Japan estimated on Tuesday that it has more than 5,000 'net cafe refugees,' a new class of working poor who live in all-night lounges and are seen as a sign of a growing rich-poor gap.
TOKYO: Japan estimated on Tuesday that it has more than 5,000 'net cafe refugees,' a new class of working poor who live in all-night lounges and are seen as a sign of a growing rich-poor gap.
Internet cafes and 'manga' comic cafes are omnipresent in urban Japan, offering couches, computers, soft drinks and comic books to stressed businessmen or commuters who missed their trains home.
But a government survey found that an estimated 5,400 people have virtually moved in to the 24-hour cafes.
It said some 80 percent of Japan's 'net cafe refugees' are men and that 52.7 percent said they decided to live in the lounges because they lost their jobs.
Another 13.8 percent said they moved into the net cafes because of deteriorating relationships with their families, according to the survey by the health and welfare ministry.
The average salary of the 'refugees' was 113,000 yen (983 dollars) per month, about equivalent to what a minimum-wage employee would earn in Tokyo if working 40 hours a week.
The health ministry launched the first-of-a-kind survey, which questioned operators and customers at 3,000 Internet cafes nationwide, amid growing national attention to the problem.
A five-hour stay at an Internet cafe in Tokyo costs about 3,000 yen with a meal served. Showers are available at 200 yen for 30 minutes and clean underwear is on sale.
The ministry said it planned to assist the 'refugees,' including by sending in counselors to help train them in how to get better jobs and manage their budgets for housing.
Japan has long been proud of its reputation as an equitable society but the social safety net has taken a beating since the world's second largest economy went into recession in the 1990s.
Liberal Democratic Party-led governments launched free-market reforms that they credit with restoring growth to the economy, which is in the midst of its longest expansion since World War II.
But Japan's opposition, which won a landmark election victory last month, has charged that the reforms have widened the gap between rich and poor and between urban areas and the countryside.
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