In this reflection, you’ll hear from a delegate on lessons learned from the Tokyo Study Trip.
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I have a new favorite song from Tokyo. You can’t hear it on the radio. It’s called “JRE-IKST-010,” and it can be heard on waiting Yamanote Line trains. Catchy as it is, it serves a functional purpose. As one of hundreds of “departure melodies,” it identifies its train line, signals the remaining boarding time, and injects calm into the frenzy of some of the world’s busiest stations. The tune makes a vast system usable.
The efficacy of Japanese social and housing policies stuck with me as well. From Dr. Hiroshi Goto, a researcher who studies street homelessness in Japan and the U.S., we learned that in 2020 Tokyo’s 23 wards (home to nearly 10 million people) counted just over 800 individuals living on the street. In the same period, Los Angeles County, with a similar population, recorded around 48,000. (1)
Goto and his collaborators attribute much of this difference to Japan’s Seikatsu-Hogo, or Livelihood Protection, public assistance program. Comparable U.S. programs like Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) come with administrative burdens and exclusionary criteria. Citizenship status, criminal justice involvement, and substance use disqualify most applicants. An estimated 85-90% of homeless adults who apply for SSI do not receive the benefit.(2) Seikatsu-Hogo, on the other hand, solely considers income.(3) Certification takes about two weeks, compared to the six-month average wait time for SSI. (4)
Furthermore, Seikatsu-Hogo integrates with other supports. Qualifying automatically triggers a monthly payment, medical assistance, and housing for those who are unsheltered. In New York City, around one in seven public school students experienced homelessness during the 2024-25 school year.(5) In Japan, Goto stated simply that they would not be homeless. Additional entitlements for low-income parents prevent such outcomes.
This ethos contrasts sharply with my work in supportive housing in the U.S., where we’re constantly fighting to knit together disconnected systems like health care, homeless services, corrections, and housing development so the most vulnerable people can secure and retain stable housing. In contrast, representatives from the Urban Renaissance Agency (UR), Japan’s public housing authority, described partnerships with community medical providers, programs to prevent isolation, and measures to reduce rent burden as core components of their model.
I am under no illusion that Japan has it all figured out. The homeless street count excludes the “precariously housed,” such as the many Japanese people living in internet cafes. Goto also noted that Japan’s homeless population presents less frequently with serious mental illness, partly due to “higher rates of institutionalisation.”(6) This is troubling, given that people with such diagnoses can thrive in permanent housing in community. The absence of LGBTQ+ in the data speaks to erasure in a society where collective support intersects with social stigmas, constricting many in need of support to the margins.
Still, “JRE-IKST-010” is stuck in my head. It’s a simple melody, but it pinpoints your place in a giant network, ensuring you’re moving in the right direction. The pathway out of homelessness seems just as direct when general accessibility and seamless connections with other social supports are the route to stability.
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(1) Goto, H., Culhane, D. P., & Marr, M. D. (2022). Why Street Homelessness Has Decreased in Japan: A Comparison of Public Assistance in Japan and the US. European Journal of Homelessness, 16(1), 81–99, 85.
(2) Ibid, 90.
(3)Income eligibility varies by household size and which region you live in.
(4) Ibid, 89.
(5) “Student Homelessness in New York City, 2024–25.” Advocates for Children of New York, October 2025.
(6) Goto, et al. 87.