Pressure grows for upgrade to ‘harrowing’ housing facilities
TOKYO — Every year, more than 20,000 abused, delinquent, developmentally challenged or otherwise troubled Japanese children needing emergency housing pass through a system of shelters.
But the conditions inside many of them are so regimented that the children can find the experience harrowing, according to interviews with more than a dozen people who have stayed or worked in the facilities, as well as child psychology experts familiar with the system.
The concerns have prompted government officials to suggest that reform is needed, though there is no indication of when that will occur. Government-sponsored committees aimed at improving child welfare policies have been established, and changes to the centers will be on their agenda.
“No one thinks it’s OK to keep these shelters exactly the way they are,” said Yu Hamada, an official at the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
“There hasn’t been any discussion to date as to how exactly they should function, and that’s what we’re working on.”
Originally set up after World War II to provide food and shelter for wandering orphans and petty juvenile criminals, Japan’s 136 shelters haven’t evolved much in the past 70 years, experts say.
The children, who can be
No one thinks it’s OK to keep these shelters exactly the way they are.” Yu Hamada, official at the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare shelters for children in Japan, which haven’t changed much in the last 70 years, experts say.
any age between 1 and 17, are usually kept indoors and away from school so that they can’t run off or abusing parents can’t grab them.
In many of the shelters, workers with little training impose strict rules and schedules, don’t allow cellphones or toys from home, and make isolation a common punishment for misbehaving, the sources said. Stricter shelters don’t allow chatting during meals or even making eye contact with other kids, the people with knowledge of the conditions said.
The shelters vary in age, size and quality. Some have gymnasiums or playgrounds and are well-stocked with DVDs and comic books; others are rundown with peeling wallpaper and old tatami mats, sleeping 10 to a room, these people said.