This is a message from prof. Hosaka, Nihon Fukushi Univ. who translated the Resolution on the Forced Evictions (UN Commission on Human Rights, 1993/77) into Japanese unofficially and introduced its existence to Japan. He sent this message to his friends and permitted us to make public it via Internet.
Mr.Denis Murphy, Eviction Watch Asia, Manila (632 927 7001)
Ms.Somesook Boonyabancha, Asian Coalition for Housing Rights,
Bangkok (662 539 9950)
Fr.Jorge Anzorena, SELAVIP, Tokyo (03 3238 5056)
Mr.Scott Lackie,Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions,
Utrecht/Geneva (4122 738 8167)
Around 6:00 am today, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government forcibly evicted about 200 homeless people from the underground pavement at Shinjuku Railway Station, a city-core part of Tokyo.
Due to the economic depression for last several years, the number of homeless people have sharply increased in major cities in Japan. Many of them are aged, single, male, daily-wage earners and they perhaps contributed most to urban development during the periods of rapid economic growth.
The Metropolitan Government plans to spend 1.3 billion yens on a 300-metre "moving footpath" connecting the magnificent Tange-designed new City Hall building and the near-by Shinjuku station. The Government claims that it would help pedestrians, while people believe that it is rather a disguised justification to remove the homeless from public space.
According to the Asahi Shimbun, Newspaper, 200 city officials, 250 policemen and 400 specifically-recruited guards were mobilized for today's eviction. They dismantled instantly-made barricades, dragged out pavement dwellers and supporters who were sitting in and resisting, and threw away all of their cardboard tents and mats. Four were arrested. In two hours, people were left in the freezing weather.
The people were urged to move to a temporary shelter provided by the Metropolitan Government. It is located in storehouse yards on a reclaimed island in Tokyo, surrounded by canals and connected to the City only through a bridge. The authorities are hence confident that the people accommodated shall be easily controlled so that they would not get leisurely out of the place to come into the "normal" side of the City. Only about 40 out of 200 homeless people in the Shinjuku area have so far volunteered to move into the shelter which they must vacate before the end of March. Beyond April, the Government has no plan.
Mitsuhiko HOSAKA, Nagoya (81 52 834 2720)
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