After more than a decade of fighting homelessness in Britain, the Big Issue magazine is preparing to introduce its radical solution to the problem in Japan.
It hopes to persuade the Japanese public that paying 200 yen (£1.10) for a magazine could help end a growing crisis which many of them are reluctant to acknowledge.
With an official homeless population of 25,700 and rising, the team behind the 11 September launch say the need for action is clear - but they concede success is far from guaranteed.
The idea that you should buy something from someone on the street - let alone one of the homeless - will take some getting used to, says editor Miku Sano.
It is a view shared by the Big Issue's editor-in-chief, John Bird, who says he expects "hard times" ahead as the Japanese get used to discussing a problem that barely existed a decade ago.
The Japanese Big Issue will first appear on the streets of Tokyo and the second city, Osaka, with a print run of 30,000 - to be sold by about 200 vendors, who will keep 120 yen (64p).
The need to convince the homeless themselves that the Big Issue could help them is another challenge lying in wait.
Many homeless live in neat, well built shelters
Many are middle-aged men who found the 'jobs for life' culture collapsed when the economy did and have since struggled to find a way out of their situation.
Most try and avoid standing out, with extraordinarily neat, cardboard-built homes in stations and public parks often the only sign they are around.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3175319.stm
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It hopes to persuade the Japanese public that paying 200 yen (£1.10) for a magazine could help end a growing crisis which many of them are reluctant to acknowledge.
With an official homeless population of 25,700 and rising, the team behind the 11 September launch say the need for action is clear - but they concede success is far from guaranteed.
The idea that you should buy something from someone on the street - let alone one of the homeless - will take some getting used to, says editor Miku Sano.
It is a view shared by the Big Issue's editor-in-chief, John Bird, who says he expects "hard times" ahead as the Japanese get used to discussing a problem that barely existed a decade ago.
The Japanese Big Issue will first appear on the streets of Tokyo and the second city, Osaka, with a print run of 30,000 - to be sold by about 200 vendors, who will keep 120 yen (64p).
The need to convince the homeless themselves that the Big Issue could help them is another challenge lying in wait.
Many homeless live in neat, well built shelters
Many are middle-aged men who found the 'jobs for life' culture collapsed when the economy did and have since struggled to find a way out of their situation.
Most try and avoid standing out, with extraordinarily neat, cardboard-built homes in stations and public parks often the only sign they are around.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3175319.stm
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