Millions of Japanese trapped in 'hidden poverty'

Millions of Japanese trapped in 'hidden poverty'

Millions of Japanese trapped in 'hidden poverty'
Local Japanese News In English

Consumer gluttony, astronomic real-estate prices and jobs for life were once normal in Japan -- but today the country also has millions of poor people desperately struggling to make ends meet. Two decades after Japan's wealth bubble popped, its citizens have got used to higher unemployment and homeless people sleeping in the streets. Statistics released for the first time last year held yet another surprise. Nearly one in six Japanese lives below the poverty line -- meaning they earn less than half the median household income, or less than 1,830 dollars for a four-person family -- in a country that prides itself on its egalitarianism. (AFP)
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