vanishing future of the children
Final Chapter: The edge of despair
Author Profile
Atsuhiko Nakamura
Atsuhiko Nakamura is a non-fiction writer. For more than 20 years since his college days, he has been reporting and writing about the social issue of poverty, focusing on adult film stars, the sex industry, and nursing care. In order to visualize the reality they are facing, he has been continuously listening to various harsh stories of parental abuse, mental illness, debt, self-injury, and human trafficking without bringing his own values into it. He has published numerous books.
（Information is current at the time of publishing.）
