Japan's tent city

January 05, 2009

Hundreds of homeless people spent the New Year living in a Tokyo park to demand jobs as rising unemployment bites. Contract and temporary workers are bearing the brunt of the Japanese recession as companies slash output. Tens of thousands are predicted to lose their jobs in the first part of 2009. Hundreds of jobless Japanese marched around parliament on Monday demanding work and housing as lawmakers began discussing steps to combat a worsening recession. The government is forecasting that the world's second largest economy will have zero growth in the year ending March 2010.